Science Center to Celebrate Engineer Week

Spartanburg Science Center will celebrate National Engineers Week 2015 Saturday, Feb. 21, with an open house featuring special presentations.

Presentations will include bridge making, how airplane wings work, the design of teeth and jaws, kite making, and many others topics related to the science of engineering.

The Science Center will be open 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at Chapman Cultural Center in downtown Spartanburg, and admission will be by voluntary donation.

“This is one of our most popular public events,” Center Director John “Mr. Green,” said. “It is also one of our most important. We designed the event to be fun for all ages — both kids and adults — but our real goal is teach people about the science of engineering. The Science Center is dedicated to STEM education, and this is just one of the many ways we express it.”

STEM is a national educational movement that places extra emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It is an initiative started by the international business community that predicts because of advancing technology tomorrow’s workforce needs more education on the hard sciences. That initiative has been embraced by schools across the country, and STEM education has become a stronghold for making science a priority.

Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in 1951, Engineer Week — February 22–28, 2015 — is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers. Today, Engineer Week is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. Dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life, it promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth, to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce. Each year, Engineers Week reaches thousands of schools, businesses, and community groups across the U.S.

Partnering with the Science Center will be Milliken and Company, CH2M Hill (a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management), chemical company BASF, local kite expert Chuck Holmes, and the Center’s senior robotics team. Milliken will present a program on electricity and energy. Holmes will instruct participants on how to make kites, free of charge. CH2M Hill will host a program where participants will build aluminum boats, followed by a contest to see which boat can hold the most pennies. And Mr. Green will lead the discussion on “A Mouthful of Engineering.”

“We will have something for everyone,” Mr. Green said. “We will be making paper bridges and wings. You’d be surprised at how many adults enjoy these sorts of presentations. There’s a little bit of scientist in all of us.”

For information about Spartanburg Science Center’s celebration of Engineer Week 2015, please call (864) 583-2777 or visit online: www.SpartanburgScienceCenter.org.