침묵->경청->기억->실행->남을 가르치기

And that future resides in the young men and women considering technical careers, their teachers and mentors, and the industry leaders who work with the academic community.

Electrical engineering can be a rewarding career. You learn how things work, you solve problems, and you use your knowledge to create products that enhance—and even save—lives. The field changes rapidly, providing new opportunities for engineers to grow professionally, be creative, and make a difference in the world. For these and other reasons, many engineers wouldn't dream of doing anything else.

The engineering profession in the US, however, is at a crossroads. New technologies offer the promise of rewarding careers, and there are infinite products yet to invent. But despite these limitless opportunities, enrollment in engineering programs at American universities is flat at best.

The numbers speak for themselves. Figure 1 shows the number of US electrical and computer engineering (ECE) degrees earned from 1971 through 2003. From the late 1970s though the 1980s, ECE degrees rose steadily, and salaries went right along with them as employers snatched every ECE graduate in sight. By the 1990s, ECE degrees dropped steadily.

Figure 1. Electrical and computer engineering degrees rose in the 1980s and dropped through the 1990s, with master’s degrees becoming a larger portion of the total. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

From our interviews, we found numerous reasons why young people enter engineering, the most prominent being that they already know an engineer, usually a parent or relative. Knowing someone in the field gives young people the introduction they need to pursue engineering as a career. Furthermore, teachers and shop courses may pique someone's interest in engineering. Conversely, many bright students never study engineering because they don't know anything about what engineers do.

Gary S. May, ECE professor and chair, Georgia Tech, said: "We have to show that engineers are normal people with normal lives with the same sorts of concerns as everyone."

An aptitude for math and science is certainly a requirement for an engineering career, but is it enough? Not according to Professor Richard Vaz of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Vaz, who is associate dean of the Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division at WPI, said that the best engineers also have a passion for solving problems.

UCSB Professor Steve Long also cited “the willingness to do critical thinking” that makes good engineers. He argued that engineers are naturally curious and they want to know about something that's not necessarily in a textbook.

Not everyone, though, has a clear reason for studying engineering. “When I ask students why they want to study engineering, very rarely can they articulate a reason,” said Vaz. “If they can, it usually doesn't line up well with what engineers really do, which is solve problems and make the world a better place.” Some people, we learned, go into engineering because of the prospect of earning a decent living with just a bachelor's degree. (See “Is engineering a profession?”) “That [belief] won't get you very far,” added Long. He also cited “pushy parents” as another wrong reason that some young people study engineering.

Moshe Kam, ECE professor at Drexel, is working with the IEEE to educate the public about the advantages of an engineering career.

Kam based his conclusions on meetings with representatives from 53 companies that hire electrical engineers. He also found that high school guidance counselors may unconsciously steer women with the ability and prerequisites for studying engineering into other fields because, “It's not something that women do, and that's a myth that we need to shatter.” (See “Where are the women?”)

Georgia Tech's May noted that some of the issues that divert women away from engineering also apply to minorities. “We have to show that engineers are normal people with normal lives with the same sorts of concerns as everyone,” he said. “This also affects our ability to recruit minority students. I say that from experience.”

Kam and others within IEEE's EAB are working to educate the public about the rewards of an engineering career. The most visible effort is the Web site TryEngineering.org. Launched on June 5, 2006, the site goes beyond electrical and computer engineering, with interviews of chemical engineers, civil engineers, and mechanical engineers. The site provides information for students, parents, guidance counselors, and teachers. It also provides a search engine for finding engineering schools. Kam explained that the site shows engineering in a positive light, showing the “can do” attitude of engineers. Using the site, prospective engineering students can ask questions of, and get replies from, working engineers and undergraduates.

Kam also acknowledged that engineering schools can do a better job of attracting and keeping good students. For one thing, he said that some engineering schools still operate with a “boot camp” mentality. “It's not that students can't cope with the curriculum,” he explained. “They transfer out of engineering because of a 'weed out the weak' atmosphere. It not only chases away women and minorities, it also chases away a good chunk of the male population.”

The media plays a role, too. Talk of outsourcing may lead young people to believe that there's no future in engineering, particularly ECE, because of today's worldwide communications. Many companies have moved manufacturing and some engineering offshore. Software engineering is the most obvious, but some hardware-engineering functions have moved, too. Still, everyone we interviewed said that there are, and will always be, many engineering opportunities in the US. Engineers innovate, which creates new products as well as the jobs needed to design and produce them.

Although a great deal of semiconductor manufacturing has moved offshore, by no means has all of it gone. “I don't think the bleak views are justified,” added Professor Fred Looft, ECE department head at WPI. “A lot of manufacturing is coming back because of quality issues. I've talked to people who have done it.” One such company is Cypress Semiconductor, which recently moved some testing operations back to Minnesota from Asia (Ref. 1).

Doug Williams, professor and ECE associate chair, Georgia Tech, sees engineering enrollment increasing, but ECE enrollment is holding steady.

Williams, however, stated that the microelectronics program at Georgia Tech is “booming.” He sees an increase in companies looking for graduates with microelectronic experience. With that, he sees a corresponding increase in research dollars that companies are putting into semiconductors.

One person who sees a bright future in ECE is Andrew DuPont, a graduate student at WPI. “Just because you get an electrical engineering degree doesn't mean that you have to be an electrical engineer,” he said enthusiastically. “The degree can lead to many opportunities.”

Indeed, a degree in electrical engineering can open many doors, in part because electrical engineering is so broad. Electrical engineers have taken on many tasks that you might expect people with other technical degrees to do. Semiconductor processing, for example, is highly populated by electrical engineers, but its basis is in physics and chemistry. Other areas include optics (as applied to communications), aerospace engineering, and even life sciences. “A lot of people don't realize that a lot of biomedical devices are actually electrical devices,” noted Georgia Tech's May.

Engineering jobs also cut across technical disciplines. More and more, mechanical, chemical, and biomedical engineers use electronics to measure a product's performance. “Who says you're not going to do test and measurement on a chemical process for drug manufacturing?” asked Looft. “That's a huge area. And you better know a little bit about chemical processing when you go into that job.”

Some people with engineering degrees move out of engineering jobs but stay in their respective industries by moving into sales, marketing, and management (a few even become editors covering the industries from which they came). Others move into fields such as law and medicine. Law firms, looking for patent lawyers with technical backgrounds, may hire engineers or engineering graduates and pay for law school.

Those who choose to enter the engineering work force may find that they need skills beyond math, science, engineering basics, and problem solving. We asked the participants what additional skills employers now look for in engineering graduates. While we received some differing answers, everyone agreed that communications skills sit atop the list.

No longer is it enough to design circuits and get test results. You must communicate those results through written reports and presentations. Georgia Tech's Williams noted that the university has integrated writing of technical documents into several courses, which UCSB's Long echoed. WPI has even created an interdisciplinary major or double major in technical writing.

While schools have responded to employers looking for better communications skills, some in academia remain skeptical. One such person is Professor John Orr of WPI. “The standard example is if you hear an after dinner speech from the VP of company xyz, [he or she] will describe that employers need graduates with good communications skills, good teamwork skills, and some global experience. But when hiring managers come to campus, they look for skills such as experience with the latest Cadence software release. They're looking for engineers who can be productive from day one.”

Regardless of whether communication courses are included, it's becoming virtually impossible for schools to provide all of the required engineering skills at the undergraduate level. In fact, some people have begun to question if you should be able to enter the engineering work force with just a bachelor's degree. Employers are looking more and more for graduates with master's degrees, and the number of master's degrees relative to bachelor's degrees has risen in the past 30 years (Figure 1). (continued)

At the same time, the number of PhDs has remained relatively flat. During the last business downturn, companies may have scaled back their research budgets, relying on universities to do the work. “There's a lot less research going on in industry than there used to be,” said UCSB's Long. “Most companies have decimated their research labs.” Long argued that companies are looking for fewer PhDs than they did 10 or 15 years ago because they don't have the facilities and don't want to pay the higher salaries.

In recent years, industry has become more involved with academia. That's good for the most part, as long as industry lets the teachers teach. Often, companies sponsor student projects or contribute to the funding of research labs. Students benefit from having worked on real-world projects and by making industry contacts, which can lead to employment upon graduation. Employers benefit because they can hire graduates with practical experience.

Overall, industry involvement in projects is welcome, because the companies provide equipment, materials, and sometimes funds for student projects. “If they're paying for a project, then they should have the say over the project,” said WPI's Looft. “But it can get too involved. I have companies that want to tell us what we're going to do, educationally.”

Drexel's Kam doesn't agree. “I'm sure that there are horror stories here and there of companies who donated the equipment and wanted to control the curriculum,” he said. “But I wouldn't call it a trend nor would I say this is widespread.” Georgia Tech's May agreed that a few companies want too much involvement, but he doesn't think it's excessive. Companies are, after all, stakeholders in the graduates that these universities produce.

Looft said that companies go over the line when they say “you didn't get it done” meaning that a student project didn't produce a marketable product. When that occurs, he reminds companies that a student project is an educational endeavor that may not produce a working product.

Kam takes a different approach. He argued that companies need to get more involved in the educational process. “Industry is absent from the accreditation process,” he said. He wants to see greater participation from industry so universities can produce the engineers best qualified to keep companies competitive.

Whether you think the world has too many or too few electrical engineers, you'll probably agree that engineers make an impact on people's lives every day. Engineering has proven to be a satisfying career for many. Your work makes a difference in the world. Now, go out and tell someone how engineers contribute to society.

We would like to thank the following students, who participated in our interviews but whom we did not quote: Molly Finn, civil engineering student at Syracuse University, and Alexander Koulet, engineering student at the University of New Hampshire.

In addition, we would also like to thank the following staff members at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for taking time to talk to us: John McNeil, associate professor ECE; Peder Pederson, director, Denmark Project Center; and Sergey N. Makarov, associate professor.

Specifically, as noted in the recent article, Toyota May Delay New Models to Address Rising Quality Issues, Toyota vehicles are being recalled – in record numbers - for quality problems. And that’s giving Toyota cause for concern. In fact, the company is reportedly considering adding as many as three to six more months to projects that typically require two to three years of development lead time, in order to stem the growing tide of quality problems.

The question is, what’s really going on? Toyota engineers claim that mistakes are happening “because computer-aided engineering tools have limitations that allow potential design flaws to slip through.” But are the design tools really to blame, or is it something else?

No doubt, the pressures imposed by Toyota’s aggressive production schedule over the past several years are a key factor. In its quest to earn the top spot in the auto sector worldwide, the company has reportedly been pushing its engineers hard to compress vehicle development times and has been relying more heavily on virtual prototypes – rather than physical prototypes—in order to do so. In fact, according to officials at the Toyota product-development and engineering center in Ann Arbor, Mich., virtual-engineering tools have helped the company slash the number of prototypes per project from 60 to fewer than 20.

But such “shortcuts” on the front-end of the design and development process are ultimately responsible for causing the quality problems in production vehicles, claim some of those familiar with the matter. That’s bad news for engineering software providers like Dassault Systemes, which less than a handful of years ago, excitedly reported that it had earned Toyota’s business.

Specifically, IBM and Dassault Systemes announced in March 2002 the signing of a strategic agreement with Toyota Motor Corporation, to build a world-class collaboration around PLM Solutions covering “end-to-end vehicle development processes.”

In fact, in a press release on the subject, Ed Petrozelli, then general manager, IBM Product Lifecycle Management, is quoted as saying that, “IBM’s history of pacesetting contributions and investments in automotive technology combined with the unparalleled reach of our resources worldwide, including our world-class Virtual Product Innovation (VPI) teams, will help ensure Toyota’s success in setting new global standards for automobile manufacturing.”

Not surprisingly, the one making the apologies for any product failures today is Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe. True to form, Toyota is taking complete responsibility for any defects in workmanship that may have resulted from its use of virtual-engineering tools.

The bottom line is that Toyota is going to great lengths presently to insure that any quality issues be resolved in short order. Undoubtedly, such a move will go a long way towards keeping Toyota customers happy. In the end, such a customer-centric view is what has enabled Toyota to be so successful to date – not its technology. Technology, after all, is only as powerful as the people behind it.

5 Steps of Emotion Coaching

Step 1 - Emotional Awareness

Step 2 - Recognizing Emotions As An Opportunity For Intimacy And Teaching

Step 3 - Listening Empathetically And Validating The Child's Feelings

Step 4 - Labeling Emotions

Step 5 - Setting Limits While Helping the Child Problem-Solve

우리나라에서는 보기 힘든 광경이지만 공항의 활주로를 공중에서 내려다보면 활주로 양쪽 끝 부분 항공기의 착륙방향으로 볼 때 진입구 초입에 커다란 아라비아 숫자가 그려져 있다. 이러한 숫자는 세계 어느 공항에 가더라고 꼭 적혀 있는 것인데 이 숫자는 다름 아닌 활주로의 방향을 나타내는 표식들이다. 활주로를 건설할 때 방향을 결정하는 요인은 운항의 종류 즉 시계비행이냐 계기비행이냐, 진입구역의 장애물이나 인접공항의 교통흐름 등 여러 가지가 있으나 가장 중요한 요소는 뭐니뭐니해도 연간평균풍향이라는 것은 이미 널리 알려진 사실이다.

ICAO(국제민간항공협회) ANEX(부속서)14, Chapter 3의 1항1에는 “비행장의 활주로 수와 비행장의 대상이 되는 항공기의 비행장 이용가능율이 적어도 95%가 되도록 해야 한다”라고 권고하고 있다. 또한 1항 2에는 전항을 적용함에 있어서 일정한 수치의 횡풍분력(Cross- wind component)에 관해서도 기술하고 있다. 즉 일년을 통 털어서 95%이상 바람 부는 방향이 활주로 기준으로 일정해야 한다는 것이다.

하늘에서의 길 안내는 지상관제관이 항공기에게 방향을 지시하는 방법으로 이루어지는데 이 때 항공기가 진행해야 할 방향을 일일이 육성으로 알려주는 것이 아니라 3자리 숫자로 알려주고 있다. 즉 북쪽을 360으로 하고 시계바늘 방향으로 돌면서 북동 45, 동쪽 90, 남동 135, 남쪽 180, 남서 225, 서쪽 270, 북서 315 등으로 표시하고 있으며 이러한 표시방법은 선박에서도 똑 같이 사용하고 있다.

이렇게 방향을 잡으면서 목적지 공항에 접근하여 드디어 착륙단계에 이르게 되면 조종사는 활주로 말단에 2자리 숫자가 적혀 있는 것을 육안으로 볼 수 있다. 이 숫자는 항공기 진입방향을 나타내는 것으로 항공기 진행방향의 방위를 10단위 2자리로 표시하도록 되어 있다. 즉 활주로 말단의 2자리 숫자는 그 활주로가 어느 방향으로 뻗어 있는가를 나타내고 있는 것이다. 정확히 북쪽방향으로 뻗어 있으면 360도의 2자리를 따서 36으로 나와 있고 같은 활주로라도 반대로 북쪽에서 남쪽으로 진입할 경우는 기수가 남쪽으로 향하고 있기 때문에 180도의 2자리를 따서 18로 적혀 있다.

2개의 활주로가 평행으로 있을 경우는 항공기 진입방향 기준으로 우측 활주로에 R(Right), 좌측 활주로에 L(Left)로 표시하고 그 앞에 진행방향각을 나타내도록 되어 있다. 김포공항의 경우, 활주로 북쪽에서 진입할 경우 북단 우측 활주로(서쪽)에 14R-32L, 좌측 활주로(동쪽, 터미널에 가까운 쪽)에 14L-32R 이라고 적혀 있으며, 활주로 남단에서 볼 때는 우측 활주로(동쪽)에 32R-14L, 좌측 활주로(서쪽)에 32L-14R 이라고 적혀 있다.

인천공항의 경우 북쪽에서 진입할 경우 활주로 북단에는 우측 활주로(서쪽, 1번 활주로)에 15R-33L, 좌측 활주로(동쪽)에15L-33R이라고 적혀 있으며, 남쪽에서 진입할 경우 활주로 남단에는 우측 활주로(동쪽, 2번 활주로)에 33R-15L, 좌측 활주로(서쪽, 1번 활주로)에 33L/15R이라고 각각 적혀 있다. 즉 인천공항의 활주로는 남쪽 진입구(인천쪽)에서 보면 150°/330°로 나와 있으며 활주로의 방향은 정확한 남북방향이 아니라 남남동에서 북북서 방향으로 뻗어 있음을 알 수 있다. 시계바늘로 보면 5시 55분 정도의 방향으로 생각하면 된다.

인천공항의 경우 북서풍이 우세한 겨울철에는 33L이나 33R방향(즉 인천 앞 바다에서 북북서 방향으로 이착륙하고), 남동풍이 주로 부는 여름철에는 15L이나 15R 방향(즉 북북서에서 인천 앞 바다 방향으로 이착륙하게 된다)활주로가 이용된다. 또한 같은 계절이라도 낮에는 북북서 방향으로, 밤에는 남남동 방향으로 이착륙하는 경우가 많다. 전반적으로는 15방향(즉 북북서에서 남남동 방향으로 진입)을 주 방향으로 사용하고 있다.

그러면 거의 없는 일이긴 하지만 3개의 활주로가 나란히 있을 경우는 어떻게 표기하는 것일까? ICAO 부속서 14 제5장 항행용 시각원조시설 표지(Markings)에는 3본의 경우 L(좌측), C(중앙), R(우측)로 표기하고 4개가 나란히 있을 경우는 L(좌좌), R(좌우), L(우좌), R(우우)로 표기하도록 하고 있다. 또한 숫자의 크기는 폭이 1.1m(숫자 1)~3.9m(숫자 4), 높이 9m 크기로 흰색으로 표기하도록 하고 있다.

하늘에서 내려다 볼 때 보이는 숫자의 크기는 작지만 실제로는 어른 키 5인분이상이나 된다고 하니 엄청난 크기임에 틀림없다.
(출처 : '활주로 말단에 그려진 숫자' - 네이버 지식iN)