JETS promotes engineering, math to U.S. high school students.

• Author: Miller, Cynthia D.
• Position: STEMNEWS

Though science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education is receiving a lot of press today, there have been organizations dedicated to the advancement of the fields for many decades.

One such organization, the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS), was created in 1950 as the brainchild of Dean Lorin Miller and Harold Skamser. While initially created to give high school students who already excelled in math and science an outlet to participate in real-life engineering experiences while still in school, the organization's philosophy has changed over the years and it now embraces all levels of students in secondary schools.

A non-profit with more than 40,000 students participating in its activities annually, JETS emphasizes that engineering is not simply math and analytics, but embraces creative problem solving--especially in a team setting. To help students discover their potential for engineering, the organization offers a unique approach to activities--"explore, assess and experience." The "explore" portion offers print and online resources that promote the positive aspect of the engineering profession and how engineers make a difference in the world. One component of explore is the JETS free e-newsletter, which includes "Extreme Engineer" interviews with professionals in more man 20 disciplines with descriptions of the various projects that they participate in daily.

Students are also invited to examine how their own skills and interests can align with engineering by completing me PathAssess tool. PathAssess is an online interest inventory and skills survey in which students answer a series of questions and are men given a summary of engineering majors and occupations they may want to consider.

Lastly, students can gain hands-on engineering experience by participating in the JETS TEAMS Competition. TEAMS is an annual high school program challenging students to work collaboratively and to apply their math and science knowledge toward the solving of real challenges. Each year, the topics for these competitions focus on a theme and embrace one of 14 grand challenges issued by the National Academy of Engineering. The 2011 competition will focus on energy and the need for diversification, efficiency, security and ecological sustainability.

TEAMS competitions are conducted on the campuses of high schools, universities, corporations and professional...