For Immediate Release
For more information contact: Leann Yoder (703) 548-5387, ext. 105 lyoder@jets.org

Pictured left to right: Roberta Gleiter, JETS Board Member; Lauren Resnick, Ph.D., and SEEK-16 keynote speaker; and Leann Yoder, JETS Executive Director at SEEK-16 Summit. Dr. Resnick is an internationally known scholar in the cognitive s

JETS Participates In SEEK-16 Summit on K-16 Engineering Education

JETS Executive Director Leann Yoder and Board Member Roberta Gleiter, CEO of Global Institute For Technology & Engineering, were among the recognized national leaders invited to participate in the SEEK-16 National Summit on Strategies for Engineering Education K-16, February 21-22, 2005 at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C.

The summit's goal was to engage leaders from business, government, higher education, national organizations, and the K-12 classroom to create and implement strategies to use design engineering concepts and practices to improve K-16 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instruction and learning and ultimately increase U.S. student enrollment in engineering and technology fields in college.

"It was a great opportunity to meet like-minded individuals throughout the engineering community who recognize the vital role that hands-on, real world experience play in attracting students to engineering," said Leann Yoder, JETS Executive Director. "Echoed throughout the discussion groups and plenary sessions was the recognition that students need to experience math and science concepts integrated into opportunities to solve real world problems," she added.

"The conference was reaffirming of the JETS program and the value JETS TEAMS competition brings to students in applying knowledge they've gained to compelling engineering challenges," Gleiter said. Each year the JETS TEAMS competition makes a big impact on students' decisions to study engineering. "We look forward to working with SEEK-16 to bring design engineering concepts and practices to more middle and high school students," she said.

About 225 invited leaders nation-wide attended the summit, held at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C. SEEK-16 was founded to create a coalition of individuals across learning, workforce, and economic communities who are committed to leading and implementing strategies to foster an integrated learning environment to grow the base of students entering engineering and technical professions. JETS is the core organization representing all disciplines and areas of engineering and serves as the critical link between pre-college students, teachers, parents and school counselors, and the engineering community-professional societies, corporations, and academic institutions.

JETS is the core organization representing all disciplines and areas of engineering and serves as the critical link between pre-college students, teachers, parents and school counselors, and the engineering community-professional societies, corporations, and academic institutions. JETS was established in 1950 to inform and excite young people about careers in engineering. JETS now serves more than 30,000 students and 5,000 teachers and holds programs on more than 150 college campuses each year. JETS participants are a diverse group-34 percent of program participants are female, and 22 percent are from groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering and technology.