Founded in 1950 to encourage young people to consider careers in engineering and technology, JETS offers academic competitions, mentor programs, educational materials and scholarships to increase the number of students in the career "pipeline."

Despite its long history, however, JETS organizers say that surging growth rates for science and engineering occupations, coupled with lagging numbers of students ready to fill those slots, has led to a full court press to answer this urgent need. The result is a 56-year-old program retooled and revitalized to meet the realities of the new millennium and recently cited by Bayer Corporation as among the country's best STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education programs for secondary students.

Instituting JETS' new thrust has been more than simply fine-tuning. After a three-year review of all programs, JETS has breathed new life into its efforts and made a fresh commitment to the challenge at hand, including a concerted effort to increase outreach to girls and other under-represented populations in the field of technology and engineering.

With programs such as TEAMS, a national one-day competition at more than 100 colleges and universities, 14,000 students annually vie to solve real world engineering challenges — albeit fun ones, such as designing an ice cream manufacturing plant — and experience first hand the rigors and importance of engineering. Half of the TEAMS participants surveyed last year indicated that they will choose engineering as a college major, not including those who cited related disciplines such as math, science and technology. As another indication of the push for increased student outreach, first-time school participation in TEAMS rose 68 percent in 2006.

During its makeover, JETS also took a close look at how engineering is presented to young people. One result of that repositioning is to focus less on hammering at "are you good at math and science?," which alienates many young people, especially girls, and instead emphasize how engineering can effect positive change in society, to which girls (and boys) have a much better response.

For example, a previous TEAMS competition question would flatly state, "Your group has the task of selecting the proper pump for an application that involves the pumping of water over a long pipeline. In particular, you have to make sure that the selected pump is able to generate the required flow rate."

Compare that to the introductory wording of a 2007 competition challenge: "Mining engineers protect the lives of coal-miners by designing safety equipment."

Another program, the JWOD/JETS National Engineering Design Challenge, also takes a humanitarian tack by asking students to use engineering to help people with disabilities enter or advance in the workplace. Developed in collaboration with the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program, which provides employment opportunities for more than 45,000 Americans who are blind or have other severe disabilities, the program builds on the success of the previous JETS NEDC program for high school students, founded in 1989, and the NISH National Scholar Award for Workplace Innovation & Design, for college students.

Of course, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus are still key to engineering success, but thanks to computers that crunch numbers and do project modeling, the potential pool of engineers can expand beyond just those who "can do the math." To underscore that point to students, JETS recently issued a special report addressing various new ways to determine an individual's aptitude for engineering.

The new emphasis on analytical thinking (are you good at word problems?), visualization (can you visualize 3D objects in your head?), and memory for design, where students look for 12 seconds at random lines and then attempt to redraw them, broadens the scope of what it takes to succeed in real-world applications.

JETS executive director Leann Yoder says her organization's relaunch is in tune with the realities of young people who are far different from when JETS was established in 1950 (black and white TV was in its infancy), much less 20 years ago (fax machines were novel) or even 10 years ago (long before Google and YouTube).

"We've concentrated a lot of our effort to reaching young people through our web site, because that's where they get the majority of their information," says Yoder. The site (at www.jets.org) includes everything about the organization and its programs, the latest in technology news, and access to podcasts and resource guides. It also includes a fun side, such as the JETS Challenge of the Week, one of which recently asked students to imagine all the dental floss used in the United States every day for a year, tied end to end and then wrapped it into a ball.

After what must surely have been a chorus of "Eww!" from students nationwide, budding engineers were probably only too pleased to find a ball 9.18 meters in diameter.

About JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society)
JETS is a non-profit education organization, established in 1950 to inform and excite young people about careers in engineering. JETS now serves more than 40,000 students and 10,000 teachers in 6,000 high schools, and holds programs on more than 150 college campuses each year. JETS overall participants are a diverse group — 34 percent of program participants are female, and 22 percent are from groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering and technology. JETS is the core organization representing all disciplines and areas of engineering and serves as a critical link between pre-college students, teachers, parents, and school counselors, and the engineering community — professional societies, corporations, and academic institutions. Visit www.jets.org.

About JETS Sponsors
The TEAMS competition is generously supported by S.D. Bechtel, Jr., the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, and Tyco Electronics. JETS sponsors include Bechtel Foundation, CH2M Hill, Fluor Foundation, NISH, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, United Engineering Foundation, the United States Army Research Office, and JETS Affiliates — more than 18 professional engineering societies and 30 colleges and universities nationwide.

About JETS Academic Programs

• TEAMS: an annual national competition for high school students with an interest in math, science, and engineering applications.

• National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC): teams of students combine their science, technology and communication skills to create useful solutions that empower people with disabilities to enter or advance in the workplace.

• National Engineering Aptitude Search+ (NEAS+): an academic self-assessment geared to help high school students determine their readiness in subject areas that are critical to engineering and technology.

• U.S. Army UNITE program: JETS coordinates UNITE (the Uninitiates' Introduction to Engineering Program) which targets bright, talented, disadvantaged high school students and helps prepare and motivate them for success in engineering and technical careers.

About JETS Online Resources

• Pre-Engineering Times: JETS' fresh and unique monthly e-newsletter filled with engineering career information, classroom resources, JETS news, and more.

• Career Exploration: the JETS web site (www.jets.org) offers vast engineering career opportunities with links, books, brochures, and pamphlets.

• JETS Challenge: a weekly word problem posted on the JETS web site to inspire students to organize information effectively and solve science- and math-related problems.