Letter from JETS

JETS is moving into high season this month. JETS Clubs have now reached 1,000 members! Many of you are gearing up for the TEAMS competition. NEDC Round II entries are in, and the judges are evaluating them to select five teams to advance to finals in Washington, DC, February 15-17th. Congratulations to all the teams who participated in NEDC this year!

In addition, JETS is launching the 5th edition of the signature assessment tool, aptly renamed, ASSESS on February 1st! Visit the Coaches Corner to learn more about this academic diagnostic to help students prepare for a college engineering or related technical program.

Both the feature of the month and the extreme engineer this month explore design and drafting engineering. This specialty researches and develops concepts for new products, structures, production processes, and manufacturing systems. Our extreme engineer of the month, Jennifer Holcomb, currently applies her design and drafting expertise to vulnerability assessment—including antiterrorism force protection—and environmental assessment. The January Hot Topic takes you behind the scenes to explore a new technology that turns computer-aided design (CAD) documents into 3D prototypes. February’s Engineering Pathway takes students hands on using computer-aided design (CAD) to design a tower and manufacture the parts with a laser cutter.

Best wishes from the JETS team for a challenging and rewarding year ahead in 2007! Good luck at TEAMS and NEDC Nationals.