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By tomorrow afternoon, engineers and students will have taken part in more than 50 live chats across the four zones; live chats are the bread and butter of the I’m an Engineer competition, so what better way to end the two weeks than with an afternoon-long open-chat? On Friday afternoon we’ll be opening up the live chats in all the zones to any students who want to chat with the engineers. The live chats will be open from 12 pm to 3 pm, when engineers and registered students are invited to drop in and out for one final live chat! Keen students will be able to log in in their own time to chat with the engineers, get in some last minute questions, and give the finalists a chance to pick up those all-important eleventh-hour votes, before the winners are announced at 3 pm. We’re always really impressed to see how many … Continue reading →

I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here! is back this June 16th–27th, coinciding with National Women in Engineering Day on the 23rd. 20 engineers will be talking with students from nearly 40 schools across 4 zones; Apprentice, Cities, Food, and Health! There’s all types of engineers, from a Food Zone engineer helping farmers to grow the best quality grains and a Cities Zone engineer making buildings and bridges stand up, to a current electronics Apprentice and a Health Zone engineer making better ankle joint replacements. For the latest updates on the event, follow @IAEGMOOH on Twitter. Our hashtag for 2014 is #IEng2014. Let’s take a look at the schools and engineers taking part this June! Apprentice Zone The Apprentice Zone is funded by the STFC. The Engineers: Ruth Gregory Amey Consulting Rail Engineer on Great Western Electrification from an Apprenticeship Programme with Professional accreditation training who has moved around company; experiencing many different teams … Continue reading →

The first ever National Women in Engineering Day (NWED) falls on Monday 23rd June 2014. Perfectly, that’s slap bang in the middle of our next I’m an Engineer event (June 16th – 27th). NWED is all about celebrating women in engineering, and encouraging more girls to consider engineering as a career. Both to raise the profile of women in engineering, but also to address the skills gap in the engineering sector where less than 10% of the workforce are female. Around 35% of the 280+ engineers who’ve applied to take part in I’m an Engineer to date are female, and 65% male. The % of female engineers who’ve taken part is slightly higher at 38%. But we want 50/50. Sign up for June The 4 zones we’re running this June, around NWED, are an Apprentice Zone, Cities Zone, Food Zone & Health Zone and we’d like a 50/50 split of female … Continue reading →

The next I’m an Engineer event: 16th to 27th June 2014 This June we’re running four brand new I’m an Engineer zones! This means 20 engineers chatting with and answering questions from around 1,400 secondary Maths, D&T and Science students. Keep reading for zone details, or if you want to skip straight to the application, teachers register here: imanengineer.org.uk/teacher-registration, engineers apply here: imanengineer.org.uk/engineer-apply. Apprentice Zone For engineers currently on an apprentice scheme, or those who’ve entered engineering through an apprenticeship. Students will learn about apprenticeships and the vast array of career opportunities they open up. The Apprentice Zone is funded by the STFC. It is open to any engineers with links to the STFC, for more information: imanengineer.org.uk/information-for-stfc-engineers. Cities Zone The Cities Zone is will look at a broad range of engineering areas; from building bridges and cable networks, to solving congestion and reducing power consumption. From fire safety to earthquake-proof buildings. How … Continue reading →

As we finish one event we’re straight into planning for the next one, this June. This time there’s a lot more planning to do, as we’re pleased to announce more funding for I’m an Engineer over the next few years. Thanks to the Royal Academy of Engineering (our main funder over the next year) we’ve been awarded an Ingenious Grant to run 6 more zones covering all areas of engineering; 1 this June 2014 and 5 in March 2015. The grant is also to produce marketing materials, to develop the website, and to work with a funding consultant to grow I’m an Engineer further. We’re also going to be running 8 zones on biomedical engineering themes over the next 3 years, thanks to a People Award from the Wellcome Trust. The first 2 biomedical engineering zones will run this June 2014, with 6 further zones taking us through to March 2017. … Continue reading →

After every event we ask the scientists and moderators to select the students who stood out to them; the students they thought asked the best questions, or engaged most in the live chats. Well done to the winning student, and everyone who took part. There were so many interesting questions, and comments, but there could only be one winner in the Space Zone. So, for fantastic engagement during the event, for posting brilliant questions and comments, this student will receive a £20 WH Smith’s gift card. mrsheepy St Benedict’s School At the end the event, we ask the students to answer a question to help us gauge their attitudes towards engineering. We randomly choose one student who answered to win a voucher too. That student is elleewoodling20. Thanks to the Science and Technology Facilities Council for funding I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here.

Over the past two weeks 5 engineers in the Space Zone have taken part in live chats with nearly 250 registered students and answered more than 150 questions. We’ve been evicting engineers since Tuesday, and this afternoon we said Goodbye another. Now just two engineers remain, ready to battle it out for the £500 prize money, and the title of I’m an Engineer Champion! Congratulations Jessica and Alexander: Jessica Marshall vs. Alexander Finch The winners will be announced at 3pm on Friday! Thanks to the Science and Technology Facilities Council for funding I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here!

With no live chats booked in today, the Space Zone has been a little quiet, but there has been plenty of discussion in the posted ASK questions. Questions in the Space Zone have covered everything from whether it’s possible to colonise the moon, to why engineers need to know about outer-space. We’ve picked out a couple of our favourites: Would we be able to colonise the moon to make the conditions good enough that we can live there for extended periods of time? What do you think is going to become the biggest challenge for engineers in the future? To what extend is relevant for us to gain understanding of outer space? When asked what the engineers’ “biggest achievements” have been, Jessica says that even though her projects won’t launch until 2016, sometimes it’s the little wins that keep us motivated; worth remembering! There are plenty of live chats to … Continue reading →

I’m an Engineer March 2014 has got off to a flying start! The questions are really out of this world! In the live chat’s the students and engineers have been chatting about the ethics around giving robots feelings: Student: Is there any chance that robots will ever be capable of feeling love? Neil Bowles: Love and robots. Apart from sounding like an album title from the 1980s, who knows? I have a colleague here (a philosopher) who wonders if we are all living in a computer simulation anyway, which is an interesting question actually. Probably I certainly have a love/hate relationship with my computer when I’m coding! robots with feelings, probably not dangerous unless their moral compass, for want of a better phrase was different. While the posted ASK questions, have covered everything from the engineers’ favourite thing about their jobs, to changing the laws of physics. There have been … Continue reading →

I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here! is back from 10th–21st March with the Space Zone. Students from eleven schools will put their questions to five engineers, and at the end, one will come out victorious. Let’s take a look at the schools and engineers taking part this March! The Engineers: Neil Bowles University of Oxford Invention, testing and flying of equipment to explore the planets in our Solar system.  Jessica Marshall EADS Astrium I design spacecraft that look at climate change.  Aron Kisdi RAL Space I build robots that are used on Earth to test software, navigation and sensors for robots that will explore Mars, Moon and other places. Alexander Finch European Space Agency I build computers that tell spacecraft which way they’re looking!  Adam Scott RAL Space I design parts for satellite instruments as well as ground test setups. The Schools: Streatham and Clapham High School, London … Continue reading →