51st CES brings Engineers Week to Osan

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Eric Burks
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Airmen of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron offered Osan Middle and High School students a unique look into the engineering world during this year's National Engineers Week, speaking with students and providing a look at Air Force civil engineering in action.

The Airmen visited the middle school Feb. 16 and the high school Feb. 18, giving an overview of engineering and offering demonstrations highlighting different aspects of the field.

"Our goal is to stimulate interest and awareness in engineering as a career path," said Capt. Scott Wallace, 51st CES airfield project manager.

"The United States needs more engineers, and you can't grow them overnight," he said.

"It takes a lot of time and training to be a good engineer, and the earlier you start, the better," said the captain. "Creative minds are what the engineer field is looking for."

This is the first year the squadron offered a program during Engineers Week, said Captain Wallace. Several squadron members participated at their previous duty stations and wanted to bring the program here.

During the program, students were first given details of engineering in general - who engineers are and what they do - then broke into groups to participate in demonstrations of three different aspects of the field - explosive ordnance disposal, readiness, and surveying/drafting.

The interactive demonstrations included opportunities for the students to try on an EOD bomb suit, test night-vision goggles, remote control an EOD robot, and search for coordinates with surveying and mapping equipment.

"This is a unique opportunity to have real-world military professionals come in to demonstrate the scope of their field," said Onan Floyd, Aerospace Science Instructor for Professional Technical Studies at the high school.

Robert Kabanuck, Professional Technical Studies teacher at the high school, said the students are seeing a real-world application of what they're learning in the classroom.
One example, he said, was observing the applied principles of robotics during the EOD robot demonstration.

National Engineers Week promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy. It also motivates youth to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce, according to the National Society of Professional Engineers.