Educating future engineers doesn't just mean teaching college-level courses for Dr. Greg Davis, professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University, it also means evaluating and developing curriculum targeted at children from Kindergarten through 12th grade.
Davis' commitment to Engineering education has earned him a place on the board of directors for the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE), a professional organization with more than 90,000 members - engineers, business executives, educators, and students from more than 97 countries - who share information and exchange ideas for advancing the engineering of mobility systems worldwide.
His three-year term will officially begin in January of 2007 at the board meeting in Spain. Davis looks forward to expanding his efforts to elevate Math, Science and Engineering education at all levels. "Being on the board gives me a chance to provide academic input in SAE to help continue programs I feel vital to our future," he said.
Programs like the SAE "A World In Motion" (AWIM) program, designed to keep students in Kindergarten through 12th grade interested in math and science, and the SAE Collegiate Design Competition program.
We need to keep awareness up and keep kids moving into these career fields," he said, "for the future of Engineering and of our country. The number of students entering engineering programs in the U.S. is declining while in other countries it's picking up," he added. His focus as a board member for SAE will be on the organization's educational programs.
"A World In Motion" makes the challenges of math and science exciting by bringing authentic engineering design experiences into the classroom. The AWIM curriculum joins together teachers, students, and volunteer practicing engineers and scientists in an exploration of physical science.The curricula is provided for free to primary and secondary schools.
The Collegiate Design Competition program gives student teams hands-on experience designing, building and competing with vehicles in six engineering areas: Aero Design (radio controlled aircraft), Clean Snowmobile (low emissions), Formula SAE (race car), Mini Baja (all terrain), and Supermileage (fuel economy).
"Both AWIM and the Collegiate Design programs offer students real world issues they can work on and have fun," said Davis, "finding things that really get their interest is becoming more important. Kids have so many distractions today, they need something to capture their attention," he said.
A 20-year member of SAE, Davis has served as chair of the University Programs Committee, as a member of the Student Activity Committee, Teetor Award Committee, K-12 Education Committee, AWIM Program office and the Faculty Advisers Committee.
Davis is the recipient of the 1994 SAE Teetor Educational Award and the 1994 SAE Baltimore Section Recognition of Service Award, has authored more than 20 SAE technical publications, and served as a trustee and vice president of the Triangle Fraternity Education Foundation from 2001 to 2003.
In addition, he is faculty adviser for the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge team at Kettering and is former adviser for the SAE Formula team.
Written by Dawn Hibbard
810-762-9865
dhibbard@kettering.edu