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For Release:
February 15, 2008
Contact: Wendy Angel
Public Relations
678-539-1216
wangel@ashrae.org
ATLANTA -- Engineers don’t just shape our buildings and infrastructure; they help shape our world.
The Atlanta-based American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is a partner in the National Engineers Week program (Feb. 17-23), a celebration of the contributions that engineering makes to our society and encourages engineering as a career path among young students by promoting pre-college literacy in math and science. For specific information about the program, please visit www.EWeek.org.
“National Engineers Week showcases how our profession engineers the world we live in,” says ASHRAE President Kent Peterson. “From buildings to manufacturing and transportation, engineers have been behind so many modern-day marvels. Mankind also faces many engineering challenges today and in the future on how to improve sustainable life on earth. ASHRAE is proud to be involved in this program and celebration.”
ASHRAE has twice served as lead organization in National Engineers Week. The last time, in 2003, ASHRAE launched the New Faces of Engineering recognition program as part of the weekly celebration, which has continued each year. The New Faces program promotes the accomplishments of young engineers across various disciplines by highlighting their engineering contributions and the resulting impact on public welfare. The program targets those age 30 and younger. Engineering associations, societies and government groups nominate candidates each year, from which 15 are selected for recognition in USA Today. ASHRAE’s nominee this year is Molly F. McGuire, a mechanical designer at Taylor Engineering, Alameda, California.
McGuire’s projects include variable-air-volume retrofits of two chemistry labs at Stanford University, which markedly reduced building energy consumption by more than 50 percent. She serves on the committee writing Standard 189.1P, Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential, which will be the nation’s first standard for sustainable buildings. Through this committee, she has advanced aggressive energy and indoor environmental quality targets.
McGuire and all of the New Faces of Engineering will be featured in a full-page ad published in USA Today during National Engineers Week.
Several events will take place in conjunction with National Engineers Week, including Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Feb.21) and the Future City Competition. Now in its 16th year, the competition attracted 30,000 middle-school students this year from a record-breaking 1,111 schools in 40 regions across America to work with teachers and volunteer engineers to envision the future in large, tabletop models of cities of tomorrow.
The teams present their Future Cities before engineer judges at regional competitions in January. First place teams from qualifying regional competitions win a trip to Washington for the Future City National Finals, February 18-20. Visit www.futurecity.org. ASHRAE will be presenting special awards for sustainability and indoor air quality.
In addition, ASHRAE’s National Capital Chapter participates in and supports the Family Day event at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., on February 16. Some 6,000 local K-12 students try out hands-on projects, meet with engineers, and discover the ways engineers make a difference in the world.
ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.
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