Bismarck - Gov. John Hoeven today announced an innovative partnership to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in North Dakota with the goal of training tomorrow’s engineers, especially in the aerospace industry.

The Real World Design Challenge is a partnership between the state of North Dakota, NASA, the U.S Department of Energy, FAA and others.  Schools establish teams of 3-7 students who will participate in the 2010 state challenge which will address fuel efficiency in aviation. Student teams will spend several months generating solutions to the challenge.

A winning team from each participating state will be invited to compete in the RWDC national challenge. The U.S. Department of Energy will host the RWDC National Event in Washington, D.C., in March 2010. The top national winners will receive prizes, awards, and recognition from leaders in government, industry, and higher education.

“The Real World Design Challenge will promote and enhance STEM education in the state of North Dakota,” Gov. Hoeven said.  “The challenge will bring together education, industry and government to prepare our young people in these vital careers, which in turn will help to expand our workforce for the future.”

During the 2009 legislative session the Governor included $1.5 million in his executive budget for STEM Teacher Education Enhancement Programs. 

“Through the Challenge, all North Dakota students will have access to the best resources to make North Dakota’s future workforce more globally competitive,” said Dr. Ralph K. Coppola, Director of the Real World Design Challenge & Director of Global Government & Strategic Education Programs at Parametric Technology Corporation.”    

“I am excited to show the state’s high schoolers the great opportunities that exist in the field of aviation,” said ND Aeronautics Commissioner Larry Taborsky. “The Real World Design Challenge positions them for a promising future.  With a technical background,  the sky’s the limit!”

 “The aviation component of this challenge is particularly appropriate as we encourage innovation among teachers and interest among students in order to address a shortage of engineers in the aviation industry,” said FAA Great Lakes Regional Administrator Barry Cooper. “This program supports the FAA’s broader mission of educating and training the next generation of workforce professionals to ensure the National Aerospace System remains the safest most efficient system in the world.”  

The program will provide North Dakota teachers and students free access to some of the world’s most advanced mechanical engineering and design software as part of a national design competition. The Challenge strengthens professional development for teachers through training and industry collaboration.  Mentors from National Laboratories, the FAA, industry and higher education provide support using a web-based global engineering backbone.  

The Real World Design Challenge bridges the needs of industry with the future of education, and teaches innovation, creativity, and collaboration using the expertise that industry, government and higher education have been honing for decades. The goals of the initiative are to inspire and engage all students in science, technology, engineering and math education and highlight the potential future workers in science and engineering fields.

The aerospace industry faces a very significant shortage of engineers. Between 60,000 and 68,000 engineers in the U.S. aerospace industry will retire by 2010 and only half of those will be replaced. With modest growth in the U.S. aerospace industry, there will be a shortage of 40,000 to 85,000 engineers by 2010.

For more information on the Real World Design Challenge please contact Larry Taborsky at 328-9655 or ltaborsky@nd.gov.

E-mail comments to the Governor

Top

Back

W3C AA

·

W3C CSS

·

W3C XHTML

Disclaimer

·

Privacy Policy

·

Security Policy

Copyright © 2009. All Rights Reserved. The State of North Dakota. | save this article / add to your favorites list