For businesses represents, a forum to promote their work. For students, faculty, and professional engineers, means a space for promoting the latest findings in the field. For all of them, is a platform that reducesthe distance between the University, industry and the community. That was the mimssion of the third Engineering Community Summit (ECoS2015), held at UPR Mayagüez Campus.
Coordinated by that Faculty's Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs from the Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPRM), this event represented, again the opportunity to offer seminars, workshops and other activities about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to more than 320 people whoattended, amount that surpassed its previous editions.
This year, a new component was added, the inclusion of future freshmen who were part of plenaries focused on specific topics for them. The idea was to show them successful stories from the visiting company's leaders, so they can visualize themselves in their future careers as Engineers.
This was informed by Ellen Ríos, one of the organizers and Director of The Cooperative Education Program for the College of Engineering, by saying that ECoS strengthened ties between the different entities that have collaborated in the educational excellence of the Institution.
“The idea is to give students the opportunity to attend presentations of renowned people who work topics in Engineering," said Acarón, who also worked with doctors Arturo Ponce from UPRM, and Ricardo Rodríguez, from Raytheon.
They adopted this concept, after attending the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC), organization in charge of promoting the education of Engineers and Scientists and which annually separates two days to recognize its most outstanding members.
"We think that not all students can travel to a competition like that (HENAAC), and therefore, we wanted for them something similar, here, in El Colegio," said Acarón.
Thus, under the support of several companies, concurrent plenary sessions and workshops were presented for the benefit of the audience. This year, they added an additional component of 40 of the participants of the Summer Camp in Pre Engineering, who were integrated into the experience, thanks to the sponsorship of Procter and Gamble.
"It was a great opportunity for them to meet, not just with professionals in the industry, but to interact with professors of our faculty, and more than 30 volunteers who presented the most relevant topics in Technology and Science," she explained.
In addition to the concurrent sessions, guest speakers were: Gus Villanueva with: Leading Advanced Manufacturing in the 21st. Century, from Lockheed Martin, and Jorge Benavides with: Ask Not What You Can Do for an Employees Resource Group (ERG), but What an ERG Can Do for You: Fast-Tracking Your Career.
Also, UPRM alumni like: Engineer Luis Díaz, Héctor Crespo, Jorge G. Cintrón, Juan Nazario, Eileen M. Vélez, Gunther Costas, Doctor Ricardo Rodríguez, Omar Vázquez, Ángel Pérez, José Rodríguez, and Marvi Matos, shared some of the experiences that have helped them to develop their professional careers. Also, Ángel Crespo, Miguel Méndez, Janine Ellin, José Ruiz, Mary Angelí Collazo, Esther Casas, Jorge Benavides, and Oscar Rodríguez, attended.
By contacting with experts from the industry, the participants of ECoS learned about opportunities of internships while they complete their studies, so they can improve their chances of being employed in the future.
More details about ECoS 2015,on the website: engineering.uprm.edu/ecos.
