As a Mechanical Engineer, there are a surplus of professional and unprofessional organizations to join in order to improve life as an engineer. These organizations are made specifically to assist all engineers, including minorities in STEM, such as black engineers and women. Examples of these helpful organizations include: National Society of Black Engineers, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Society of Women Engineers, and Phi Sigma Rho National Sorority Inc. The organizations that whose missions coincide with my goals are the ones that I tend to be an active member in.
When an organization promotes a specific quality I am seeking, it attracts me because I feel it has presented more opportunities for internships and to learn from. Although I tend to lean towards organizations that are beneficial to me, I take advantage of all engineering organizations available to me as a way to build my networking skills. The National Society of Black Engineers is the platform organization for any Black engineer seeking support within his/her field. Its motto “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” demonstrates the usefulness of this organization as the executive board, which consists of current students at universities, provides opportunities for each engineer to succeed. Through the use of conferences, newsletters, scholarships, and mentoring, members of the National Society of Black Engineers are equipped which the resources necessary to become a stronger candidate in engineering. The National society of Black Engineers provides opportunities for personal and professional success, and has a number of corporate partners to help students. Due to the size of the organization, it is harder to take advantage of these resources simply because in order to attend the conferences such as the recent Fall Regional Conference, students have to pay large fees in order to attend. This is discouraging to students as they feel as though it is not worth it to pay in order to have a “shot” at an opportunity more qualified students will be applying for. Also, NSBE does not provide much assistance for the specializations which is what I care more about. Meaning, NSBE is more concerned with engineering as a whole rather than the individual disciplines within engineering. I feel as though this weakens the usefulness of the organization because it does not provide workshops or opportunities that can further people within my field individually but just opportunities for people within engineering as a whole. Granted, NSBE has phenomenal goals, but they are not as concentrated on my interests as I would like. In a National Society of Black Engineers periodical, Neville Green talks about the members of working together to make a positive change. NSBE members are promoting engineering a cultural change in the community to join the fight for a positive change. This is a great movement, but shows how general NSBE can be. One of the points in the article is to “mentor a young person by encouraging them not just to pursue STEM, but overcome the challenges that may come with the pursuit of a STEM education.” While this is a great objective, it further shows how vague NSBE can be with their objectives. I prefer more specific goals and objective in an organization I reflect. On the contrary, organizations like The American Society of Mechanical Engineers are more specific to my major thus enabling me to achieve my goals directly. …show more content…
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) “enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, career enrichment, and skills development for mechanical engineering disciplines”. I am interested in being a part of an organization like this because of the diversity of the members experienced or are currently experiencing what I am going through as a mechanical engineer. With the assistance of the members, I can advance to be an excellent mechanical engineer due to the exceptional connections with knowledge of mature engineers. Furthermore, ASME releases emails and articles periodically to notify mechanical engineers about jobs, internships, scholarships, etc geared towards them. Being a part of this organization would help me exponentially. Not only that, but when I graduate, I can use being a part of this organization to help more students aspiring to be where I am. Furthermore, organizations geared toward the success of women in engineering such as The Society of Women Engineers and Phi Sigma Rho National
When an organization promotes a specific quality I am seeking, it attracts me because I feel it has presented more opportunities for internships and to learn from. Although I tend to lean towards organizations that are beneficial to me, I take advantage of all engineering organizations available to me as a way to build my networking skills. The National Society of Black Engineers is the platform organization for any Black engineer seeking support within his/her field. Its motto “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” demonstrates the usefulness of this organization as the executive board, which consists of current students at universities, provides opportunities for each engineer to succeed. Through the use of conferences, newsletters, scholarships, and mentoring, members of the National Society of Black Engineers are equipped which the resources necessary to become a stronger candidate in engineering. The National society of Black Engineers provides opportunities for personal and professional success, and has a number of corporate partners to help students. Due to the size of the organization, it is harder to take advantage of these resources simply because in order to attend the conferences such as the recent Fall Regional Conference, students have to pay large fees in order to attend. This is discouraging to students as they feel as though it is not worth it to pay in order to have a “shot” at an opportunity more qualified students will be applying for. Also, NSBE does not provide much assistance for the specializations which is what I care more about. Meaning, NSBE is more concerned with engineering as a whole rather than the individual disciplines within engineering. I feel as though this weakens the usefulness of the organization because it does not provide workshops or opportunities that can further people within my field individually but just opportunities for people within engineering as a whole. Granted, NSBE has phenomenal goals, but they are not as concentrated on my interests as I would like. In a National Society of Black Engineers periodical, Neville Green talks about the members of working together to make a positive change. NSBE members are promoting engineering a cultural change in the community to join the fight for a positive change. This is a great movement, but shows how general NSBE can be. One of the points in the article is to “mentor a young person by encouraging them not just to pursue STEM, but overcome the challenges that may come with the pursuit of a STEM education.” While this is a great objective, it further shows how vague NSBE can be with their objectives. I prefer more specific goals and objective in an organization I reflect. On the contrary, organizations like The American Society of Mechanical Engineers are more specific to my major thus enabling me to achieve my goals directly. …show more content…
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) “enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, career enrichment, and skills development for mechanical engineering disciplines”. I am interested in being a part of an organization like this because of the diversity of the members experienced or are currently experiencing what I am going through as a mechanical engineer. With the assistance of the members, I can advance to be an excellent mechanical engineer due to the exceptional connections with knowledge of mature engineers. Furthermore, ASME releases emails and articles periodically to notify mechanical engineers about jobs, internships, scholarships, etc geared towards them. Being a part of this organization would help me exponentially. Not only that, but when I graduate, I can use being a part of this organization to help more students aspiring to be where I am. Furthermore, organizations geared toward the success of women in engineering such as The Society of Women Engineers and Phi Sigma Rho National