Seriously. We do. While doing some research, I was perusing the online ACerS Career Center’s listings (free to job hunters and employers!) and noticed there are something like 54 positions employers are trying to fill.

Here is the breakdown, by category (some overlaps):

Management (4)
Engineering (35)
Purchasing (1)
Sales (2)
Research (10)
Production (6)
Marketing (1)
Consultant (2)
Professor (3)
Scientist (10)
Other (1)

These vacancies tend to fill quickly. Don’t snooze and lose. And, even if you have a job, check out what the employment market is like.

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Relative job growth trends for engineers from Indeed.com. The Indeed.com search engine searches openings at thousands of job sites. Credit: Indeed.com

The Society for Automotive Engineers just released a survey-based study on anticipated employment trends for engineers in the 2011-2016 timeframe. The study focused on the so-called mobility industries: automotives, aerospace and commercial vehicles (e.g., construction equipment, trucks, tanks, armored personnel carriers, etc.). The report is free to SAE members.

According to the executive summary, the employment picture for SAE’s constituency is looking rosy for the next five years. The study compiles information collected through surveys, personal interviews with high-level HR managers and government statistics. All respondents indicated that they expect to hire engineers in the next five years and most of it in 2011. The automotive and aerospace sectors plan to add positions in the next 1-2 years; the commercial vehicle sector will lag a little bit, adding positions in the next 1-3 years. Most of the hiring activity will be with OEMs in the automotive industry, and they are expecting to hire an average of 500-1000 engineers each.

The SAE report identifies mechanical engineers as the most in-demand group, followed by industrial, electrical and manufacturing engineers. Materials engineers are expected to represent about 2% of the new hires in the automotive sector, and 1% and 4% respectively in the aerospace and commercial vehicle sectors.

The good news for materials engineers appears to be substantiated by information available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition. According to the OOH, the employment outlook for engineers overall is expected to be good and to grow at about 7-13 % in the next ten years. The expected job growth for materials engineers is projected to be right in the middle of that range at about 9%, increasing from about 24,400 jobs in 2008 to 26,600 projected in 2018. Within the motor vehicle manufacturing (NAICS 33610) category, BLS is forecasting an overall reduction in the engineering work force by 2018 compared to 2008, however, materials engineers are expected to be affected only slightly.

Salary-wise, OOH reports a median salary of about $82k for materials engineers. The OOH just happens to mention that among engineers employed by the federal government, our brethren ceramic engineers pull top honors with mean annual salaries of just under $127k.

Relative job growth trends for ceramic engineers from Indeed.com. The Indeed.com search engine searches openings at thousands of job sites. Credit: Indeed.com

However, it’s important to remain realistic. Joy about the outlook for engineering job growth should be tempered by other economic indicators that offer more gloomy scenarios. Recently, CNN reported that the recovery is losing momentum with hiring slower than expected in May and slightly worse unemployment.

There are glimmers of hope. The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2011 Spring Update reports that employers expect to hire 19% more new graduates out of the just-graduated class of 2011 - and that is across all majors and industry sectors - than they did last year.

Anecdotally, the press releases in our inboxes are telling a story of confidence and investment. Here is a sampling.

Morgan Technical Ceramics - Expanding Latrobe, Pa., facility for manufacturing of alumina and steatite micro-size products.

Momentive Performance Materials - Expanding ceramic powders production manufacturing facility in Strongsville, Ohio with a $5.8 million, 6,000 square foot project.

Nanocerox - Expanding it Ann Arbor, Mich. based manufacturing and R&D facilities by 20% to meet market demand for ceramic nanopowders and optical ceramics.

MesoCoat Inc. - Building a new manufacturing plant in Euclid, Ohio to produce ceramic wear-resistant coatings and clads for steel tube, pipe, and plate.

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Can you explain your research to a coworker? That’s probably fairly easy.

How about your spouse? Or your parents? Get’s a little trickier, doesn’t it? But, of course, they know your educational background and have probably heard you drop a few technical terms here and there, so it might not be too much of a stretch.

Let’s take it a step farther. Could you explain your work and its importance to a group of random college or high school students — and keep their attention? Maybe not so much.

I’ll crank it up one more notch. What if we switch the venue and audience to a bar or pub: Do you have the confidence and spiel to survive the ultimate “tough crowd?”

If Australia’s Fresh Science program gets hold of you and runs you through its four-day “bootcamp” the answer will be “yes” to all of the above.

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Fresh Science before I received a news release from the group last week about the work of young researcher who went through the bootcamp, Louise van der Werff. Van der Werff has developed a ”smart bandage” textile system.

Back to my original point, what really caught my eye is that organizers of Fresh Science mention among other things that participants are expected to present their discovers — in verse — at a Melbourne pub.

Van der Werff is one of 16 early-career scientists who began presenting their research to the public for the first time last week thanks to Fresh Science, a national program sponsored by the Australian Government. The release doesn’t mention anything about doing an oral presentation at a pub, but it does say that she and the others will present their work:

• In verse at Tech on Tap, part of AMP’s Amplify Festival tonight in Sydney;
• Over dinner with Australia’s chief scientist, Ian Chubb, in Melbourne; and
• To school students in Melbourne and Bendigo.

Sounds like fun!

After doing a little digging, I discovered that Fresh Science has been around, in one form or another, for 14 years. The website describes it as a government-funded national event (that also receives support from New Scientist magazine) meant to bring together scientists, the media and the public. It is designed to “enhance reporting of Australian science; highlight and encourage debate on the role of science in Australian society; and provide role models for the next generation of Australian scientists.”

From what I gather, the basic idea is to identify annually in each Australian state (via nominations) a group of early-career researchers doing work in Australia from a cross-section of sciences. The group is then put through several preliminary communications “bootcamps” where they are coached in how to present ideas clearly to a general audience and the media. From among these “state finalists,” a group of judges comprised of scientists, journalists and science communicators select the “national finalists.”

The national finalists then receive several days of advanced media and communications training, help draft a media release about their discoveries, practice presenting their research during school talks, dinners and, let’s not forget, “pub events.”

It appears that the professional support for the bootcamp and other Fresh Science activities is provided by Science In Public. SIP describes itself as a “science communication company” that “helps scientists and science organizations present their ideas in the public space.” SIP also provides media training courses and strategy develop programs around Australia for scientists, so it is something of a cross between Futurity and a typical PR agency.

I think the basic ideas behind Fresh Science are pretty smart. Like it or not, researchers have to realize that they have an enormous stake in explaining what they are doing, not only to the public, but more importantly, to the various legislators, agency heads, aides, that provide the funding. In addition, we have a national problem with attracting students to careers in science and engineering. The best and most efficient way to tell stories about research is to engage the researchers themselves rather than relying on some intermediary PIO or university-level communications department staffer.

I do know that there are supporters of the researcher-as-communicator approach among many U.S.-based science groups, such as the National Science Foundation, and later this year ACerS will once again be helping the NSF ceramics in a special two-day principle investigators workshop that contains nearly a full day of communications training. Hopefully the Fresh Science examples will spur us to reach even higher.

And, while we are on the topic of materials science “Down Under,” don’t forget about the ACerS PACRIM9 meeting coming up in Cairns, Queensland in mid-July. Let us know if you hear of any materials-inspired pub poetry!

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Using $570,000 in NSF seed money, Alfred University’s Inamori School of Engineering and the school’s Division of Student Affairs are launching an innovative leadership program for engineering students. The program, called Engineering Leadership Education and Development, will begin as a five-year program to identify and work with a group of 16 students at the university, plus help attract high school-aged females to the field of engineering.

Doreen Edwards, dean of AU’s engineering school, explains E-LEADS by noting that leadership and teamwork skills are needed for a successful engineering career. She says, “We hope to teach students that leadership occurs at all levels within an organization and that they can apply their leadership skills during their very first job as new engineers. We are particularly interested in developing leadership around issues related to gender in the science and engineering fields.”

The leadership program Edwards and others are crafting at AU might not fit the stereotyped notion of “leadership” and will be based on what is known as the Social Change Model (pdf). Julia Overton-Healy, director of the Women’s Leadership Center, explains that SCM “assumes that there are core values held within ethical leadership, and taken together, create change for the common good. Leadership, then, is not positional: it becomes a shared endeavor of committed persons working toward a common goal.”

Overton-Healy says scholars selected for E-LEAD will learn specific leadership skills. Moreover, she notes, the scholars will be helped in three strategic areas: identifying their core strengths, aptitudes and values; understanding how their experiences, privileges and disadvantages shapes how they lead; and locating opportunities to improve gender inequity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Skills training will include public speaking, meeting management, time management, listening, and conflict resolution.

Overton-Healy says they expect the mix of theory, self assessments, skill building and real-world application will give E-LEAD scholars higher self confidence and efficacy in assuming leadership roles. They say one component will be “community building” that will include peer mentoring, colocated student housing and networking events. E-LEADS will also be able to leverage programming already offered by AU’s Women’s Leadership Center.

In regard to career development, E-LEADS will provide on-campus research opportunities for first-year students, résumé and interviewing workshops, optional co-op educational experiences and summer internships.

Edwards and Overton-Healy will serve as coprincipal investigators. They plan on using the first year of the project on program development and recruitment of the first group of E-LEAD scholars. The grant is expected to provide scholarships to 16 male and female students throughout their academic career, plus support outreach activities aimed at increasing the number of female students in engineering.

While the NSF funding provides support for the first five years, Edwards and Overton-Healy view E-LEADS as a long-term effort, and say they will be seeking corporate support to make it a sustainable program for engineering students.

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Credit: CEM; OSU.

Ohio State University has issued a request for proposals for its 2011-2012 Materials Research Seed Grant Program. The offering is open to the “OSU materials community.” According to Nitin P. Padture, an OSU professor and founder of the school’s Center for Emergent Materials, these seed grant programs are designed to support new ideas that might have the potential for transformative impact on science and technology.

The announcement explains that this RFP replaces what had been three separate seed programs. The new program “leverages resources and best practices from the seed programs of the Center for Emergent Materials, ENCOMM, and Institute for Materials Research. The result is a unified RFP with three funding tiers designed to achieve the greatest impact for seeding excellence in materials research of varying scopes.”

ENCOMM is OSU’s center for Electronic & Magnetic Nanoscale Composite Multifunctional Materials.

The three funding tiers are:

1. Proto-IRG Grants, which have the “goal of forming new Interdisciplinary Research Groups that could be incorporated into the CEM renewal proposal in 2013.”

2. Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants, which have the goal of “forming multidisciplinary materials research teams that can compete effectively for federal block-funding opportunities.”

3. Exploratory Materials Research Grants, which have the goal of “enabling nascent materials research to emerge to the point of being competitive for external funding.”

The grants include funding for principal and coprincipal investigators and other direct costs.

The complete RFP is available here. The deadline for proposals is 2:00 p.m. Monday May 16, 2011.

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