MERC is pleased to announce that the proceedings from the Advancing Innovations in Engineering Education: Ideas for a New Age 2006 conference are now available.

The conference, which was held November 1-3 at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida, focused on sharing best practices and exchanging ideas to support and enhance manufacturing and engineering technician education in the 21st century.

This year's topics included: The Next Frontiers: Programs in Manufacturing and Emerging Technologies; Innovative Technical Programs: Methodology and Pedagogy; and Strategies in Recruitment and Retention.

Ultimately, Advancing Innovations focused on inspiring creativity, exploring emerging technologies, attracting students, and marketing engineering technologies. The conference was co-sponsored by the NCME, NJCATE, and MATEC.

We're working hard to make MERC even better! Stay tuned for the new MERC Online, coming in 2007!

February 18-24, 2007 is National Engineers Week. Many events and activities are planned nationally. For a list of events in your area, check out www.eweek.org.

In honor of National Engineers Week, below are links to some sites that highlight the roles of engineers and technologists in manufacturing, along with other engineering career information. Enjoy!

• The Engineering Alphabet: An Overview of Engineering Disciplines
• What is manufacturing engineering?
• InDemand magazine -Advanced Manufacturing
• Taking a Closer Look at Engineering Education

Published by the NCME. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
MERC and the NCME are funded by the National Science Foundation.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.