As I finish up my year as the UEC chairman, I am reflecting on the past three years, and I am even more convinced of the importance of what we do as engineers. Engineers are active, not passive. They are creative, innovative and knowledgeable, and they have an enormous impact on the world. 

As our world changes, many of the positive changes have been brought about by engineers who see a way to improve the lives of other people. The majority of today’s services and products started because of an engineering problem that needed to be solved. The solutions that engineers create are the basis for improved quality of life throughout the world. 

Engineers must balance competing needs. They are curious and capable, but they have to be critical as well, and they need to understand where their solutions can go wrong in an ever-changing technological world. They are our best hope of solving the technical problems that will determine our future. 

Do you enjoy creating, building, designing and tinkering? Engineering includes so many disciplines that it offers worthwhile work in many different industries. No matter what interests you have, there’s bound to be one problem or subject that catches your attention because of the potential you see in it. 

Engineering school graduates have a remarkably large choice of career directions to explore. For example, aerospace engineers create and test aircraft and aerospace products. Civil engineers may find themselves repairing and expanding U.S. infrastructure by building bridges. Computer software engineers may combine a love for movies and games with a career that allows them to create special effects and interactive media. Electrical engineers may be asked to improve refugee camps by developing electrical sockets. Engineers can find jobs in almost every industry imaginable.  

Engineers put their skills to work in diverse and exciting ways, but they are all working toward the same common goal: building a sustainable world. Everyone dreams of leaving the world a better place. Engineers accomplish that goal by using their imaginations to dream and then pulling their dreams into the real world. That may look like magic. It isn’t. But it does require the mastery and application of many different technical skills 

Thank you to all of those that have given freely of their time and energy this year. I appreciate you.