NAE Regional Meetings Bring National to the Local Levels

On March 30, 2022, more than two years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NAE held the first of three in-person regional meetings. These meetings bring NAE to the local level for information sharing and professional networking.

Kicking off the 2020 NAE Regional Meeting schedule was a visit to the University of Arizona (UA) James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences for its “Innovations in High-Contrast, High-Resolution Imaging” symposium. On April 28, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies hosted the “Engineering Solutions to Grand Challenges: From Computing to Biotechnology and Beyond...”  Then on May 19, Amazon and University of Washington, Seattle hosted the NAE’s Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting on “Human-Robot Interaction.”

“NAE Regional Meetings provide an opportunity for the NAE leadership to visit members in their hometowns and to engage with them in their professional environments,” said John L. Anderson, NAE President. “It also gives the hosting organization, such as universities, an opportunity to showcase their efforts, their achievements, and their colleagues who are on the forefront of new discoveries and pioneering advancements in the engineering field.” The first Regional Meetings were launched in 2000.

Each regional meeting includes a members-only business meeting in which members meet with NAE leaders and staff members in an informal setting to discuss the NAE activities and to voice their thoughts and opinions regarding issues impacting the engineering profession.

Foremost on their list were issues impacting STEM, communicating the value and importance of engineering and the engineering profession to broad audiences, better serving underrepresented minorities and adding value to our industry members and industry as a whole. These topics are not new, nor can solutions be easily found, but listening to our members on the local level and learning of their concerns and their efforts to address these issues, strengthened the NAE’s resolve to move forward in meaningful ways to address these issues.

Following the members-only meeting are topic-specific symposiums, unique to the hosting organization. These symposiums are open to the public and highlight the myriad advances in engineering across a broad spectrum of topics.

NAE 2022 Regional Meeting Highlights

“Innovations in High-Contrast, High-Resolution Imaging,” University of Arizona (UA) James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, March 30, 2022

“Engineering Solutions to Grand Challenges: From Computing to Biotechnology and Beyond...”  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, April 28, 2022

“Human-Robot Interaction,” Amazon and University of Washington, Seattle, May 19, 2022