4/01 mechanical engineering: editorial

editorial

Hearts and Minds

By
John G. Falcioni, Editor-in-Chief

While it's true that it's a pump, I never think of the heart as a mechanical thing," 92-year-old heart surgeon Michael E. DeBakey said in last month's issue of Esquire magazine. By his own count, DeBakey has performed 60,000 operations throughout the course of his career, about a third of which have been heart surgeries. That's about 20,000 hearts "I've touched," he said.

His resume qualifies him as someone you would listen to when it comes to matters of the heart.

In 1932, DeBakey invented the roller pump, a device that made coronary bypass surgery possible. In 1953, he performed his first blockage removal in the carotid artery. In 1956, he performed his first patch-graft angioplasty. In 1964, he performed his first aortocoronary bypass. In 1966, he did his first implant of a partial artificial heart. He is currently chancellor emeritus at the Baylor University College of Medicine.

DeBakey didn't simply stumble into medicine because other undergraduate electives were filled. "From my earliest memory, I wanted to be a doctor," he told the men's magazine in an article titled "The State of the American Man."

In this issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine we delve into a topic that can be billed: The State of the American Woman Engineer.

Implicitly from such a discussion emerges the question: How many women can say they wanted to be engineers "from the earliest childhood memory"?

We can blame high schools and junior high schools for reinforcing old gender-based prejudices of academic strengths. Boys are good in math and science; girls are good in English and humanities. But it goes further, Barbara Wolcott tells us in her story in this issue, "Role Models Needed," which begins on page 46.

Even toy-maker Mattel reinforced the stereotype of academic strengths and weaknesses based on gender. Some years ago, if you bought your child a talking Barbie doll, you would pull on a string and she would blurt out, "Math is hard!" Buying your girl this Barbie certainly was not a good way to reinforce the 95 that she earned in last week's math test.

However, things are changing. Wolcott's article tells us of some programs that are aimed at encouraging all students with special aptitudes to pursue their talents. But hurdles are high. Girls who excel in math and science are rarely encouraged to go into engineering. Frequently, they are advised to pursue teaching or medicine instead.

Overall initiatives to change the image of engineers are evident from various sources, ranging from university laboratories to large tech companies around the world.

Dean Kamen's program, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), for example, features a robotics competition among high school students from across the United States. Kamen, an inventor and entrepreneur, says that he wants students to look up to engineers in much the same way as they do sports stars, and his spirited competitions are aimed at providing excitement as well as testing the youngsters' mettle.

Perhaps the best way to encourage girls—and boys—to pursue careers in engineering may be as simple as being a proud role model at home. Engineering is an imaginative and creative profession. It shouldn't be that difficult to inspire a young child to dream of one day growing up to becomean engineer.

Email your comments or questions to: falcionij@asme.org