On Friday, February 24, 2024, Christopher Sanderson SMIEEE; SMASQ, R5 Director Elect has another Engineers in Real Life (EIRL) program in the books! This year’s program took place at UH Clear Lake, with over 85 volunteers talking with over 200+ K12 STEM students engaged in learning more about opportunities available to them. Huge thanks to all those who made this happen, and Christopher who has been a regular  EIRL IEEE volunteer for more than 5 years.

In 2015, Engineers IRL was conceived by Michelle Patrick-Krueger as a way to help students without access to technical people. The goal was to show what “engineering” meant as a career, with the many different types of engineers who work together in many different fields. Also the varied number of paths to engineering – many more than just Texas A&M or UT!

The initial event was held in February 2016 and received an overwhelmingly positive response. Due to the large number of participants whose biggest complaint was that “it wasn’t long enough” and the vocal response of those unable to attend, Engineers IRL worked through Clear Creek ISD and the Clear Lake High School PTSA to create an annual event that quickly grew as awareness increased.

Not surprisingly there were a lot of IEEE members and parents participating in the K12 STEM fair. We are IEEE “Advancing Technology for Humanity”.