Engineering Ambassadors Network

Developing diverse leaders today; inspiring engineers for tomorrow: The Engineering Ambassadors Network (EAN) is a collaboration of engineering students across universities that are dedicated to changing the conversation K-12 students are having about engineering. The EAN serves the need for strong future leaders in engineering and supports recruitment of a diverse future generation of engineers. The Engineering Ambassadors Network originated from the successful Engineering Ambassador Program at Penn State University. Distinguished by its focus on scientific communications training and the use of messages from the National Academy of Engineering’s Changing the Conversation, a presentation by the Penn State Engineering Ambassadors caught the eye of an executive at United Technologies Corporation (UTC). With support from UTC, the Engineering Ambassadors Program launched at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Connecticut and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In August 2012, Penn State hosted a national workshop where students and faculty from over 18 universities attended with the goal of receiving the communication training and launching their own Engineering Ambassadors Programs. A National Science Foundation grant helped fuel the Network's growth. Today, Raytheon Technologies Corporation has been instrumental in the Network's growth to nearly 40 universities.