Ken Maschke discusses the viability for young engineers to take on prominent leadership rules within the engineering workplace in his article "So Crazy It Might Just Work" in ASCE's journal Leadership and Management in Engineering. He discusses the engineering challenges associated with the gulf oil spill and how no experience in this world could have prepared BP's engineers to plug the leak. What better opportunity for a young engineer to make their mark on history than to suggest the idea to finally stop the leak. He suggests a new age in engineering where technology is expanding the field and new opportunities are becoming available for women and other minorities. Maschke is calling for a new generation of engineers to step out and take the lead in the ever changing profession of civil engineering.
This particular issue in the journal is dedicated to women in Civil Engineering, if you are interested you can read more about 2 famous women engineers read here Engineering Legends.
Engineering opportunities to make yourself stand out are always there, its just hard to know when your "original" idea will be accepted. One of our senior projects dealed with coming up with ideas of cleaning up the gulf more efficiently... I definitely have more respect for the people working on it. Sometimes the simplest and "dumbest" ideas turn out being the best.
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