Video Links:
- 777 Static Test - testing the structural strength of 777 (see the wings come off) - Link
- Flight Tests - Link 1 and Link 2
Doreen is an engineering manager at Boeing and is responsible for testing the structure of the new planes to ensure they are structurally safe. She started working at Boeing when she left college where she got a degree in Electrical Engineering, but after a couple of years at Boeing she moved to moved to California to work in as test programmer on lasers. Eventually she wanted to move back to Seattle and so she took a job with a company that produced pace-makers and other medical devices. She eventually returned to Boeing. She enjoyed the challenge of working in different locations (California), different industries (Medical, Laser), and different size companies (startups, corporations) - she thinks its important to find what type of situation suits you and its okay to try different situations to find out what works for you.
One of her favorite aspects of the job she has now is testing planes on their early flights. Her team is responsible for instrumenting the planes so when they are in the air teams can evaluate how the plane's construction is responding to different stresses. To do this they have to install special equipment that can take readings that will provide them with the right data. At different times in the creation process planes are tested in different ways. They can run some stress tests very early based on the designs. Then a later step is to evaluate the structures in labs, like Wind Tunnels, to see if the plane can withstand the pressures that it was designed for (i.e., did they get the calculations right!). Eventually the plane is considered safe enough for Flight Missions. This is the moment when the plane is flown in different weather conditions. Sometimes Doreen flies on the planes during the flight missions as a test engineer so she can monitor the measurement equipment and make adjustments to the data being collected. Because they need to fly the plane in a variety of specific weather conditions she has to be ready to head out on flight missions at short notice - for example if they know the weather is going to be particularly cold over a part of Alaska they'll head up there for some testing, or warm stormy conditions they'll head to Hawaii. Some days on Flight Missions the planes will continuously be taking off and landing and performing specific maneuvers like turning.
One project she worked on was to evaluate the wing structure of a plane in development. While working on this project she got to see in the test labs a full size plane be stressed so much that it wings came off! This was part of the plane - they wanted to know the that their calculations were correct about the amount of stress the wings could take - it behaved as they expected.
Pauline is new to engineering and arrived at Boeing not as an engineer but as an admin. Pauline has a degree in architecture. However she realized as she was taking internships at college that a career in architecture was not what she wanted to do. While working as an admin at Boeing she talked with people around her and learned more about the role of the engineer and what type of work they did - she became very interested in the job. With encouragement from those around her and her own realization that engineering was something she wanted to do, she decided to make the move to return to school for a mechanical engineering degree. She is still working full-time and she's now been assigned to an entry level test engineering position. She loves it - she loves the work she does, the problems she has to solve, and the people she get's to work with.
Doreen asked, "Who here likes to solve problems?" Many raised their hands. Engineering is all about solving problems. She contrasted the role of the engineer with science. Science is about thinking of big questions to investigate to prove something, engineering is about wanting to do something and figuring out ways to solve the problem and get it to happen.
Pauline and Doreen both believe that having an engineering degree is a great foundation for whatever career you want to do in the future, as it shows a certain level of competence in core areas, such as math, science, approach to problem solving, applying procedures.
Doreen emphasized that the US isn't generating enough engineers and this is not good for the US in terms of staying a world leader. We need more! AND we need greater diversity in the engineering work force. The best solutions come from diverse teams as different perspectives generate innovative and new solutions.
- 777 Static Test - testing the structural strength of 777 (see the wings come off) - Link
- Flight Tests - Link 1 and Link 2
Doreen is an engineering manager at Boeing and is responsible for testing the structure of the new planes to ensure they are structurally safe. She started working at Boeing when she left college where she got a degree in Electrical Engineering, but after a couple of years at Boeing she moved to moved to California to work in as test programmer on lasers. Eventually she wanted to move back to Seattle and so she took a job with a company that produced pace-makers and other medical devices. She eventually returned to Boeing. She enjoyed the challenge of working in different locations (California), different industries (Medical, Laser), and different size companies (startups, corporations) - she thinks its important to find what type of situation suits you and its okay to try different situations to find out what works for you.
One of her favorite aspects of the job she has now is testing planes on their early flights. Her team is responsible for instrumenting the planes so when they are in the air teams can evaluate how the plane's construction is responding to different stresses. To do this they have to install special equipment that can take readings that will provide them with the right data. At different times in the creation process planes are tested in different ways. They can run some stress tests very early based on the designs. Then a later step is to evaluate the structures in labs, like Wind Tunnels, to see if the plane can withstand the pressures that it was designed for (i.e., did they get the calculations right!). Eventually the plane is considered safe enough for Flight Missions. This is the moment when the plane is flown in different weather conditions. Sometimes Doreen flies on the planes during the flight missions as a test engineer so she can monitor the measurement equipment and make adjustments to the data being collected. Because they need to fly the plane in a variety of specific weather conditions she has to be ready to head out on flight missions at short notice - for example if they know the weather is going to be particularly cold over a part of Alaska they'll head up there for some testing, or warm stormy conditions they'll head to Hawaii. Some days on Flight Missions the planes will continuously be taking off and landing and performing specific maneuvers like turning.
One project she worked on was to evaluate the wing structure of a plane in development. While working on this project she got to see in the test labs a full size plane be stressed so much that it wings came off! This was part of the plane - they wanted to know the that their calculations were correct about the amount of stress the wings could take - it behaved as they expected.
Pauline is new to engineering and arrived at Boeing not as an engineer but as an admin. Pauline has a degree in architecture. However she realized as she was taking internships at college that a career in architecture was not what she wanted to do. While working as an admin at Boeing she talked with people around her and learned more about the role of the engineer and what type of work they did - she became very interested in the job. With encouragement from those around her and her own realization that engineering was something she wanted to do, she decided to make the move to return to school for a mechanical engineering degree. She is still working full-time and she's now been assigned to an entry level test engineering position. She loves it - she loves the work she does, the problems she has to solve, and the people she get's to work with.
Doreen asked, "Who here likes to solve problems?" Many raised their hands. Engineering is all about solving problems. She contrasted the role of the engineer with science. Science is about thinking of big questions to investigate to prove something, engineering is about wanting to do something and figuring out ways to solve the problem and get it to happen.
Pauline and Doreen both believe that having an engineering degree is a great foundation for whatever career you want to do in the future, as it shows a certain level of competence in core areas, such as math, science, approach to problem solving, applying procedures.
Doreen emphasized that the US isn't generating enough engineers and this is not good for the US in terms of staying a world leader. We need more! AND we need greater diversity in the engineering work force. The best solutions come from diverse teams as different perspectives generate innovative and new solutions.