Engineers bridge gaps in our community
Engineers often don’t like to talk about what they do.
But we experience the benefits of their creativity in countless ways that we sometimes take for granted.
We drive on bridges crossing gulches on the roads to Hana and to Kaupo. Water is piped to our houses and businesses from wells in Kahului, Lahaina, Kihei and Kaunakakai. We leave our trash in curbside bins that are emptied and taken to an expanding landfill.
The County of Maui employs more than 40 engineers who have had a hand in these projects and many more. In addition, four engineers are directors or deputy directors of county departments — another reflection of the important roles engineers hold in our county.
During Engineers Week from Feb. 19 to 25, we celebrate our county engineers along with many others in our community whose problem-solving has been translated into solutions in our daily lives.
The week occurs near the birthday of President George Washington because he is believed to be the first engineer of our nation. He was a surveyor, builder and innovator before engineering was recognized as the profession it is today.
This year’s Engineers Week theme is “Creating The Future!” and recognizes how engineers play a vital role in innovating solutions to global challenges that impact future generations.
The Maui County Chapter of the Hawai‘i Society of Professional Engineers has planned a variety of activities for the week. One of them is career shadowing, something that is key as we compete for workers to fill engineering positions. As in many professions today, there’s a shortage of engineers. The students who this week are getting a glimpse into what engineers do may become the engineers designing a new county building or determining the placement of a new water transmission line.
The same kind of mentoring is happening at home by some of our engineers who recognize in their children, nieces and nephews the curiosity about how things work and nurture these young people’s skills and aptitude for math and science that can lead them to becoming engineers.
We celebrate engineers not only for what they are doing on the job but also for how they are inspiring the next generation of engineers.
The jobs that engineers do are many and varied.
When you drive on a county road, turn on a water faucet, use the county landfill or enter a county building like the Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing, take time this week to think of the engineer who helped make that possible.