Events Calendar

The Chattanooga Engineers Club has invited Chattanooga PMI members to attend the Chattanooga Engineers Week Kick-off Luncheon at UTC.

The Engineers Week Kick-off Luncheon starts off the celebration of Engineers Week for the Chattanooga area. It is an event that highlights the contribution of engineering to the betterment of the world and encourages participants to recognize the importance of their work.

Speaker: Mary Beth Hudson, VP of Wacker Polysilicon

Click the link below to register:

http://www.chattanoogaengineersweek.com/kickoff-luncheon/

For more information on all activities see the below and link and details below:

http://www.chattanoogaengineersweek.com

More Information

Chattanooga Engineers Week (E-Week) will host its annual kickoff luncheon this year on February 17, 2020. This luncheon represents a great opportunity for members of PMI Chattanooga to learn more about current and future engineering projects and events in our area, and to build and strengthen relationships within our community. There are more than 120 organizations associated with E-Week. They are involved with year-round events and competitions designed to raise awareness and excellence in engineering related fields. The E-Week Kickoff luncheon is the start of a week of celebrating these events.

E-Week was founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). The Chattanooga E- Week website, http://www.chattanoogaengineersweek.com/ , reports the purpose of E-Week is “to raise public awareness about engineering and the contributions that engineers make to society. It is also a time for engineers to emphasize the importance of learning math, science, and technical skills.”
E-Week will begin this year in Chattanooga on February 17, 2020 at the University of Tennessee (UTC) University Center, with a Kick-off luncheon. The week includes nationwide participation of more than 70 engineering, education, and professional societies, and over 50 government agencies and corporations represented. Chattanooga E-Week features over 30 of these organizations. Lulu Copeland is responsible for the Chattanooga E-Week programming. We asked her how E-Week has been able to grow. She said, “Collaboration is the key growth. We should all promote each other.”

The speaker for this year’s luncheon will be Mary Beth Hudson, the Vice President and Site Manager of the Wacker Chemie Polysilicon Division. in Charleston, Tennessee. Hudson was tapped to lead the division in 2016 when Wacker opened its new facility there. The facility produces hyper-pure polysilicon for use in electronic and solar wafers. In her role, she is responsible for all aspects of manufacturing, supply chain, business operations, sales, and profitability of the Polysilicon Division throughout the North and Central American region.

E-Week is a week set aside to concentrate awareness of engineering-related activities, but E-Week is much more than a weeklong event. It consists of over three dozen events held throughout the year to promote STEM education and career paths. These events include activities for children, adults, girls, and boys from throughout the area. They also help show the need for STEM competencies with fun and interactive events and competitions for robotics, E-Cars, Marine Technology, awards, science fairs, and manufacturing.

Members of the TSPE (Tennessee chapter of NSPE), Chattanooga Engineers Club, and E-Week were part of the group that founded The Chattanooga Chapter of PMI. Lulu was part of that group who became the original 25 members of PMI Chattanooga. Engineers were involved because project management skills and project managers are important components in engineering projects. Before PMI Chattanooga chapter was established, many engineers and other professionals drove to Knoxville to attend networking and project management meetings. With the help of the East Tennessee Chapter of PMI, PMI Chattanooga Chapter was formed in 2003.
The PMI Chattanooga Chapter has grown to over 400 members as of January 2020, and engineers have been a part of our chapter since the beginning. Attending the E-Week luncheon will be a homecoming for some PMI members, and an introduction to a great group of people to others. But all are welcome and will benefit from the experience. We hope to see you there.