Vought Sponsors, Supports National Engineers Week

DALLAS, FEB. 27, 2009 – Vought Aircraft Industries, which employs more than 500 engineers, has a vested interest in promoting the engineering profession. Like other companies in the aerospace industry, nearly half of its workforce will be eligible to retire over the next 10 years. Attracting and retaining a skilled workforce is a necessity.

With that in mind, Vought sponsored and participated in many National Engineers Week activities held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum last week. “By getting involved and showing students different facets of engineering, we hope many of them will seriously consider a career in this important field, “ said Ron Muckley, Vought’s vice president of engineering and materiel. “Our country isn’t producing enough engineers and technical workers to sustain the aerospace industry. We need to do our part to reverse this trend to keep U.S. businesses strong and protect our national security.”

Vought engineers presented four different workshops for middle school students at the Frontiers of Flight, which attracted more than 250 students. The educational workshops addressed different fields of interest in aerospace and other engineering disciplines. Vought’s workshops covered a wide spectrum to pique interest in the aviation industry: “Plastic Airplanes: New Materials, New Methods;” “Tools of the Trade: Aircraft Design in the 21st Century;” “Breaking Big Things: Safety (conducting structural tests to assure that aircraft are safe to fly);” and “Planes Are for Girls Too!”

Vought engineers also participated in a career fair held at the museum. Students from area colleges, universities and technical schools were invited, drawing more than 450 participants.

Engineers Week concluded with a keynote address by Vought President and CEO Elmer Doty and a luncheon that was attended by more than 200 high school students. Each table included an engineer mentor, several of whom were from Vought, to discuss education and career options with the students.

Doty, who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, discussed his career path with students. He encouraged them by saying he believes “there is no possible career choice that can open more doors, provide a greater fun factor, or permit a greater contribution to society than engineering.”

National Engineers Week is an annual event organized by the National Engineers Week Foundation to raise public awareness of engineers and the work they do. Activities throughout the week promote the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy. The goal is to motivate youths to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse, vigorous and informed engineering workforce.

About Vought

Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. (www.voughtaircraft.com) is one of the world’s largest independent suppliers of aerostructures.  Headquartered in Dallas, the company designs and manufactures major airframe structures such as wings, fuselage subassemblies, empennages, nacelles and other components for prime manufacturers of aircraft. Vought has annual revenue of approximately $1.6 billion and about 6,600 employees in nine U.S. locations.