‘Engineering is about building things to help others.”

Before diving into a longer explanation, that’s how Singanallur “Venkat” Venkatakrishnan, an electrical and computer engineer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), described engineering to students at Northwest Middle School.

Venkat was among 20 ORNL engineers who visited 15 middle schools across East Tennessee for Engineers Week, an international outreach effort created to cultivate a diverse engineering workforce by “increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.” ORNL’s inaugural Engineers Week activities introduced more than 800 students to the possibilities of engineering—and to the national lab in their backyard.

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