News example

Growing Number of High School Student Smoking A survey has found about 13 percent of first-time smokers in the country are junior high school students. It also revealed 89 percent of young female employees were smokers. The survey was conducted in five major cities across the country, including Surakarta in Central Java. Muhammad Syahril Mansyur, the Surakarta Health Agencys respiratory illness division, said that the finding of the survey showed an alarming growth rate of Indonesian smokers. "This situation is a cause for concern, he said. It appears the countrys younger generation is uneducated about the health risks of smoking. The Indonesian anti-tobacco campaign has reportedly been deemed as ineffective as the government refuses to sign the international convention on tobacco control. It said that cigarette producers contributed to a large amount to state revenue and gave jobs to thousands of workers.

Example of a narratives

A Short Narrative by E.B. White "The barber was cutting our hair, and our eyes were closed--as they are so likely to be. . . . Deep in a world of our own, he heard, from far away, a voice saying goodbye. It was a customer of the shop, leaving. 'Goodbye,' he said to the barbers. 'Goodbye,' echoed the barbers. And without ever returning to consciousness, or opening our eyes, or thinking, we joined in. 'Goodbye,' we said, before we could catch ourself. Then, all at once, the sadness of the occasion struck us, the awful dolor of bidding farewell to someone we had never seen. We have since wondered what he looked like, and whether it was really goodbye."

Example of an interview

Interviewer: Particularly in regard to design and development, what are your duties as a mechanical engineer? Interviewee: Do you mean before I took this position or in this position. Interviewer: Both. Interviewee: In my position I have now, about half of my time is devoted to counseling and registration and other issues like that. About thirty to forty percent of my time is involved with teaching, doing preparation, helping out in the labs, and helping students. About five to ten percent of my time is spent being involved in academic committees and working with administrative items. Interviewer: Do you do any research? Interviewee: Most of my research is education-related. I have a grant from the National Science Foundation to put some CNC machines in the student labs to teach students. Interviewer: What types of research did you do before when you were an associate professor? Interviewee: I worked primarily with acoustics and noise control, with my emphasis being in active noise and vibration control. I worked with the aircraft fuselage and all of the vibrations and noises created in there and limiting their effects on the cockpit. Of course, automobile engines are also very noisy being so close to the driver. I also worked with compressors. I worked with really small compressors to really big compressors. I worked on small refrigeration units using passive and active control techniques. Youd be surprised at how big an issue refrigerator noise is overseas, in Europe and Asia with their tight living conditions. I also worked with huge engine compressors of up to sixty horsepower. Thats really big for a university, you know. I also worked with reciprocating compressors, screw compressors, scroll compressors, and rotary compressors. Interviewer: Most of your current grants are education-related though, correct? Interviewee: Thats right, most of them are related to education. But I dont have much time in this job now to do that though. I feel that I need to teach with this job, because I need to have that link to the curriculum and the students. Interviewer: How much contact have you had with industry? Interviewee: I had quite a bit of contact when I worked as an associate professor. I

spent quite a bit of time at the Herrick Labs. I worked with a couple of United Technologies companies, Sikorkey Helicopter and Carrier Corporation, who does refrigeration, Aspera, which is an Italian company that makes compressors, General Motors, and some governmental work. Interviewer: Did you ever work out in industry before you became a professor? Interviewee: I worked at NASA-Langley for a year after I graduated with my masters. It really isnt like industry though. Its an academic environment. Its a very research oriented environment. I also received an educational grant about a year ago to work the summer at Boeing. I worked in Philadelphia with the rotorcraft division. They make all levels of military aircraft. They make the Belle Boeing 609, which is a lot like a V-22. It takes off like a helicopter, straight up, and then the wings turn over and it flies. They also work on CH-47, which is a very old helicopter, in a support mode. They also do some work with the commanche attack helicopter. As you can tell, they work at a lot of different levels in the design. Interviewer: What is the difference between designing for a new product versus an older product? Interviewee: There are a lot of challenges no matter what the product. The military has been bringing old CH-47s in to be repaired. Boeing has been gutting them out, leaving just a shell, and completely replacing the interior equipment. All of the design used to be on paper. The new Boeing 777 was a paperless design. They did a fly-through on the computer to check for interferences and other problems. One of the big issues with the CH-47 was whether to recreate this on the computer. Its a difficult decision. It would make it a lot easier to make changes but it would take a lot longer. So they decided not to do it for this product. Interviewer: What skills are necessary for a mechanical engineer to possess? Interviewee: Number 1 is the technical skills. Youve got to have those. Next are communication and teamwork skills. There is a need for intangibles to be successful. One of the big things at Boeing was timing. They had to pull together over 1,000,000 parts to make the 777. The engine had to come in at the right time to be connected to the fuselage, which had to be connected to other parts. I realized that what Boeing was doing was just a large-scale integration project. It requires a phenomenal amount of communication and scheduling. Being able to plan and schedule things is so important. Youre always behind time, over budget, and have to get deliverables to the customer. You have to make a decision with incomplete information. Its a lot of gut feel and just making your best engineering judgement and taking your best shot. Interviewer: What are the worst skills, or characteristics, for an engineer to have? Interviewee: In some jobs, being highly individualistic can be a killer. Not in all jobs, but in some jobs. In a research environment, where an engineer can go off and do his own

thing, that can be okay. But in the vast majority of jobs, not being strong in communication, and of course, technical skills, can have a very negative impact on your career. In fact, in a survey in the ASME magazine about two or three years ago, the top two skills employers wanted were communication skills and teamwork skills. . Interviewer: Thanks for your time. Interviewee: Youre welcome.