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Welcome to Engineering Influence, a podcast by American Councils of Engineering Companies.
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We're here today to discuss a charitable foundation created by ACEC Minnesota,
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the Engineering Education Foundation of America.
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I'm joined here today by John Currie, Executive Director of ACEC Minnesota,
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and Dan Larsen, past treasurer of ACEC and CEO of AET, and a major contributor to the foundation.
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Thanks for joining us. John, I'll start with you.
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What was the impetus for creating the Engineering Education Foundation for America, or EEFA?
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Well, thanks for having us, Patrick. And one of the reasons that ACEC Minnesota
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took on the initiative of creating this foundation was actually two main reasons.
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Number one is one of the things that I was hearing from all our member firms
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is workforce, workforce, workforce.
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In Minnesota, we probably have well over a thousand open positions amongst our
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member firms across multiple sectors.
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And we were really looking for a way to tackle workforce initiatives.
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So definitely ACEC wanted to tackle, ACEC Minnesota wanted to tackle the workforce issue.
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Secondary, we were being asked to partner with lots of organizations out there
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to advance workforce issues,
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advance step partner with education issues, but there didn't seem to be an organization
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out there that was really leading on behalf of the consulting.
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So one of the things that I went to my board with early on when I started this
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position was the idea of creating a 501c3 nonprofit, really with the goal of
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advancing workforce development and education.
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And the foundation that we created, the Engineering Education Foundation of
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America, EFA for short, really has a mission of making charitable investments
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in those two areas, workforce and education.
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And I think it's something that our members in Minnesota and throughout the
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upper Midwest that we're working with are really proud of the fact that the
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consulting engineers have a foundation where they can lead through and partner with other groups.
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Great. Thank you. What is the vision for IFA?
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I think one of the visions that we have for IFA is that we really want to help
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encourage not only young folks,
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but folks entering the workforce now to really consider a career in engineering
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and specifically drive them towards the consulting engineering.
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So, you know, with the vision that we have, we've got four main initiatives that we're focused on.
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Number one is STEM education. It's that K-12 high prime.
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Number two is post-secondary. That can be either civil engineering programs
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or two-year degrees or even graduate level folks to focus on.
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Our third initiative is really focused on retention and mentorship in the industry.
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So, it's one thing to say, hey, we've got to bring in 1,000 new employees or
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we need to, you know, when we talk about IJA, J.A., 88,000 new workers in the industry,
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but how do we retain them and how do we keep that talent in the pipeline for
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our members at ACEC Minnesota and for the consulting engineering industry at large?
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And then our fourth initiative is really focused on data gathering,
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information collecting.
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What are those data points that are really driving workforce development and
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education decisions across that spectrum education-wise?
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And that's where we're really leveraging local data. We're leveraging resources
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like the ACEC Minnesota Salary Survey.
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But we're also leaning on our partnership with the ACEC Research Institute to
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help promote and encourage them to look at more workforce-type reports and data gathering.
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No, I think that's great. I think a lot of what we're hearing at the Workforce
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Committee level is just that long-term commitment into the K-12 population and
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trying to influence the next generation.
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Are there any key highlights or accomplishments to date that you want to talk about regarding IFA?
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Yeah, I think, you know, number one accomplishment is getting a 501c3 organization
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started, starting it from scratch and getting it going.
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I know from talking to some of my other colleagues around the country at other MOs.
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You know, deciding whether they want to do workforce through existing committees
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or potentially create a nonprofit organization.
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It is a big lift and it takes a lot of people and a lot of resources to get that off the ground.
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So our organization is very proud of the fact that we were able to start a nonprofit from scratch.
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And I think that, you know, the other big success is that we've successfully
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transitioned our workforce and our scholarship programs over to our foundation.
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We've been able to generate more than a hundred volunteers to volunteer for
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different initiatives that I've laid out.
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We've also delivered scholarships and promoted our program in five states already
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throughout the upper Midwest.
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We recently established a partnership with ACEC North Dakota.
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And, you know, we're hoping that, you know, through some of these grassroots efforts,
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we really see EFA as a grassroots effort that is owned by its volunteers,
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that we're going to be able to advance the profession and grow the workforce through,
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those different workforce initiatives that I talked about.
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No, that's great. I think another key priority of the Workforce Committee is
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trying to identify best practices that could be leveraged nationwide.
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And I think what you all are doing up there in the Midwest is really encouraging.
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And so love to hear what we can do in the future. Yeah.
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Sorry to interrupt you, Patrick. I mean, one more thing is I think there's an
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opportunity for us to collaborate and share information.
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And that's what we're trying to do through EFA is we're trying to develop those
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shared resources partnerships.
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So if we develop one good resource in Minnesota or another one of our partners
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in another partnering state develops that resource, we want to share it with
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everybody because, you know, we know that donors like Dan's company,
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you know, they don't only operate businesses in one state, they operate them across the country.
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And, you know, we've got seven key donors right now for the foundation and their
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footprint is coast to coast, top to bottom in the continental U.S.
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So just seven companies has a coast to coach for each.
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And I think if we can get more organizations, more firms involved in an organization
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like IFA, you know, we can really do a lot and create that grassroots movement.
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That's great. Outside of this sharing mechanism, are there things in the future
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that we should be looking out for as we look over the next 12 to 15 months?
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Yeah, I think, you know, one of the things that I've been asked by a lot of
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executives and CEOs at member firms is we get the mission when it comes to STEM education.
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We get the need to inspire the next generation of engineers,
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whether it's kindergarten, like my five-year-old, or somebody who's sending
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their kid off to high school, then college.
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It's really, it's about.
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Where can we have that immediate impact is a question that I'm getting.
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And one of our areas of focus in the coming months is going to be focusing on internships.
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So we've had a very successful scholarship program due to some of our university
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and post-secondary outreach.
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We saw a 500% increase in applicants last cycle.
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We're looking to pair that with an internship portal because it's kind of the
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old adage of, hey, you can give someone a fish, that's giving them a scholarship,
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or you can teach them to fish, that's giving them a job.
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Through this foundation, we're looking to do both at the same time.
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That's great, John. Hearing all this great stuff, Dan, what really inspired
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AET and yourself to get involved with IFA?
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You know, when John was kind of putting the idea of IFA together,
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we sat down, I still remember we had a breakfast and we were talking about it.
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And I immediately told him, I said, yeah, I want to be involved because what
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he was hitting on was he's hitting on something that the industry hasn't been
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able to really figure out, hasn't been able to solve.
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My firm does a lot of outreach in high schools and elementary schools.
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We participate in several things like math counts and future city and all these
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things. But it just seemed like we were doing this small part.
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And I was wondering, how can we really make a difference in the workforce and
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building that workforce of the future?
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And when he talked to me about it and the vision that he had for it,
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I thought, you know, that's exactly what I was looking for.
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You know, some kind of organization that can collaborate with all those other
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organizations out there working for STEM education.
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The way I look at it is, you know, STEM is a very large piece of the education pie, right?
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But if you go to engineering, it's a little bit smaller. And then our industry,
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our consulting engineering industry is even smaller than that.
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So we need to get as many kids into that big funnel to get them into that interested
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and excited about STEM education.
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And then ultimately through the engineering, IFA, ultimately through their efforts
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and our efforts, you know, helping and collaborating with them,
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get them and keep them into that curriculum through high school into college
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and then into the working world.
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So it really was kind of filling a void that I hadn't quite been able to put
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my finger on. I was just like, everybody's doing all these things.
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Let's try to focus that.
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And IFA really is that vehicle I see.
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When you think of those long-term challenges and those intangible things that
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we're talking about, workforce development, it's something that you're not going
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to see a real impact for the first year, three years, five years.
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It's 10-year-out landscape.
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How do you see IFA contributing to the success of the engineering industry over
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the next 10, 15, 20 years? Yeah, you're right. It's a long-term play.
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I am late career with what I have been doing for 40 years, but I'm still as
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passionate as I ever was to try to get as many kids into the workforce as possible.
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And I think by EFA and their outreach, and hopefully it catches on with other
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MOs and we can bring more people into it.
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And then even that collaboration with some of the state organizations that are
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working on this, obviously the ACC National Workforce Committee.
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I think to be able to focus that effort into a real cohesive kind of thoughtful, intentional.
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Program to really get people, get kids excited about engineering and seeing
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all the things that they can do in their lives and their careers and just getting them excited.
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The more we can get that word out, the more we can sing the praises of what
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engineers do and make it exciting, and we call it sexy at times,
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and be able to do that, we're going to get more kids into STEM.
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And the success is going to come when we start seeing that payoff.
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Yeah, it's going to be a while yet for down the road a bit.
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But when we start seeing more kids going, more schools offering STEM programs
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in the middle school and high school, engineering schools growing.
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Graduates of engineering schools growing, that's when I know we're going to
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be seeing the benefit of that down the road.
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And like I said, IFA and ACC, Workforce Committee, these, getting them together
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and working together is the key.
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I always liken it to, if you think of a golf team, everybody goes out and shoots
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their own score and you add it up at the end of the day and see how you did.
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But nobody's collaborating.
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Nobody's talking, right? I think we need to look at it more like,
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you know, a football team or I'm a hockey guy.
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You know, a hockey team where you have to work together to deliver,
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you know, your, whatever your talent is. and working together will help us really see that.
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So I see that IFA being one of those really key ingredients to this next really
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hard, I think going to be hard, but fruitful step of getting more and more kids
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into STEM and engineering.
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Well, thanks, Dan. John, any last closing remarks before we sign off here?
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Well, I'd just like to end, Patrick, by saying, hey, ACEC Minnesota really appreciates
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the investments that ACEC National has taken in workforce.
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And we hope that, you know, through our foundation and through more strong partnerships
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at the national level and at the MO level and partnerships with other organizations
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outside of the ACEC family that,
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you know, we can start to grow workforce and really, like Dan said,
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focus on the engineering component of that and really have a positive impact
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on students across across the education pipeline,
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and really tell them that, hey, there is an exciting career in engineering,
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and this is how you become a part of a really vibrant, forward-thinking industry.
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That's great. And we definitely look forward to future collaboration,
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especially from the ACEC Workforce Committee from a national perspective.
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I know Rodney, Susan, and Orhan are very interested in this issue,
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so look forward to that collaboration.
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This has been an episode of Engineering Influence, a podcast by the American
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Council of engineering companies.
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Music.
