The enthusiasm that radiated from a recent Honeywell media afternoon reinforced my view of the importance of succession planning. It is vital for any sustainable strategy. Little wonder then that it is one of the long-term objectives at the top of the list of most responsible professionals practising their craft in the market today. This is good because society would be in trouble if there were no next generation of doctors, artists, musicians, writers, accountants, shopkeepers or teachers. (I guess to be fair politicians and lawyers ought to be on the list as well.) But what about engineers, scientists or astronauts you ask? Enter the Honeywell Space Academy.
A partnership is forged
Inspiring students to study science and maths and pursue a career in technology makes a lot of sense for a company with nearly 25% of its employees in technical jobs. Honeywell says that it is very aware of the extent to which it depends on access to well trained and talented engineers to design the products and services that will satisfy the demands of its customers in the future.
So, in 2004, based on the premise that one teacher reaches hundreds of students, the company formed a partnership with the US Space and Rocket Centre to introduce a scholarship programme: Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy. The objective – create a maths and science buzz in the classroom.
The media afternoon I referred to earlier was a chance to listen to three South African teachers who had just returned from the USA after completing the class of 2010. The spark in the eyes of Delia Kench, Liz Walter and John Pym compelled me to listen as they told of their astronaut training experiences, scenario-based space mission simulations and state-of-the-art flight dynamics programmes. All linked to international maths and science standards and ready to be applied in the classroom.
![[L to R]: SA teachers John Pym, Liz Walter and Delia Kench at the Honeywell media session in Sunninghill](articles/SA Instrumentation & Control - Published by Technews/C14225.jpg)
The evidence that it is working was captured in a video of a group of local learners eagerly squinting along their inclinometers, self made from plastic rulers and protractors and complete with plumb bobs of string and lead. Their mission that afternoon was to launch a plastic rocket and then calculate the maximum height it reached based on the angle measured at the zenith of its trajectory and some hands on trigonometry.
No doubt as they advance in years the maths will become more complex and the measuring instruments more sophisticated, but let us hope that they never lose the excitement of their formative years in the field of engineering. Good job on this one Honeywell!
To find out more about the scholarship programme contact [email protected]
System Integrator section
As promised last issue we launch the new System Integrator section this month with company profiles on Abacus Automation and Altech Alcom Matomo. During the next few months we will be publishing the company profiles of all subscribing SIs and once that is complete we will move on to project and design related success stories. The company profiles will remain live on our website, so as things change over time the electronic versions can be kept current and up to date. Please contact Jane van der Spuy, [email protected] or Tina van Kerckhoven, [email protected], if you have any queries.
The old System Integrator tables will in future be published in the annual buyers’ guide, but we will be continuing them in an abbreviated form in the magazine as seen in System integrators.
I hope you enjoy the reading.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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