Managing Creativity Conference Offers Family Activities During 19th International Engineering Management Conference

Family Track Features Space Exploration, Creativity and Imagination, and Robotics Exercises

Austin, Texas -- July 25, 2007 -- The IEEE Engineering Management Society (EMS), organizers of the 19th International Engineering Management Conference (IEMC 2007), today announced along with inspiring speakers, the event will feature hands on activities for attendees and their families.

"A unique quality highlighted at this year's IEMC is our family track," said Leslie Martinich, vice president, Publications, IEEE Engineering Management Society, and Chapter Chair, IEEE Central Texas EMS. "We understand the need to manage creativity within the organization, but it is also necessary to inspire creativity on the home front. Our family track allows all ages to participate in stimulating technology activities and encourages children's interests in science and engineering."

The family track opens on Tuesday, July 31, 2007, at 8:30 a.m. with a keynote from James Kennedy entitled, "Perspectives on Leadership and Space Exploration." At 10:30 a.m., Gerald Wagner, visionary in data visualization and decision support technology, leads a discussion on Creativity and Imagination demonstrating tools that can help children ages 8-15 resuscitate their imaginations. Mr. Wagner will present tools for playing while learning, inventing, and imagining. After a lunch break at 1:30 p.m., Jim Swartz will deliver the keynote, "Seeing David in the Stone," which centers on improving the ability to identify and seize opportunities, with case studies on innovative leadership.

The day's activities will also feature LEGO® MINDSTORMS® from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. Children of all ages will interact with robots that move in response to sound, touch, and light sensors. Some of the preprogrammed robots include bumper cars, a line follower, a Ferris wheel, and the crowd-pleasing ping pong ball launcher, which can launch balls more than 35 feet through the air! The Tiger Woods Challenge provides the opportunity to program your own robot. Increasingly complex challenges are available for age groups: 5-8 year olds, 9-12 year olds and 12 years old and above.

"Creating with LEGO's has always been a favorite pastime for kids, but adding the MINDSTORMS® robotics gives kids a whole new level of challenging, educational fun," said Cheryl Tulkoff, senior reliability engineer with National Instruments. "Allowing kids to have complete programming control over their robots gives them a taste of the fun and creativity possible through engineering and hopefully will whet their appetite for a lifetime of learning."

General Information about the conference can be found at http://www.IEMC07.org. Accommodations will be at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort and Spa and registration is available at http://lifelong.engr.utexas.edu/iemc2007/registration.cfm.

About IEEE

The IEEE Engineering Management Society (EMS) directs its efforts toward advancing the practice of engineering and technology management as a professional discipline, encouraging theory development for managing organizations with a high engineering or technical content, and promoting management transitioning and high professional standards among its members. The IEEE Engineering Management Society offers many outstanding opportunities. Visit its website for all events, http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/ems/.