Look for Engineering Week 2 during March at Jackson State University as corporations partnering with the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) return to campus.
Dr. Farshad Amini, professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said that some of the activities delayed due to inclement weather from last week’s Engineering Week will be held this month.
Tentatively, on March 23, CSET will host a 5:30 p.m. reception and information session for students with Lockheed Martin to replace last week’s cancelled recruitment and career development workshop, Amini said.
That will be followed at 1 p.m. on March 26 with a tour for students of the Nissan Auto Assembly Plant in Canton.
Another date is also being worked out to bring Haley Fisackerly, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Mississippi Inc., to campus, Amini said.
Fisackerly had been scheduled to be the featured speaker last Tuesday during National Engineers Week, or E-Week, at JSU. But Last week’s snow and ice caused power outages that demanded the attention of the leader of the public electric utility that serves more than 441,000 customers in 45 Mississippi counties.
On Friday, on Nissan Day, CSET students crowded around the Nissan booth at the Engineering Building to find out more about possible jobs and — the star of the day — the gleaming, new 2015 Nissan Murano parked out front.
Kahma Faizi, a senior in civil engineering, who is a co-op student with Nissan in Canton, explained the car’s state-of-the-art features, including its engineering and technical aspects. It’s the most technically advanced vehicle ever built in Canton, he said. It’s the first Murano produced in America and the Canton plant will also be the global source for the vehicle to more than 100 markets.
Canton began hiring to gear up for production last year.
Faizi will lead the tour of the plant in March, Amini said.
At the booth and by the car, which was manufactured at the Canton auto assembly plant, students asked about jobs.
“We’re welcome to all engineering majors,” Faizi said.
Leah H. Walters, Nissan senior engineer of facilities, utilities and environmental engineering, and Ahmad Faizi, a JSU grad and a system engineer with Nissan, answered questions about the Canton site, as well as the company’s Smyrna, Tenn., plant.
Mark Doucette, senior business partner in Human Resources, Nissan North America, Canton, seemed pleased with the interest by JSU students.
The purpose of the visit, he said, was “to continue to build on our partnership with Jackson State and help them advance their engineering objectives.” That included, he said, “careers available here at home.”
Students have been flocking to engineering, said Amini. The civil engineering department has had 18 percent growth in enrollment each year for the past eight years. Other engineering areas have seen similar growth, he said.
“There’s rapid demand,” said Amini, who is co-chair of E-Week with Dr. Mahmoud A. Manzoul, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Engineering.
The March events should be of interest to all science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students, Amini said.