At the event, GE’s CEO, Jeff Immelt, exclaimed the pressing need to change this archaic perception of factory work among young students. Parents, teachers, and guidance councilors alike had to be on-board too. Results from a recent survey showed that only 3 out of 10 parents supported a manufacturing career for their children. Without greater parental support, the hurdle to attract students to a STEM career path (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) would become insurmountable, especially among the emerging, young Latino population who tend to be family centric. Alcoa’s VP of Human Resources, Natalie Shilling, noted that children’s long-term interests in STEM subjects tend to drop off significantly during the 6th grade level. In response Alcoa has partnered with local schools to sponsor science fairs and family factory visits but expressed concern that their ‘grassroots’ efforts may be insufficient. Like GE, they also see the urgent need for a formalized regulatory framework backed by sound government policies.

Read more at Manufacturing.net.

The president of the Jones County economic development authority recounts the collaboration behind establishing a technology park that brought jobs and innovation to the community: ““Build it and they will come” was the mantra when Jones County, Mississippi purchased just over 500 acres of land in Ellisville, MS on which was constructed Howard Technology Park, that eventually led to a momentous July 2011 announcement by GE Aviation CEO David Joyce.”

Read more at Ideas Lab.

Workers at a brand new GE Aviation plant in Auburn, Alabama will be using lasers to drill tiny cooling holes in super-alloy blades for jet engines. “This is one of the most critical and sophisticated components in our jet engines,” says David Joyce, GE Aviation CEO. “We consider them a work of art.”

Read more at GE Reports.

Winds of Change magazine introduced their first annual list of the “Top 50 Best STEM Workplaces” for Native Americans and Alaska Natives. The list celebrates companies that support diversity in the workplace and especially for Native American STEM professionals. Companies included in the Winds of Change list of the “Top 50 Best STEM Workplaces” meet certain criteria established solely by the Winds of Change editorial staff. Selected companies completed surveys designed to demonstrate their overall diversity recruitment efforts and/or were included within the past year in at least one published list from two different sources that recognize top firms dedicated to diversity recruiting. In addition, selected companies must also be actively recruiting for occupations within STEM fields and have specifically recruited Native American and Alaska Natives within the past two years. GE came in 18th.

Read more at The Pohly Company.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has partnered with Intel and GE to change the status quo through a targeted set of grants whose projects take creative approaches in engaging and retaining undergraduates in engineering and computer science. Both fields are dynamic, encompassing areas of focus that didn’t even exist a couple of decades ago–from green energy and advanced robotics to cybersecurity. Engineering and computer science also offer good careers with salaries that can make a life-changing difference, especially to first-generation college students and their families.

Read more at National Science Foundation.

Jim Bray, chief scientist at GE, and his colleague Kathleen O’Brien allowed anyone to ask them those questions and any others last week during a Q&A on Reddit’s popular “IAmA” forum. The online platform features people who state their profession or other unique characteristics and allows users to ask them any question. President Obama once hosted an “IAmA” forum, for example.Bray opened the live forum with an introduction and said he and O’Brien were happy to answer any questions about smart phones, electric cars, cloud computing, smart grid technologies or anything else. Dozens of questions, including the following, were asked by people curious about such energy and technology subjects. And, yes, someone even asked the scientists if a flying car was coming soon. If you missed your chance to ask a question about science, Bray encourages comments and questions at his blog, Stump the Scientist, and he also is on Twitter at @stumpscientist.

Read more at Ideas Lab.

Messier-Bugatti USA LLC is completing a $50 million expansion for its wheels and carbon brakes facility in Walton. The expansion increases the existing carbon brake production facility’s footprint by 40 percent. Messier-Bugatti USA is adding the capacity to accommodate the increase in the plant’s production volumes and refurbishment activities of carbon brake disks for the commercial and military aircraft industry. The Walton facility, which employs 225, is expected to increase employment by 10 percent as a result of the expansion. Messier-Bugatti-Dowty makes aircraft landing and braking systems. It is part of France’s Safran Group. Safran is also the parent of Snecma, a partner with GE Aviation in the Evendale-based aircraft engine joint venture CFM International Inc.

Read more at Business Courier.

GE Aviation is opening two new advanced manufacturing plants this week, a composite factory in Ellisville, Mississippi and a “super-alloy” plant in Auburn, Alabama. GE has invested $130 million in the plants and plans to hire 550 workers by 2017. Much of the aircraft growth will come from single-aisle planes built by Boeing, Airbus, COMAC and other aircraft makers. This market needs next-generation jet engines like the LEAP, which GE Aviation makes in a joint-venture with France’s Snecma.

Read more at GE Reports.

Ajith Kumar, a GE consulting engineer, has had 200 Eureka moments – big and small, in his car and at the supermarket – that led to patents. (“I don’t know where it comes from,” he laughs. “But it’s not generally at work.) He lags behind Thomas Edison’s 1,093 U.S. patents but the number puts him on par with the GE’s most prolific modern innovators.

Read more at GE Reports.

Trifon Laskaris is in rarefied company within the General Electric Co. The GE Global Research chief engineer, a pioneer in imaging technologies, recently was awarded his 200th U.S. patent. The last GE lab employee to reach that milestone — and the only other one for that matter — was Thomas Edison.

Read more at Times Union.