Heads up for future engineering leaders

A group of mechanical, chemical, civil, petroleum, and materials engineering organizations have joined forces to address a common concern — how to train the world's future engineering leaders. The effort has resulted in the Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) program, which provides an interdisciplinary community of learning for future engineering and scientific leaders. The ELA plans to use hands-on workshops and online interaction to train future leaders in basic skills that can be applied in a variety of science and engineering disciplines. The alliance has launched a website to introduce the program and to serve as a resource for professional career advancement. Visitors can download free webcasts, reports, and other tools. In October, the ELA will hold its first training program in conjunction with the Materials Science & Technology 2008 conference in Pittsburgh. For more information, visit www.emergingleadersalliance.org.