ME 290 SPRING Welcome to ME 290, 你 好 ! Global Engineering Professional Seminar n Please use the gold seating chart to find your seat. n Please take five (5) hand-outs: nYellow: PowerPoint miniatures for today. nWhite: Course organization, policies. nBlue: Assignment for next week. nPink: Sign-up instructions for video. nGreen: Seminar enrollment/contact page. n Sign attendance roster on the front of the brown accordion folder. n Pass forward the brown accordion folders from back to the front of the room, to be collected from the front row.

ME 290 SPRING Agenda Week 1: Communications Global Engineering Professional Seminar n Today: Schedule, Policies—and first assignment—due next week! n Seminar Instructor: Dianne Atkinson, Ph.D., Office ME 109 Office Hours 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., M, Tu, W, F; Additional times, Course Website: Technical Services: Mike Logan, ME 140

ME 290 SPRING A “Quick Start” for ME Review schedule and policies—note required attendance and 100 available points! 2.First assignment (blue hand-out): Update current resume with ME program specifics and Summer 2007 additions; Draft a cover letter to an actual company and Turn in packet next week! Note samples and checklists in the hand-out packet. 3.Before next Friday, January 18, arrange a video appointment on-line with your designated partner! (pink hand-out) And now for an overview of the course….

ME 290 SPRING ME 290 Global Engineering Professional Seminar Objectives Four Components: 1. Professional and intercultural communications 2. Opportunities in the global engineering community 3. Opportunities in the ME School community 4. Professional engineering ethics Attendance required, Bulletin required reading each week at /MECOM/, semester grade based on communications work. /MECOM

ME 290 SPRING Communications Components for Seminar—see Table 1! n All media: talk, text, visual, Internet. n Portfolio: cumulative excellence, focus on professional opportunities. n Outcome: products are immediately useful; process designed to support long term professional development

ME 290 SPRING A Design Approach to Communications n Functionality first: What is effective? What sustains interaction? How does “wet ware” process text? How do visual elements work? n Design process emphasized— creative problem solving plus iteration and feedback. n New Media competencies are important—visual plus interactive, html editing.

ME 290 SPRING Four Basics in Document Design 1. Hierarchy—most important first, HEADLINE. 2. Handful rule—divide and conquer, CHUNK. 3. Navigation—use white space for readability. 4. Conventions—confirms writer’s authority, help readers read quickly. Note: Good resume design delivers “readability.” A “cold read” for a resume = 20 seconds! Readability= design for known cognitive processing patterns.

ME 290 SPRING Résumés Resumes are one-page documents that Target particular opportunities Set the agenda for later conversations Resumes are not just “facts”! Not autobiographies, Not narrations, not historical time lines Resumes are arguments: Presenting your case Addressing particular audiences Using visual as well as textual elements A resume is a one-page summary of why the reader should talk with the writer about a particular opportunity—an application for an interview.

ME 290 SPRING Finally, a word about letters Note structure in samples—3 C’s:  Context—introduction, purpose  Core—specific, chunked  Close—positive, polite. Note investment in moving beyond generic:  Company information—markets, products, places!  Your particular interests and current experience Please write to a real reader—a previous (co-op) supervisor, on-campus speaker, personal contact, job listing, an engineer in a company directory.