IEEE Volunteers are dedicated to a variety of engineering outreach initiatives. Many participate in outreach programs specifically aimed at supporting STEM initiatives for pre-university students. Babak Enayati was selected as a presenter during the 2022 IEEE Pre-University STEM Summit Societies’ Panel Discussion, where he and other IEEE society leaders spoke about their experiences and motivation for STEM outreach at the pre-university level. This discussion and all STEM summit presentations are all available on demand here.

Enayati has worked in the utility industry for 13 years holding various grid modernization engineering and managerial positions. He currently serves as the Vice President of Education for the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) where he is leading the society in educational outreach. 

During the panel discussion, Enayati shared that most PES pre-university outreach activities are developed in conjunction with major conferences. They often send mentors to local high schools for half or even full day workshops where students get hands-on experience with applications such as solar panels or drones. He also shared that PES has many local chapters across the globe. Many pre-university programs that are implemented are easily shared and replicated from one geographical location to another. He also discussed the PES University initiative, with a sub-committee targeted specifically for high-school initiatives. Additionally, Enayati and PES also recently launched an initiative called Workforce Development. With this initiative, they are investing in educational activities that can provide perspectives to high school students. Perspectives include information on the power and energy industry, what is PES, and how students can join. 

When asked why he believes that STEM outreach is important at the pre-university level, Enayati elaborated on the Workforce Development initiative because of what the world can expect from power and energy in the next decade. 

“In the power industry, we have started the global transition going from the traditional power system asset like old wires and transformers,” Enayati described. He continued by listing many of the ways in which our power systems will be modernized. These additions include sensors, robotics, and smart grid technologies. All of these upgrades will help contribute to the delivery of clean energy. 

“In the next decade or so, our power system is going to go through a huge evolution,” said Enayati. “You’re going to see basically a totally new power system.”

He concluded that these expectations will place a huge demand on engineers needed in this field. This demand has been traditionally hard to fill. High schools are typically unaware of the gap that exists, and industries often express concerns about the availability of qualified engineers. 

“To enable this, we need people,” Enayati stated. “There’s going to be a lot of opportunities in the power industry to actually have high school students join the power industry. That stereotype that Edison made this power system and it’s still the same concept-electrons flow on the wires from high voltage to low voltage, so what’s in it for me? That’s gone. We have created and will be creating a lot of opportunities for students to join the power industry and help us with this grid transition.”

When asked how he and his society measure the success of their outreach efforts, Enayati and the other panelists all agreed that long-term success is key. Developing short-term ways to measure success, therefore, is still a work in progress. One area that PES has focused on is the quality of the programs. 

“One of the measures that we currently have is the engagement factor,” Enayati stated. “Is this program attracting one high school student or 500?”

He affirmed that while this number is helpful, it’s not the only determining factor they use. He continued to elaborate on how asking the right questions about the programs helps determine how successful each program is. 

“It’s always great to close that loop and listen to students that attended programs.”

The panelists were also asked what their experiences have been from partnering with TryEngineering. Enayati led four TryEngineering Tuesday sessions and stated that his experience has been very positive. 

“Our goal of participating in TryEngineering Tuesday is basically to make sure the pre-university audience is aware of some of the cutting-edge technologies or solutions that are currently being deployed in our system,” he said. “We’ve had sessions on robotics, energy storage, and clean energy. Things like that encourage pre-university students to think about the power and energy industry and hopefully join.”

Collaborating with TryEngineering Tuesday was the first engagement PES had with TryEngineering. TryEngineering Tuesday was a monthly blog and webinar series featuring an IEEE technical society with related activities for pre-university students. Educators, volunteers, and parents could reward students for the progress they made using TryEngineering Tuesday Badges. PES partnered with TryEngineering to bring sessions including Energy Storage, Smart Grids, Solar Power, and Utility of the Future.

To conclude, the panelists were asked what advice they would give to societies looking to get involved in pre-university STEM outreach. Enayati encouraged all societies to jump in and use PES as an example. 

“I strongly recommend other societies follow pre-university STEM program [outreach],” Enayati stated. “Do the outreach, join the activities, and Power and Energy Society is here to provide any feedback you need.”

Babak Enayati received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University in 2009. He joined Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2006 and is currently a Senior IEEE member. In addition to serving as Vice President of Education for PES, he is also the current chair of the PES Transmission Subcommittee. He joined New Leaf Energy in 2022 and is currently the Director of Engineering. You can read his full bio here