ENGINEERING problem-solving

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From styrofoam, plastic, Plexiglas, cork and wood, 10 students at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington are building a scale model of a future city they call Libertania.

As the students envision it, Libertania is a resort city located off of the coast of New York City on a man-made land mass shaped like the torch of the Statue of Liberty.

The students designed the city for the 15th annual National Engineers Week Future City Competition, sponsored, in part, by the National Engineers Week Foundation, a consortium of more than 100 professional and technical societies and major corporations.

The Future City Competition presents a problem to seventh- and eighth-graders about a pressing global need, while fostering their interest in math, science and engineering. This year's problem focuses on how to develop a future city that uses fuel cells for power.

"We have to figure out how to use fuel cells to generate the electricity a city needs," says Cassidy Nolen, technology education teacher at Kenmore Middle School.

Fuel cells convert water, through an electrochemical reaction, into hydrogen and oxygen to produce electrical power with heat and water as the only byproducts, Mr. Nolen says.

"The city has to be grounded in science," he says. "It has to be something that's attainable within 100 years of technology."

About 30,000 students from 1,110 schools are participating in regional competitions this month. (See sidebar for times and location.) The winners from the 38 regions will have a chance to face off in the finals competition Feb. 19-21 during National Engineers Week.

"They have to use a computer program ... that introduces them to a lot of engineering concepts and even some business ideas," says Susan Parsons, fellow member of the Baltimore-Washington Section of the Society of Women Engineers, an organization based out of Chicago that encourages women in engineering careers. She is director of contracts for DFI International, a defense and homeland security consulting firm in Northwest.

Students learn that jobs in technology involve more than sitting behind a computer, Ms. Parsons says.