02 September 2011             Do something amazing – be a Mentor We really value the time, hard work and support given by our mentors helping to develop the younger members of our profession. Each quarter, we celebrate the success of those mentors whose developing engineers become professionally registered. A positive experience of mentoring encourages these newly elected Members to become mentors themselves.          Richard Francis of MBDA UK Ltd says: "We have just completed our 100th (in October 2010) regular MPDS Monthly Mentor meeting (all minuted) chaired by Malcolm Rush the Company / IMechE Industrial Liaison Officer and some of our older mentors are now starting to call it a day as their current charges complete.  I am happy to say that recently the younger element are now taking up the call and volunteering to help us mentor the new intakes. We do seem to be gradually branching out from the Mechanical Department and Mentoring graduates from other parts of our business under my umbrella either by Delegating Mentors or arranging for a local accredited Mentor and Emma Daniels was the first success story this year.  I will need to rely on these new upcoming mentors to assist me to mentor these, whilst using delegated Mentors if not available.   The System is tried and trusted and you also should be acknowledged and thanked for the assistance you have given us over the years. Thank you.” If you have been inspired to lead a Developing Engineer to success and wish to register as a Mentor or Delegate Mentor, please check out our mentor support pages.         We are changing the way we invoice you for your MPDS fees This information does not apply if you made a lump sum payment when you first registered on MPDS. If you choose to make an annual payment of £30 for each year on MPDS please note the following: MPDS fees for 2011 These are now due. If you have not already made a payment for this year, then you should do so now. You can pay by card over the phone by calling 01952 214050. MPDS fees for 2012 From January 2012 your annual MPDS fees will be invoiced with your annual subscription fees, even if you previously paid your MPDS fees on your anniversary of joining the scheme. Do not wait until the end of this year to make your 2011 payment, as your 2012 fees will become due in January 2012.   New service - Career Developer Our new service, Career Developer, will provide you with a central repository for all your Continuous Professional Development (CPD) reports and activities.  If you have a personal development plan, have been on a training course or have attended a conference or seminar that contributed to your CPD then you can upload that evidence to Career Developer. Use Career Developer to manage and develop your engineering career even if you change companies. Use your reports and activities as a basis for a Professional Review report by downloading our dynamic Professional Review report template. Career Developer is free to all fully subscribed IMechE members. No registration is required, just log in to My Account and upload your achievements.   Important information for MPDS mentors who are not currently members of the Institution To register as an MPDS Mentor with us, you need to be: a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer registered with the Engineering Council (or equivalent) If you are registered with us but are not currently a member of the Institution, you will need to ensure that your Engineering Council registration does not lapse. If it does, you will be unable to continue mentoring with us until you are reinstated. Your professional engineering institution is responsible for maintaining your EC registration, so please check with them if you have any doubts.          Tip of the month As part of your journey towards professional registration, you may find yourself needing to take a break due to circumstances beyond your control. Perhaps you are returning to education, going on maternity leave, or are transitioning between employers. As a result of these changes you may want to suspend your MPDS for a few months. If you find yourself in this situation, we are here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be able to advise you on the best course of action to keep you en route to your goal. We want this newsletter to be as relevant and useful as possible. Contact us with any questions on your professional development you would like our experts to answer. Find out if you are ready to take the next step in becoming a Professionally Registered engineer.         You're receiving this email because you are a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please update your preferences.     ©2011 Institution of Mechanical Engineers www.imeche.org. UK registered charity number 206882. 1 Birdcage Walk London SW1H 9JJ United Kingdom | Telephone +44 20 7222 7899 | Email enquiries@imeche.org.

Crossing the finish line While the race for a good graduate job once you finish university is probably taking up a lot of your time, there are other races going on over the summer that you should be interested in! This month’s IMechE newsletter is a motor racing special, packed with all the news from the Formula Student and Greenpower racing events. We tell you how participating in events such as these can turbocharge your career prospects in an interview with Peter Leipold, Chief Executive of the victorious University of Stuttgart team. We also discuss the future of racing in our Topic of the Month.          IMechE Member Profile Peter Leipold, University of Stuttgart, Chief Executive of Rennteam Stuttgart Would you recommend other students participate in Formula Student? Formula Student teaches you great soft skills: team work. being part of a project, discussing, communicating, keeping time schedules, keeping milestones, keeping all the issues of the project in mind (like cost issues, sponsorship,...) and leading a smaller group of students or the complete team. You also develop invaluable technical skills. After several months you are able to talk with professional engineers about solutions and designs for your car, and you get practical skills you can’t find in the classroom. You also gather a huge network of contacts from all over the industry, which becomes very useful once you graduate. On the other hand, you shouldn’t participate if you are only doing it to get your thesis work done. You’ll never feel as attached to the car as others who participate because they want to do motorsports. Being part of the team is hard work and if you come with the “wrong” expectations you will not make the most of it.       Stuttgart Storms to Victory Forget the battles between Hamilton, Alonso and Webber, the real racing drama occurred earlier this summer on the hallowed tarmac of Silverstone. With over 2,300 students in 125 teams from 34 countries participating in this year’s Formula Student event, there were plenty of fantastic engineering innovations on show. Teams were pitted against each other over four days at Silverstone, with cars judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance, and teams tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills. “Vorsprung Durch Technik” was the order of the day again this year, as the team from the University of Stuttgart took first place in the headline Class One race, but there were other winners too. Read the story and get the full results. Got the power There are other ways you can get involved in racing events, and accelerate your job hunt in the process. In June, around 50 STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Maths) Ambassadors descended on the rolling hills of Yorkshire to help run the Greenpower electric car racing event for local schools. Each team was given the same motor and battery capacity, and had to build the best electric racing car they could for a four mile endurance race. Check out a BBC news report on the event. Volunteering at events such as these is not only great fun; you also gain excellent experience of managing a group, and it looks fantastic on your CV. Find more information on volunteering in your local area to boost your career prospects. Racing ahead Professional racing cars are already ruthlessly efficient machines. But with increasing pressure on oil supplies, engineers are looking to alternative fuel sources to power the race cars of tomorrow. With that in mind, we asked whether you thought Formula One would change much over the coming years as the teams adopt new technology such as that on show at Formula Student. IMechE member Paul Davis points out that other racing classes have already seen big changes over the past few years. He thinks Formula One could go the same way, but that the governing bodies need to relax some of the regulatory restrictions for it to happen. One thing is for certain; with the amount of engineering talent on display at events like Formula Student and Greenpower, the future looks good for racing!