I’m Chuck Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering. I’m pleased to welcome you to the website of an ambitious project. We call it "Changing the Conversation."

In the 21^st century, our nation should have a vibrant economy, a healthy and secure populace, and a high standard of living.

To meet this goal we must increase the quantity, quality, and diversity of our engineering workforce. To achieve that, we need to change the way people perceive and talk about engineering.

We have developed this site to help the engineering community communicate more effectively about engineering. We particularly hope industry, engineering societies, professional associations, and federal agencies will benefit from using this tool.

On this site you will see engineering messages and taglines that have been shown to resonate with young people and adults. You will see examples of how people are using these messages. And you will have the opportunity to create a personal profile and interact with your peers.

So please look around and explore the site. Contribute to it. Learn from others. Engage in dialogue. Take away some great ideas for your own messaging efforts.

Together, we can change the conversation and inspire young people to make a world of difference.