Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the March 2016 edition of ECN magazine.

It’s that time of year again—or a little past that time, but we’ll get to that in a minute—and I’m very excited and proud to announce the launch of the third annual 2016 ECN IMPACT Awards. For those of you who don’t know, the ECN IMPACT Awards are the modern version of a legacy of award shows dating back 60 years.

ECN has a tradition of recognizing the best products on the market for engineers and companies, which continues today in print and online. These awards look for the best products available in the field today and establish a standard of excellence for years to come.

The IMPACT Awards celebrate the hard work and innovation on the part of the designers, engineers, and their teams in creating products that will change the electronics industry. The ECN IMPACT Awards, which debuted in 2014, are designed to celebrate the products that had the greatest impact on the electronic components industry.

The competition seeks to honor ingenuity and creativity among companies large and small who are making a difference in the industry and in the lives of engineer.

The 2016 IMPACT Awards, as some of you may know, are taking place a little bit later than the past two years. This year, the awards will be given out during a virtual awards show hosted by yours truly—and a few friends—on October 13 at 12 pm (EST).

Though the awards presentation is a little different, the awards offer the same prestige and honor as they always have. Finalists and winners will be featured in the print publication and online, which is a great opportunity to showcase your most impactful products and services.

As someone who has worked on this version of the awards since its conception in 2013, I’m excited to showcase the evolution of the show and celebrate its continued success.

If you’re looking for more information on categories or judging, head over to www.ecnawards.com.

In other news, we’re still celebrating engineering with stories from engineers like you. This month’s story comes from James Lane. (Send your story to kasey.panetta@advantagemedia.com)

Initially, I didn’t even know what an engineer did or was. I was good with math and science so my senior High School counselor told me I should pursue engineering. I didn’t elect to attend the Colorado School of Mines until late in my senior year of HS. I hit the ground running and terrified of what I was doing. It was a tough college, but well worth the investment. I obtained an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science in Mining Engineering. My entire career of 23 years has been in Industrial Automation (Instrumentation and Controls) in food processing,
DOE nuclear test facilities, hydroelectric power generation, and oil and gas industry.

I have always loved tinkering with things to discover how they worked. In some cases, the device never worked again. I have a few old hobby car restoration projects I like to work on. I grew up on a cattle ranch, cutting, bailing, and hand staking hay bales, branding and vaccinating calves, herding cattle, tending to the sheep, collecting eggs in the morning, and milking the cow. So I was challenged to develop a good work ethic and learned how to fix farm equipment with bailing wire and duct tape and a variety of other patches. I think the ranching environment taught me practicality, can-do, getting by with what you have, and common sense.

I am currently setting up a special mobile robot at one of our local high schools in hopes to inspire students to consider a STEM career. It’s exciting. It’s in the BETA stages of set up and testing and has been a dream of mine for over a decade in development, both concept and assembly. When we complete the robot, it will be accessible via any internet browser from anywhere in the world. It has an on board webcam so the students can see in real time as they manipulate the robot’s manipulator arm, webcam, or robot navigation. It’s a 2 foot by 2 foot robot, track driven like a
little tank.

Anyway, I don’t know of any one particular event that got me into engineering just a culmination of many things and a HS advisor giving good advice. My parents strongly encouraged me to go to college, as well. For a while, I had just planned on being an auto mechanic since I enjoy working on cars.