Kids Explore Science and Engineering, Start Down Own Path of Innovation at Ford ‘Take Our Children to Work Day’

• Spirit of innovation that guided company founder Henry Ford embraced by next generation at Ford “Take Our Children to Work Day”

• Unique activities at Ford Research and Innovation Center enable the children of Ford engineers and scientists to experience how subjects like math and science are used to create new vehicle technologies

 

DEARBORN, Mich., April 25, 2013 – Hundreds of children turned out today at Ford Motor Company, as part of “Take Our Children to Work Day,” to see how the subjects they study in school are used to help create the vehicles they see on the road.

 

Ford President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally participated in the day’s activities by hosting a town hall discussion with employees’ children at Ford’s Conference and Event Center. Mulally led a discussion on the children’s impressions of Ford, and answered their questions about the company’s vehicles and the automotive industry.

 

The town hall was followed by a special luncheon for the children. It was one of several “Take Our Children to Work Day” events Ford held.

 

At Ford’s Research and Innovation Center, the nerve center that generates many of the company’s future technologies, a unique program allowed the children to experience various laboratories and conduct scientific experiments, including:

 

• Engineering a way to keep an egg safe in a crash, mirroring testing tools used by Ford crash safety engineers to design vehicles

• Using human motion measurement, seen in popular video games, to develop cars

• Learning how the extremely cold temperature of liquid nitrogen drastically changes the mechanical properties of materials by experimenting with common objects

• Peering through light and electron microscopes that magnify up to 400,000 times to look at objects in a new way

• Exploring a multifunctional seat prototype that responds to voice commands

While these activities might constitute just another day at the office for many of those in advanced technology fields, the program allowed the children to experience how the jobs performed by their parents help develop the company’s future vehicle technologies.

 

“It’s important for our future generations to be excited about how school subjects like math and science can be applied in everyday life, including the role they play in the auto industry,” said Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer. “It’s gratifying to see a spirit of innovation alive and well in these children and in their parents as we develop new technologies for our vehicles.”

 

The program at the Ford Research and Innovation Center, themed around the 150^th anniversary of Henry Ford’s birth, helped celebrate the innovative spirit of the company’s founder.