feature Mike Adamson, AEA's vice president of member programs & education, introduces students to the world of avionics during a career fair. HELP WANTED! S T O R Y ATTRACTING YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TO THE AVIONICS INDUSTRY 36 avionics news * may 2015 B Y P A T R I C I A A L U E B K E number of years ago, I interviewed Paul Ryan, an avionics pioneer who told me that among his first projects was building a crystal radio set, complete with a headset. He would go to sleep wearing the headset so that when the radio station resumed broadcasting at 6 a.m. with the national anthem, it would wake him up. I joked with him that he had invented the first clock radio, but I also thought about the likelihood of present-day Paul Ryans - young boys and girls who tinkered and built, took things apart, and ended up as inventors and technicians. We need them now in aviation. So where is the next generation of aviation professionals? The industry as a whole is working to secure the future. For