Futures with Jaime Escalante
Module 3: Design and Engineering

FUTURES was designed to motivate interest in mathematics by showing students that math is the language of the future--and a passport to creative and rewarding jobs.

Check out a preview from FUTURES with Jaime Escalante:

Aircraft Design - There's no question about it: human beings love to fly! And that urge has created thousands of career fields. From Paul MacCready's pedal-powered ultralight, the Gossamer Condor, to AeroVironment's re-creation of an ancient pterodactyl soaring above the Southern California desert, viewers learn that it takes math, science and technology to put man in flight. Also featured are aeronautics professionals at the California Institute of Technology. Classroom guest: Blue Angel Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran.

Putting Man in Space - In this award-winning program on space exploration, intertwined with dramatic scenes of astronauts weightless inside the Shuttle, "spacewalking", and magnificent spacescapes, are interviews with professionals such as Jerry Borer, who monitors the Shuttle's propulsion systems; Michael See, who supervisors the ship's landing phase; flight controller Gloria Araiza, and robotics engineers Larry Li and Anne Murray. Classroom guest: Astronaut Bonnie Dunbar.

Automotive Design - Viewers learn that the Penske Racing Team includes 105 people, and a range of careers that few people know about. In rare footage from the General Motors Advanced Concepts Center, viewers watch a concept car taking form, from sketch to finished model. Designers agree that if you love cars, are willing to work hard, and like art and engineering, automotive design could be the field for you. Classroom guest: Indy 500 champion Danny Sullivan.

Architecture & Structural Engineering - Shapes. Once you start looking for them, they're everywhere. It is the structural engineers, like those at the Cantor/Seinuk Group, who make an architect's design come to life-and perhaps make it earthquake-proof as well, which is the challenge faced by students at Cooper Union School of Architecture. Dizzying visuals take viewers on a high-speed roller coaster ride at Six Flags, where they also meet the designers and engineers who plan and build these amazing structures. Classroom guest: Architect Frank Gehry.

Futures with Jaime Escalante (Individual Modules):

Module 1: Environmental Sciences
Renewable Energy - Energy can come from windmills spinning in the desert wind, changes in ocean temperature, steam generated deep in the molten core of the earth, or even from burning vegetation.
Environmental Science and Technology - Some of the most promising careers of the future will solve the pollution problem.
Meteorology - How hard will the winds blow? Where will the lightning strike? Predicting the weather is the science of meteorology.
Ocean Exploration - Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth's surface-yet only a tiny fraction of the ocean has been explored or studied.

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Module 2: Applied Arts
Graphic Design - Professionals include people who create posters for movies, and paintbox computer graphics artists at MTV.
Industrial Design - Telephones, refrigerators, watches, chairs-almost everything we use every day was conceived by industrial designers.
Cartography - From a remote peak where the US Geological Survey measures the angles and distances of distant ranges, to the powerful computers at the Environmental Systems Research Institute, cartographers collect and collate data about our environment, and find creative ways to present their data in two-dimensional and three-dimensional images.
Fashion - Art meets business in this fascinating look at the world of fashion, where viewers will meet some of the industry's hottest designers, retailers and buyers.

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Module 4: Life Sciences, Sports and Fitness
Sports Performance - Whether it's football, basketball, hockey, skiing, baseball, gymnastics or snowboarding, amateur and professional athletes depend on a host of behind-the-scenes professionals.
Fitness and Physical Performance - For every world-class athlete or dancer, there is a team of doctors, trainers, physical therapists and nutritionists who make sure he or she is in top shape.
Agriculture - How do you feed the world with more and more people and less and less farmland?
Animal Care - Cheetahs slink around a field biologist as she makes entries about their behavior on her laptop computer.

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Module 5: Communications
Personal Communication - Fiber optics, digital transmission, two-way video conferencing, wireless communication via satellite-much of the technology developed for the space program is being used on Earth.
Mass Communication - Taking an idea, packaging it with sound and pictures and then transmitting it to millions of people at a time-that's mass communication.
Optics - Scanning the night sky for new constellations or capturing a moment of life in a photograph, mankind seeks to expand its vision through the use of lenses and light.
Sound Engineering - At a rock concert, Billy Joel is at the piano, but what comes out of the speakers is controlled by sound engineer Brian Ruggles.

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Module 6: Government and Civil Engineering
Statistics - Statisticians work in some of the most exciting careers there are.
Water Engineering - Cities and farms need millions of gallons a day. How do you contain it? Move it? Filter it? Conserve it?
Advanced Transportation - A look at some of the best and the worst transportation systems in the US, focusing on the people who work to create innovative transportation solutions.
Future Habitats - A fascinating introduction to the planetary scientists, architects, aerospace engineers, doctors and even artists who are working out ways to make life possible-and pleasant-on other planets, asteroids and the moon.