2020 Vision: Progress in Preparing the Engineer of the Future

In 2004, the National Academy of Engineering published Educating the Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century to encourage reform of undergraduate engineering education. That report inspired “The Engineer of 2020” project, two interrelated studies supported by the National Science Foundation. Prototype to Production: Conditions and Processes for Educating the Engineer of 2020 (NSF-EEC-0550608) sought to benchmark undergraduate engineering education in the U.S. against the attributes the National Academy report believes future engineers will need in order to be effective. Prototyping the Engineer of 2020: A 360-degree Study of Effective Education (NSF-DUE-061871) used in-depth case studies to identify curricular, instructional, organizational features that support undergraduate engineering education that is well-aligned with the goals of the Engineer of 2020. This summary of findings from the Engineer of 2020 projects is intended to assist engineering deans, department heads, faculty, associations and professional societies, industry, and public policy makers in their efforts to improve undergraduate engineering education so that graduates are well prepared for careers in engineering. The study findings may also aid in the process of diversifying the engineering student population, and ultimately, the engineering workforce.National Science Foundation Grants: Prototype to Production: Conditions and Processes for Educating the Engineer of 2020 ((NSF-EEC-0550608) and Prototyping the Engineer of 2020: A 360-degree Study of Effective Education (NSF-DUE-061871)http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107462/1/E2020 Study Methods 6.26.14.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107462/5/2020 Vision FINAL.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107462/7/P2P Sample Characteristics 2.21.14.docxDescription of E2020 Study Methods 6.26.14.pdf : E2020 Study Methods SummaryDescription of 2020 Vision FINAL.pdf : 2020 Vision: Progress in Preparing the Engineer of the Future - Full ReportDescription of P2P Sample Characteristics 2.21.14.docx : Information on Study Sample

Special session: utopia university - building a roadmap for educating the next millennium's engineers

Ailing multibillionaire P. Oscar Utopia wishes to endow a university in honor of Rose B. Utopia, his beloved wife and long-practicing engineer. He will be at FIE to draw upon the expertise of our community to design the master plan for a university of the next millennium, unburdened by the assumptions of the present and the past. Conference attendees who subscribe to Utopia's vision are encouraged to participate in this workshop, challenge the assumptions inherent to the current practice, and brainstorm a plan for educating the engineer of 3030. During this session, we will identify and challenge assumptions that are inherent to the current practice of how we educate engineers. Participants will engage in a series of rapid planning sessions based on the “what if” scenario of being able to establish a new engineering schoolunfettered by standard constraints of money, facilities,or current educational practice

The Challenge of Educating Engineers for a Close, Crowded and Creative World

The world that is emerging based on the development and everyday use of new technologies is a world that can be described as close, crowded and creative. Studies have highlighted that traditional curricula and pedagogical methods for engineering education are deficient in terms of developing and nurturing key skills required by engineers to succeed in this world. The challenge for the engineering academic leaders of today is to begin with the end in mind: to begin with a description of the competences that the engineer of the future should have in order to succeed in their aspirations as an engineer, and then to reverse engineer both the curriculum and pedagogical approaches to enable the desired outcome. This chapter describes what is meant by a close, crowded and creative world: the world in which engineering graduates must learn to practice. It then proposes three different possible scenarios for the world of 2030 and discusses the key skills that engineers in 2030 should possess in order to succeed as engineers. The chapter concludes with recommendations on how to address the challenges of educating engineers for a close, crowded and creative world

America's Overlooked Engineers: Community Colleges and Diversity in Engineering Education

16-page report on the community college as a potential pathway to engineeringIn 2004, the National Academy of Engineering published Educating the Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century. The report foresees a world of dynamic technological change requiring future engineers to have, in addition to strong analytical skills, an understanding of complex societal, global, and professional contexts; creativity and practical ingenuity; communications, management, and leadership skills; high ethical standards and professionalism; and agility, resilience, and interdisciplinary thinking and teamwork. The Academy’s report inspired “The Engineer of 2020” project, a National Science Foundation-supported set of interrelated studies of engineering education. Prototype to Production: Conditions and Processes for Educating the Engineer of 2020 (NSF-EEC-0550608), or “P2P,” sought to benchmark undergraduate engineering education in the U.S. against the attributes the National Academy report believes future engineers will need in order to be effective. NAE’s report also called attention to the rapid population growth both globally and among minorities in the U.S. Such changes, the report stressed, have “major implications for the future of engineering, a profession where minorities and women remain underrepresented” (p. 4). Because of the urgency of increasing the representation of historically nderrepresented groups in engineering schools and in the workforce expressed by the Academy and numerous others, and given growing calls to capitalize on the nation’s community colleges as potentially fruitful grounds for recruiting diverse students to engineering, the Engineer of 2020 project included a survey of community college students planning to transfer into a four-year engineering program.1 This summary of findings from the Engineer of 2020 project surveys is intended to assist engineering deans, department heads, faculty members, associations and professional societies, industry, and public policy makers in their efforts to diversifying engineering education and better prepare engineers to function effectively in the near- and long-term future.National Science Foundation (NSF-EEC-0550608)http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107460/4/E2020 Study Methods 6.26.14.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107460/1/America's Overlooked Engineers - Community Colleges and Diversity in Engineering Education.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107460/8/Americas Overlooked Engineers FINAL.pdfDescription of Americas Overlooked Engineers FINAL.pdf : America's Overlooked EngineersDescription of E2020 Study Methods 6.26.14.pdf : Summary of E2020 Study MethodsDescription of America's Overlooked Engineers - Community Colleges and Diversity in Engineering Education.pdf : Report on the Community College as a pathway to engineering career

Educating for Change

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework was adopted by every member state of the United Nations in 2015, and, albeit not legally binding, it is arguably one of the greatest steps of humanity to address the identified problems of our time, covering a wide range of topics such as environmental protection, equal opportunities, education, eradication of diseases, famine, poverty, slavery and child labour. Both in terms of its comprehensive scope and its worldwide support, this framework arguably represents one of the most significant international frameworks in human history. Using education related examples from a charity project that is concerned with the development of a local health care system in the African rain forest in Cameroon, this paper illustrates how projects can and should implement key aspects of the SDGs framework pre-emptively within their scope, i.e. at the local level, prior to and in support of the full, legally binding implementation of the framework at the national level. This not only helps to make our world a better place, but also very concretely to reduce project risks, create funding opportunities and make the project’s deliverables more sustainable. The ‘Mahola Project’ (‘Mahola’ means ‘Aid’ in the local Bassa language) was founded in 2013 – following an exploration trip to Cameroon in order to assess the real needs of the population in the deprived area around the village Siliyegue – as a response to meet these needs. The main objective of the project is the development and deployment of a sustainable, integrated, local health care system that is fully aligned with the SDGs and brings about dramatic improvements for the quality of life of the people living there; far beyond ‘just’ providing health care and work opportunities. Education is at the core of the necessary efforts to successfully deliver this system, changing minds and hearts

Educating for Change

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework was adopted by every member state of the United Nations in 2015, and, albeit not legally binding, it is arguably one of the greatest steps of humanity to address the identified problems of our time, covering a wide range of topics such as environmental protection, equal opportunities, education, eradication of diseases, famine, poverty, slavery and child labour. Both in terms of its comprehensive scope and its worldwide support, this framework arguably represents one of the most significant international frameworks in human history. Using education related examples from a charity project that is concerned with the development of a local health care system in the African rain forest in Cameroon, this paper illustrates how projects can and should implement key aspects of the SDGs framework pre-emptively within their scope, i.e. at the local level, prior to and in support of the full, legally binding implementation of the framework at the national level. This not only helps to make our world a better place, but also very concretely to reduce project risks, create funding opportunities and make the project’s deliverables more sustainable. The ‘Mahola Project’ (‘Mahola’ means ‘Aid’ in the local Bassa language) was founded in 2013 – following an exploration trip to Cameroon in order to assess the real needs of the population in the deprived area around the village Siliyegue – as a response to meet these needs. The main objective of the project is the development and deployment of a sustainable, integrated, local health care system that is fully aligned with the SDGs and brings about dramatic improvements for the quality of life of the people living there; far beyond ‘just’ providing health care and work opportunities. Education is at the core of the necessary efforts to successfully deliver this system, changing minds and hearts

Vector Summer 2013

Vector is the student engineering magazine on campus. Published by the Student Engineering Council, Vector is completely written, managed, and designed by students for students. With issues dating back to 1971, the magazine has a long-standing tradition of serving as the voice for engineering students at The University of Texas at Austin. The Vector staff publishes two issues per semester. For more information regarding the Vector magazine, please contact us at vector@ sec.engr.utexas.edu.Cockrell School of EngineeringCockrell School of Engineerin

Digital, memory and mixed-signal test engineering education: five centres of competence in Europe

The launching of the EuNICE-Test project was announced two years ago at the first DELTA Conference. This project is now completed and the present paper describes the project actions and outcomes. The original idea was to build a long-lasting European Network for test engineering education using both test resource mutualisation and remote experiments. This objective is fully fulfilled and we have now, in Europe, five centres of competence able to deliver high-level and high-specialized training courses in the field of test engineering using a high-performing industrial ATE. All the centres propose training courses on digital testing, three of them propose mixed-signal trainings and three of them propose memory trainings. Taking into account the demand in test engineering, the network is planned to continue in a stand alone mode after project end. Nevertheless a new European proposal with several new partners and new test lessons is under construction

Educating the global citizen in sustainable development: the influence of accreditation bodies on professional programmes

It is estimated that over 50% of UK CO2 emissions arise from the buildings and industry sector. Globally construction is estimated to be the world’s largest employer with 111 million employees. The Built Environment sector is therefore a major economic player with significant environmental, social and economic influence across the globe. Pressure on Built Environment degree curriculum partly comes from the professional bodies, with whom a large proportion of the School of the Built and Natural Environment’s programmes are accredited. Accreditation is in many cases a requirement in order for graduates to practice their profession while in others it is not a requirement but an expectation. As a result, accreditation is vital to the marketability of School degree programmes. This paper discusses the key competencies within professional accreditation requirements for three case study subject areas within the School. Through this case study analysis it was found that all three accreditation requirements analysed referred to the accepted three pillar model of sustainability (see for example Kates et al (2005); van Zeijl-Rozema et al (2008); Mackelworth and Carić (2010)). Guidance in all three disciplines referred further to ethics and social responsibility. However, the three professional body accreditation guidelines differ in the prescribed quantity, and the detail of guidance, on sustainability criteria. In ensuring compliance with accreditation guidelines, the three subject areas have taken differing approaches across a continuum. The authors consider that the approaches taken, and the extent to which sustainability criteria are explicit or implicit within the curriculum, are in part influenced by the pedagogic approaches typical of the subject discipline

The research teaching nexus in the computing disciplines: a comparative survey

Many institutions make claims in strategy documents and official publications that students will receive an education which is research-led, research-informed, or guided by the scholarship of teaching and learning. Academics who teach regularly experience at first-hand the sometimes conflicting demands of research, teaching and supporting learning. Curricula guidelines are unlikely to help in developing any sophisticated understanding of ways in which research and teaching can be symbiotically applied, since such guidelines most typically deal with the content rather than the educational process experienced by our undergraduates. For these reasons an academic’s understanding of the research teaching nexus is more likely to be informed by their own workaday experience of designing and delivering educational experiences than from an analysis of the students’ perspective. If academics in the computing disciplines are to effectively deliver on their institutional missions to be scholarly, research-led or research-informed in their educational approaches, a clearer understanding of the possible meanings and implications of these terms in the context of the typical computing curricula would be of assistance. This paper presents and analyses the results of a survey conducted at two Universities which sought to identify how far their undergraduate curriculum was informed by research. This data is presented alongside qualitative data gathered from academics which explores their attitudes towards, and understanding of, the various terms commonly used to describe a research-informed approach to education in the computing disciplines