The New Economy Engineer

Now that the EotF 2.0 conference has come to a close, it is a time to reflect. The consensus of the attendees, which represented colleges and universities around the world, was that a fundamental change is needed in engineering education. The change should encompass both what is being taught, the way in which it is being taught, and even what we think about engineering.

The question then becomes, how do we proceed with this seemingly monumental task? There were many ideas at the conference. Woodie Flowers of MIT had some excellent points in his presentation and concluded with the idea that engineering faculty need to embrace change before it will succeed. But what about the many other stakeholders? How do you facilitate cooperation between current students, industry professionals, alumni, and even the universities themselves?

The final act of the conference was the signing of the Transformation Proclamation. The goal of this document was to create an alliance for promoting innovation in engineering education. To accomplish this goal, individuals from both inside and outside the university will need to align. If you believe in the need for change, go to the following website and pledge your support for reform:

http://www.olin.edu/engineerofthefuture/images/APIE2-transformation-proc...

The next EotF2.0 event was a student panel that provided insight on what recent graduates believe the future of engineering requires. There has been a common theme that I have noticed throughout the discussion: how to produce better engineers? However, we discuss the production of engineers like they are simple products, not people. How do we get the students motivated to care about the future of engineering when they have a Theromdynamics exam they will fail on Thursday if they do not study for it?

An update from the EotF2.0 conference: We had an excellent morning with a wonderful keynote speaker who inundated the audience with loads of valuable information. It almost felt like my undergraduate days when I had to scribble down notes in hopes that I could piece together my chicken scratch to study for the test, which is not really too different; though the test is not an hour exam, but what could be a multiple decade giant change initiative.

Anyway, I will not rehash what she said; I could not do justice to it. But I did have a personal revelation. It seems that those interested in the future of engineering education understand the need for change. We are driven to change; it is an issue we are passionate about. And, we continue to find ways to model and write equations with the goal of solving the problem at hand. We are using all the old skills we were taught to change those skills which we are using.

Wicked, isn’t it?

As change catalysts, we need to change our own style of thinking to align with what we want to achieve before we can convince others there is a problem that needs solving. Can we effectively change a paradigm if we are stuck in that paradigm itself?

This afternoon, I had the privilege to attend the first event of the Engineer of the Future 2.0 conference at Olin College just outside of Boston. It is exciting to network with a countrywide group of people that have similar concerns to us here at the New Economy Engineer. Despite common thoughts, however, I have heard a number of different ideas and theories on what engineering needs to move into the future. While I am even more confused than before, hopefully all the individuals I meet during this conference can shed some light and ideas on the issues facing engineers in the future.

Regardless, we all seem to have the same goal, and the Engineer of the Future conference 2.0 seems to be a great way to spark the dialogue across the country.

Entrepreneurship has had an incredible impact on the lives of every American.  Many companies considered household names, such as Google and Facebook, were created with the entrepreneurial spirit in mind.  But what is entrepreneurship?  I will define it as individuals who find creative solutions to unrecognized problems.  Salesforce.com for example, uses customer relationship management and cloud computing as an innovative solution to the time and expense of information technology management.

A recent article, “The United States of Entrepreneurs” in The Economist notes the appeal of entrepreneurship.  In fact, entrepreneurs accounted for over 8 million new companies, $32 billion in raised capital, and hundreds of thousands of new jobs in 2008.  Many attribute this success to the close relations between universities and industry in the United States.  How do universities further leverage this relationship?

The United States may be the keystone of the entrepreneurial world, but many countries are gaining ground.  Specifically, China and India are shifting educational resources to produce college graduates with entrepreneurial values.  How does the United States keep this edge?  What can universities do to further enhance entrepreneurial spirit?  And perhaps the simplest question, what is the most effective way to teach entrepreneurship?