Engineering Education for the 21st Century

Charles M. Vest

President, National Academy of Engineering

ASEE Annual Conference

Pittsburgh, PA

June 23, 2008

A Summary of Sorts

When I started teaching in 1967, our concerns were:

• How to make the first year exciting,

• How to communicate what engineers actually do,

• How to develop an understanding of business processes, and

• How to get students to think about ethics and social responsibility.

Today, in 2008, our concerns are:

Today, in 2008, our concerns are:

• How to make the first year exciting,

• How to communicate what engineers actually do,

• How to develop an understanding of business processes, and

• How to get students to think about ethics and social responsibility.

And to this we must add:

• Nano-Bio-Info• Large Complex Systems• An entire new life-science base• Astounding computation and storage capabilities• Globalization• Innovation • Leadership• Teamwork across disciplines, fields, nations and cultures• Experiential Learning: Conceive / Design / Implement / Operate.• Entrepreneurship• Product Development and Manufacturing• Sustainable Development

Oh, And Our Graduates Must Be Global Engineers

• Technically Adept

• Broadly Knowledgeable

• Innovative and Entrepreneurial

• Commercially Savvy

• Multilingual

• Culturally Aware

• Able to Understand World Markets

• Professionally Flexible and Mobile

WHY?

Becausethe world is changing.

Context and Goals for Technological Education

• A New Century

• New Innovation and Enterprise Models

• New Technological Frontiers

• Engineering Grand Challenges

It’s a New Century

A New Century

• 20th Century: – Physics, Electronics, and High-Speed

Communications and Transportation

• 21st Century: – Biology and Information,– but also Energy, Water, and Sustainability

With New R&D Investments

Data for 2002

Source: Science and Engineering Indicators, NSF 2008

R&D Expenditures and Share of World Total

U.S. R&D: On Top / Losing Share

• The U.S. leads in R&D investments

• The U.S. is among the leaders of the pack in R&D/GDP.

• However, our global share declined in every category from 1986 to 2003.– Domestic R&D -9% New U.S. Patents -2%

– Sci. Publications -8% Sci. Researchers -8%

– S&E BS Degrees -10% New S&E PhDs -30%

Source: Competitiveness Index, Council on Competitiveness Nov. 2006

With New PlayersWhere the Expertise is

Source: Competitiveness Index 2007, Council on Competitiveness, Washington, DC

Young Professional Workforce(college grads up to 7 yr.

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

China India U.S.

Engineers

Life Science

Finance/Acct.

Where the Expertise will be …

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

19831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

China

Japan

S. Korea

US

UK

Germany

Source: Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC

First Engineering Degrees(China Rises.)

China

US

Japan

It’s not all about numbers, but …

It’s not all about numbers, but …

• “Venture capital is the search for smart engineers.”

--Floyd Kvamme Kleiner-Perkins

It’s not all about numbers, but …

• “Venture capital is the search for smart engineers.”

--Floyd Kvamme Kleiner-Perkins

Engineers

are creativ

e problem solve

rs.

Years for Innovative Products to Reach 25% of the U.S. Population

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Automobile

Telephone

Radio

PersonalComputer

Cell Phone

World Wide Web

With New Speed

A New Century with

New Innovation andEnterprise Models

0102030405060708090

100

1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050

Services (Info)Services (Other)Industry (Goods)Agriculture

Source: Stuart Feldman, IBM Research, Presentation at Carnegie-Mellon University, 29 June, 2005

With New JobsU.S. % Employment by Sector

History and Projection

With New ConnectionsLocation No Longer Matters.

• “The World is Flat” -- Tom Friedman– In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down, and Microsoft’s

Windows went up.

– $1.5 trillion worth of optical fiber connects the world.

– Globalization has “accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore, and Bethesda next door neighbors.”

– Many jobs are now just a “mouse click” away from anywhere..

With New DebatesLocation Does Matter.

• The power of regional innovation clusters

• Proximity of small companies and corporate labs to universities

• Venture capital networks

Both are correct. But in any event, … Globalization is the

new reality.

With New Innovation Models

• Open Innovation (Henry Chesbrough, HBS)– Companies today must integrate the best ideas, no

matter where they originate.• In other countries• In other companies or laboratories• Even in competing organizations.

– New, dynamic business models are needed for an open, connected world.

• Licensing• Partnering• Joint Venturing

• The Globally Integrated Enterprise(Sam Palmesano, CEO IBM)– Supercedes the multinational corporation– Driven by globally shared technologies and

standards built on global IT– Focus shifted from products to production– New borderless strategy, management,

and operations for integrated production and value delivery.

With New Enterprise Models

Service Enterprises will look like this:

Function 1Function 2

Function 5

Function 6

Function 7

Function 8

Function 9

Function 4Function 3

Country A

Country I

Country H

Country GCountry FCountry E

Country DCountry C

Country B

Manufacturing Projects already look like this.

Manufacturing Projects already look like this.

• But with many more boxes and countries!

Manufacturing Projects already look like this.

• But with many more boxes and countries!

• For example, the new Boeing 787

Manufacturing Projects already look like this.

• But with many more boxes and countries!

• For example, the new Boeing 787

– Reportedly has 132,500 engineered parts

Manufacturing Projects already look like this.

• But with many more boxes and countries!

• For example, the new Boeing 787

– Reportedly has 132,500 engineered parts

– Produced in 545 global locations.

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

1990 1994 1998 2002

+3,000,000

-2,000,000

Net change in employment

Source: Competitiveness Index, Council on Competitiveness Nov. 2006

Small and Medium Firms Drive Job Growth

With New Importance of Small Companies

A New Century with

New Technological Frontiers

With New Engineering Frontiers

BioInfo

Nano

Smaller and SmallerFaster and Faster

More and More Complex

Engineering Frontiers

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

Larger and LargerMore and More Complex

Great Societal Importance

Frontiers and Synergies

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

NanoBioInfo

Natural Science

Science and EngineeringAre Merging.

Frontiers and Synergies

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

NanoBioInfo

Social Science

These engineering systems need social science, management, and

humanities / communications.

Frontiers and SynergiesMust be reflected in university education.

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

NanoBioInfo

Social Science

Natural Science

The Payoff will come from Bridging the Frontiers

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

BioInfo

Nano

Bio-based materialsBiomemeticsPersonalized, Predictive MedicineSynthetic BiologyBiofuelsEtc.

The Payoff will come from Bridging the Frontiers

Our students must be prepared to do this.

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

BioInfo

Nano

Bio-based materialsBiomemeticsPersonalized, Predictive MedicineSynthetic BiologyBiofuelsEtc.

The Payoff will come from Bridging the Frontiers

Our students must be prepared to do this.

MacroEnergy

EnvironmentHealth Care

ManufacturingCommunications

Logistics

BioInfo

Nano

Bio-based materialsBiomemeticsPersonalized, Predictive MedicineSynthetic BiologyBiofuelsEtc. E

ngineers help shape the fu

ture.

In this New Century

Engineering is Dynamicwith Exciting Frontiersand Grand Challenges

Engineering is not static.

• 20th century Stovepipes:

– Scientists discovered.

– Engineers created.

– Doctors healed.

Engineering is not static.

• 21st century science, engineering,and medicine are:

– Totally interdependent

– Blending together in new ways

Engineering is about Systems

• From nanobiological devices

• To large scale infrastructure

• To the earth itself

And Engineering Systemsinclude, interact with, and serve:

• People

• Economies

• Business

• Law

• Politics

• Culture …

Grand Challenges for Engineering

• Proposed by a committee of amazingly accomplished and innovative people.

• Extremely challenging and important.

• Deemed to be doable in the next few decades.

Grand Challenges Committee

• Bill Perry, chair• Sir Alec Broers• Farouk El-Baz• Wes Harris• Bernadine Healy• Daniel Hillis• Calestous Juma• Dean Kamen• Ray Kurzweil

• Bob Langer• Jaime Lerner• Bindu Lohani• Jane Lubchenco• Mario Molina• Larry Page• Rob Socolow• Craig Venter• Jackie Ying

Engineering Grand Challenges

Announced Feb. 15, 2008

• Make Solar Energy Economical• Provide Energy from Fusion• Develop Carbon Sequestration

Methods• Manage the Nitrogen Cycle• Provide Access to Clean Water

• Engineer Better Medicines• Advance Health Informatics

• Secure Cyberspace• Prevent Nuclear Terror• Restore and Improve Urban

Infrastructure

• Reverse Engineer the Brain• Enhance Virtual Reality• Advance Personalized

Learning• Engineer the Tools of Scientific

Discovery

Engineering Grand Challenges

See the NAE website.

EnergyEnvironment

Global WarmingSustainability

Improve Medicine andHealthcare Delivery

Reducing Vulnerability toHuman and Natural Threats

Expand and EnhanceHuman Capability

And Joy

Think about these Challenges

• Some are imperative for human survival.

• Some will make us more secure against natural and human threats.

• All will improve quality of life.

• Most are of global scale.

Subtext of the Challenges

• The public and policy makers need to understand what engineers do and can do.

• And don’t forget why young women and men chose NOT to study engineering …

Subtext of the Challenges

• The public and policy makers need to understand what engineers do and can do.

• And don’t forget why young women and men chose NOT to study engineering … They’d “rather go into a field where they can help people and make the world better”!

Subtext of the Challenges

• The public and policy makers need to understand what engineers do and can do.

• And don’t forget why young women and men chose NOT to study engineering … They’d “rather go into a field where they can help people and make the world better”!

Engineering is essential to our health,

happiness, and safety.

In Closing

Some Personal Views about Engineering Education

Some Personal Views and Questions

• What is important in Engineering Education?

• Innovation in Teaching and Learning

• The Need for Research and Assessment of Teaching and Learning

• The Meta University

What is important in Engineering Education

Making universities and engineering schools exciting, creative, adventurous, rigorous, demanding, and empowering environments is more important than specifying curricular details.

What is important in Engineering Education

Making universities and engineering schools exciting, creative, adventurous, rigorous, demanding, and empowering environments is more important than specifying curricular details.

That’s what I learned at MIT.

Innovation in Engineering / Technology Education

• There is a lot out there:– Experiential learning– Projects– Computer-assisted learning– CDIO– Business Plan Competitions– UROP, UPOP– Studio Learning– WebLab– Second Life …… etc.– Entire new schools like Olin College

Innovation in Engineering / Technology Education

• There is a lot out there:– Experiential learning– Projects– Computer-assisted learning– CDIO– Business plan competitions– UROP, UPOP– Studio Learning– WebLab– Second Life …… etc.

– Entire new schools like Olin College

• But we don’t assess or propagate them! (NIH?)

Digital Resources for Education• Cyberinfrastructure

• Inexpensive, Limitless Memory

• Digital Archives– JSTOR, ARTstor, Ithaka, Public Library of Science, Google

Library, …

• Platforms / Pedagogy– SAKAI, OKI, Open Learning Initiative (CMU), Connexion

(Rice), Digital Chemistry (Berkeley), VUE (Tufts), Lionshare (Penn State), …

And the Open Content Movement

• MIT OpenCourseWare– Teaching Materials for 1800 courses– Free of charge to Anyone, Anywhere

0

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750,000

1,000,000

1,250,000

1,500,000

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OctoberJanuaryApril July

OctoberJanuaryApril July

OctoberJanuaryApril July

OctoberJanuary

Chulalongkorn

CORE

OOPS

Universia

OCW

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

OctoberDecemberFebruary

AprilJuneAugustOctober

DecemberFebruaryAprilJune

AugustOctoberDecemberFebruary

AprilJuneAugust

All other

MITOCW Traffic OCW Movement

The Meta University A Personal View

What we are observing is the early emergence of a Meta University -- a transcendent, accessible, empowering, dynamic, communally-constructed framework of open materials and platforms on which much of higher education worldwide can be constructed or enhanced.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you for your attention.

Red M

essages courtesy of:

Changing th

e Conversation

A National Academy of E

ngineering Project