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
• Multilingual
• Broadly
Knowledgeable
• Culturally Aware
• Innovative and
Entrepreneurial
• Commercially Savvy
• Able to Understand
World Markets
• Professionally
Flexible and Mobile
WHY?
Because
the 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
R&D Expenditures and Share of World Total
Data for 2002
Source: Science and Engineering Indicators, NSF 2008
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%
– Sci. Publications -8%
– S&E BS Degrees -10%
New U.S. Patents -2%
Sci. Researchers -8%
New S&E PhDs -30%
Source: Competitiveness Index, Council on Competitiveness Nov. 2006
With New Players
Where the Expertise is
Young Professional Workforce
(college grads up to 7 yr.
2500000
2000000
1500000
Engineers
Life Science
Finance/Acct.
1000000
500000
0
China
India
U.S.
Source: Competitiveness Index 2007, Council on Competitiveness, Washington, DC
Where the Expertise will be …
First Engineering Degrees
(China Rises.)
300
250
China
200
150
Japan
100
China
Japan
S. Korea
US
UK
Germany
US
50
19
83
19
84
19
85
19
86
19
87
19
88
19
89
19
90
19
91
19
92
19
93
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
0
Source: Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC
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
With New Speed
Years for Innovative Products to Reach 25%
of the U.S. Population
W orld W ide W eb
Cell Phone
Personal
Computer
Radio
Telephone
Automobile
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
A New Century with
New Innovation and
Enterprise Models
With New Jobs
U.S. % Employment by Sector
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1800
History and Projection
Services (Info)
Services (Other)
Industry (Goods)
Agriculture
1850
1900
1950
2000
2050
Source: Stuart Feldman, IBM Research, Presentation at Carnegie-Mellon University, 29 June, 2005
With New Connections
Location 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 Debates
Location 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
With New Enterprise Models
• 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.
Service Enterprises will look like
this:
Function 1
Function 2
Function 3
Function 4
Country C
Country A
Country D
Country B
Function 5
Function 9
Country H
Function 8
Function 6
Function 7
Country E
Country F
Country G
Country I
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.
With New Importance of Small Companies
Small and Medium Firms Drive Job Growth
Net change in employment
+3,000,000
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
-2,000,000
1990
1994
1998
2002
Source: Competitiveness Index, Council on Competitiveness Nov. 2006
A New Century with
New Technological Frontiers
With New Engineering Frontiers
Bio
Info
Nano
Smaller and Smaller
Faster and Faster
More and More Complex
Engineering Frontiers
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Larger and Larger
More and More Complex
Great Societal Importance
Frontiers and Synergies
Natural Science
Nano
Bio
Info
Science and Engineering
Are Merging.
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Frontiers and Synergies
These engineering systems need
social science, management, and
humanities / communications.
Nano
Bio
Info
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Social Science
Logistics
Frontiers and Synergies
Must be reflected in university education.
Macro
Natural Science
Energy
Nano
Environment
Bio
Health Care
Info
Manufacturing
Communications
Social Science
Logistics
The Payoff will come from
Bridging the Frontiers
Bio
Info
Nano
Bio-based materials
Biomemetics
Personalized, Predictive
Medicine
Synthetic Biology
Biofuels
Etc.
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
The Payoff will come from
Bridging the Frontiers
Our students must be prepared to do this.
Bio
Info
Nano
Bio-based materials
Biomemetics
Personalized, Predictive
Medicine
Synthetic Biology
Biofuels
Etc.
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
The Payoff will come from
Bridging the Frontiers
Our students must be prepared to do this.
Bio
Info
Nano
Bio-based materials
Biomemetics
Personalized, Predictive
Medicine
Synthetic Biology
Biofuels
Etc.
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
In this New Century
Engineering is Dynamic
with Exciting Frontiers
and 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 Systems
include, 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
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Bill Perry, chair
Sir Alec Broers
Farouk El-Baz
Wes Harris
Bernadine Healy
Daniel Hillis
Calestous Juma
Dean Kamen
Ray Kurzweil
•
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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.
Energy
Environment
Global Warming
Sustainability
Improve Medicine and
Healthcare Delivery
Reducing Vulnerability to
Human and Natural Threats
Expand and Enhance
Human 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”!
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
2,250,000
2,000,000
1,750,000
1,500,000
3,500
Chulalongkorn
3,000
OCW Traffic
CORE
OOPS
All other
MIT
OCW Movement
2,500
Universia
OCW
1,250,000
2,000
1,000,000
1,500
750,000
1,000
500,000
500
250,000
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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.