Page 165 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
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148 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020

being increasingly blurred (e.g., nanotechnology and bioengineering),
basic challenges at the frontiers of science should also be included. Su-
perb science also serves humanity.
Building a curriculum around grand challenges would mean that
courses as we currently think of them would have a subsidiary, support-
ing role. The predominant activities of students would change dramati-
cally, as would the role of faculty. In structuring this new educational
paradigm, we can learn from the NSF Engineering Education Coali-
tions and other projects:

• Engage students in exciting, team-based, authentic experiences
in their freshmen year. We can build here on the experience of
the NSF Engineering Education Coalitions.
• Help students develop intellectual road maps of their field(s) (a
moving target for many). The road maps should include “mile-
stones,” that is, specific knowledge and skills they will need and
why. Some of these milestones may be reachable through exist-
ing courses, but we should be open to defining alternative
mechanisms and alternative ways of certifying these skills.
• Provide students with multiple entry points and exit points. We
must preserve the extraordinary flexibility of the U.S. higher
education system and encourage students to explore a variety
of interests without inordinate penalties. Even a student who
starts and finishes her degree in one institution would benefit
greatly from “messing around” a bit and working on a number
of challenges before zeroing in on an area of specialization.
• Establish interdisciplinary working teams to address challenges
thatinclude, as appropriate, faculty and students from social
sciences and humanities, natural sciences, business and law, and
other disciplines. Of course, if the challenges are big enough,
the research will have to be interdisciplinary. This would also
give students who initially thought engineering was boring a
chance to take a second look and maybe reconsider. Interdisci-
plinary teams can also further diversity.
• Offer students multiple opportunities for leadership, either in
the K-12 community, in the design and delivery of educational
technology, or in service projects to local communities. Stu-
dents are our most underutilized resource in making educa-
tional change.

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