Page 169 - 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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152 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020

and education to prepare the engineer of 2020 and beyond, we should
keep in mind statistical projections relevant to anticipated social and
economic changes:

• By 2050, 8 billion of the 9 billion people on Earth will live in
developing countries, and economic growth in these countries
will be only 2 percent below the expected economic growth in
the developed world.
• In 20 to 30 years, the most popular language will not be En-
glish, and what we now consider U.S. industries will not exist
in their present form. If these industries exist by name at all,
their headquarters will not be in the United States.
• By 2050, the biggest social problem occupying the world will
be poverty, and its primary impact will be on the female popu-
lation.
• In 20 to 30 years, the primary economic growth in nations
around the world will depend on females working in all profes-
sions, from farming to high-tech industry.

THE U.S. ENGINEER OF 2020 AND BEYOND

With these factors in mind, it is very easy to conclude that U.S.
engineers will face totally different problems from the ones we face to-
day. It is expected that U.S. engineers will be based abroad, will have to
travel (physically or virtually) around the world to meet customers, and
will have to converse proficiently in more than one language. U.S. engi-
neers will represent a minority culture and, thus, will have to be open to
different religions, different ways of thinking, and different social val-
ues. Flexibility and respect for ways of life different from ours will be
critical to professional success.
Future U.S. engineers will have to address and help solve a variety
of problems, from creating means of communication among indigenous
groups to reducing or eliminating poverty to providing transportation
to addressing environmental problems to accommodating new technol-
ogy breakthroughs in solutions to becoming accustomed to a technol-
ogy progress rate 10 to 100 times faster than today’s rate.
U.S. engineers must become global engineers. They will have to
know how to replenish their knowledge by self-motivated, self-initiated
learning. They will have to be aware of socioeconomic changes and

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