Page 24 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

1

Phase I Revisited

As a prelude to considering formulation of recommendations for
the reengineering of engineering education, the Phase I committee imag-
ined how the context of engineering practice may change by 2020. A
brief summary of their observations is provided below.

THE PACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

Change is constant, but, on an absolute basis, our world has
changed more in the past 100 years than in all those preceding. By the
end of the twentieth century, the developed world had become a
healthier, safer, and more productive place, a place where engineering,
through technology, had forged an irreversible imprint on our lives and
our identity.
Scientific and engineering knowledge presently doubles every 10
years (Wright, 1999). This geometric growth rate has been reflected in
an accelerating rate of technology introduction and adoption. Product
cycle times continue to decrease, and each cycle delivers more func-
tional and often less expensive versions of existing products, and occa-
sionally introducing entirely new “disruptive” technologies. Older tech-
nologies are becoming obsolete at an increasing rate. Recent and
emergent advances, such as those in biotechnology, nanotechnology,
information and communications technology, material science and
photonics, and other totally unanticipated technologies will be among

7

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.