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Better preparing future engineers
November 2, 2007
Education is the first step to building the engineering work force.
Therefore, in order to sustain the industry, steps to constantly improve and advance engineering education are necessary.
Studies, such as Rising Above the Gathering Storm done by National Academy of Sciences in 2005, have suggested improvements need to be made and interest spurred in the science and technology fields to keep the US in a competitive position in the global economy.
Though some, such as Vivek Wadhwa in his Business Week article The Science Education Myth, argue these concerns are overstated and education statistics are misinterpreted, improvements in the engineering education system certainly shouldn’t hurt the industry.
In his article 'Med school' for EEs?, Bill Schweber suggests changing the engineering education system to follow the example of medical school. In his argument, Schweber emphasizes the importance of teaching hospitals that allow students to gain valuable real-world experience in various specialties before choosing and pursuing one of their own.
This medical school model seems a logical way to better prepare and interest future engineers, and some schools have already bought into the idea.
Virginia Tech has recently been approved to offer a Ph.D. in Engineering Education as part of its degree program. According to the Virginia Tech College of Engineering website, “In addition to studying advanced methods of conducting research and teaching engineering courses, students in the new Ph.D. program will learn to apply research to the development and assessment of engineering curricula and educational policies that promote curriculum integration and social relevance.”
This year, Michigan State began a new program called Spartan Engineering, which provides a dynamic living and learning experience to engineering students and should help attract students to the field. The residential program includes project and computer labs, hands-on experience with projects and experience in corporate or research settings.
Preparing engineers to a similar extent as we prepare our physicians will not only help ensure that the US remains competitive, but could certainly be beneficial in continuing to research solutions to pertinent world issues such as global warming (See Amy Laskowski’s blog Engineers have the power to fix global warming) and finding alternative energy sources (See Greg Reed’s article Biodiesel brings testing into focus).
Posted by Jessica MacNeil on November 2, 2007 | Comments (0)
