IEEE ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW, VOL. 37, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2009 91

Surf’s Up: TransformingEngineering Education

—LINDA KOSMIN LANGFORD

EMR Contributing Editor

IEEE DOI 10.1109/EMR.2008.2012090

MANY factors demandthe attention of ambitiousaspiring engineers.These include emergingsophisticated technologies,rapid communication networksthat span geopolitical boundaries,and progressive collaborativeopportunities among industryand academia. Vertically focusedengineering curricula are givingway to integrated programs thatencompass multiple disciplines.The trend is toward broaderscholastic experiences withemphasis on courses of studythat enable students to gleanknowledge from a varietyof scientific and technicalsources, as well as from thehumanities, social sciences,business, and legal fields.In this era of globalization,multimedia learning at distantvenues competes with localcampus instructional options.Stewards of education continueto call for more internationalstandards and transbordercertification of engineers. Thefollowing Web resources provideinsights into new waves ineducation and how they mayimpact a metamorphosis of theengineering profession.

American Society forEngineering Educationhttp://www.asee.org

This nonprofit organizationadvances worldwide awarenessof all aspects of engineeringeducation and addressesall stakeholder levels. In anera defined by expansion ofmultidisciplinary approachesto technology development andutilization, it offers insightsabout crucial trends andstatistical information, as wellas prognoses for successful nextgeneration scholastic programs.Society members have accessto the full contents of digitizedpublications. Site visitors arewelcome to access select journalarticles, conference papers,blog postings and newsletters.Readers are made aware ofhow silo engineering disciplinesare giving way to integratededucational programs with focuson overlapping technical expertiseand soft skills. There is a sharingof theories about expandingengineering curricula, distancelearning, and international fieldexperiences to broaden futurecareer prospects.

92 IEEE ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW, VOL. 37, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2009

Association for theAdvancement of ArtificialIntelligence (AAAI)http://www.aaai.org/home.html

Future engineers can beexpected to be versed in expertsystems technology, which hasgreat potential for addressingcomplexities of emergingengineering directions. Thisenlightening moderated portalsite shares a wealth of detailsabout intelligent machines andsmart materials. It provideshyperlinks to related sourcescovering literature, timelines,competitions, videos, software,upcoming seminars, and newsfeeds for targeted topics suchas Robots, Machine Learning,Intelligent User Interfaces, andVisual Systems. Authoritativeinput is welcome from a broadnumber of sources includingonline visitors. Associationmembers have fuller access thando guests to the contents ofonline journals and conferencepapers.

Future of Humanity Institutehttp://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk

The Faculty of Philosophyat the University of Oxfordlaunched this fertile, inventive,multidisciplinary researchendeavor. It studies howforecasted advancements intechnology might impact a globalsociety. It investigates howexpected positive outcomescan be maximized, wisepolicy decisions enacted, andunforeseen hurdles effectivelyconfronted. Activities serveto influence new curriculadevelopment and directions inacademia, as well as to increase

public awareness about howbig issues like bioethics andcatastrophic risk analysis willaffect humanity.

Grand Challengesfor Engineeringhttp://www.engineeringchallenges.org

The National Academy ofEngineering released this reportin 2008. It can be read on screenor the complete document can bedownloaded in PDF format. Thenext generation of engineers willneed to be schooled to meet headon the fourteen opportunitiesidentified here. These can haveglobal impact and are beggingfor solutions. Included arethe inexpensive harnessing ofsolar energy, large scale powerfrom nuclear fusion, nitrogencycle management, potablewater everywhere on earth,infrastructure improvements,reliable biomedical records,simulated human braincapabilities, gene expressionprofiles for personalizedmedicine, nuclear threat controls,cyberspace security, advancedvirtual reality, optimizedindividual learning, and extendedscientific discovery. This studywas funded by an U.S. NationalScience Foundation Award.

International Federationof Engineering EducationSocieties (IFEES)http://www.ifees.net

Stakeholders representingnearly fifty member organizationsare engaged in this globalcollaborative nurturing effort.Current initiatives includeprofessional curriculumdevelopment with a view toward

global engineering accreditation,engineering education research,and formation of forumslike their Global EngineeringDeans Council. Also, theFederation sponsors globalengineering summits andfacilitates technology transferinitiatives. It fosters abroad range of networkingopportunities across economic,geographical, industrial, andpolitical boundaries. It promotesstrategies and resource sharingto overcome problematicengineering turning pointsthat might be detrimental tosociety.

Keller Center for Innovationin Engineering Educationhttp://commons.princeton.edu/ciee/overview/about.html

Princeton University, like manyleading academic institutions,is committed to bolsteringthe interdisciplinary nature ofits science, engineering, andnon-technical offerings. TheCenter strives to guide futureleaders in meeting challenges ina global society that continues tobe heavily driven by technology.It supports the theory that byadvancing an understandingof science and technology bystudents in all disciplinesthere is greater promise formore positive reshaping thefuture of technology, increasingmeaningful contributionsto sound policy decisions,strengthening abilities toanticipate peripheral effects,and curtailing potential abuse.Site visitors can select and viewon screen dynamic lecturescompiled in a growing archive ofWeb videos.