A 21 Century Engineering Education for Leading Concurrent Discovery and Innovation

Engineering in the 20 Century has been successful in providing economic, health and security benefits to society. Modern engineering education is the foundation for these advances. However, modern engineering education has not seen major changes since the infusion of engineering science into the curriculum in the 1960’s. Furthermore, a modern engineering curriculum has now become a globally available commodity. Currently the USA awards over 60,000 engineering bachelors degrees per year, the European Union awards over 170,000, Japan awards over 110,000, and major developing nations (i.e., China, Eastern/Central Europe, India) award over 500,000 degrees annually. In the 21 Century we are experiencing an explosion of new knowledge, increasing globalization and significant social and demographic change. It will be essential for engineering to develop the new innovations that benefit society, almost concurrently with the discoveries that enable those innovations. To continue providing benefits to society in the 21 Century, engineering education will need to undergo significant change. This paper argues that we must reinvent the renaissance engineer, based upon sound educational principles, who can provide not only technical expertise but strategic leadership for a highly technological society. The 21 century engineer will first of all need to be an agile and independent learner, who can acquire new knowledge as needed to tackle new problems. The curriculum to support such a transformation will emphasize fundamentals (e.g., science and mathematics, principles of design and manufacturing) as well as the ability to research new topics, skills in communication and teamwork, and strategic, economic, social, artistic, environmental and global perspectives.