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David Wormley, Dean of Engineering
Pennsylvania State University
Chair, Engineering Deans Council
American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND THE NATIONAL INTEREST
A vibrant engineering education enterprise benefits civic, economic,
and intellectual activity in this country. Engineering graduates learn to
integrate scientific and engineering principles to develop products and
processes that contribute to economic growth, advances in medical care,
enhanced national security systems, ecologically sound resource manage-
ment, and many other beneficial areas. As a result, students who graduate
with engineering degrees bring highly prized skills into a wide spectrum
of sectors in the American workforce. Some conduct research that results
in socially or economically valuable technological applications. Others
produce and manage the technological innovations said to account for
one third to one half of growth in the American economy. Still more bring
advanced analytical abilities and knowledge of high technology to fields
as diverse as health care, financial services, law, and government. Within
all of these groups, the diversity of engineering graduates' backgrounds
and viewpoints contributes to their ability to achieve the advances in in-
novation, productivity, and effectiveness that make them valuable con-
tributors to the American workplace.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES
At a time when technological innovations are intrinsically coupled
with virtually every aspect of society, it is imperative to develop a scien-
tific and technically literate society. However, broad indicators of short-
comings in developing technical competencies within the U.S. population
~8
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N SOCILTY EOR FNGINEERING FDUCAHON
at large indicate the scale of the challenge at hand. In 2001, companies
spent over $57 billion on training, much of which paid for workers' train-
ing in basic skills that should have been learned in school. Meanwhile,
the United States' poor performance in teaching math and science shown
in results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study
and the National Assessment of Educational Progress eliminates many
of the best and brightest schoolchildren from the ranks of future scientists
and engineers. With little chance to learn in school how science and math
skills might translate into professionally useful knowledge, students are
unable to make informed choices about further education and work op-
tions. As a result, some unprepared students undertake science and engi-
neering studies in college, only to drop out; other, potentially capable,
students never consider these subjects in the first place. In both cases,
precious human and institutional resources are squandered.
An increasingly large share of the workforce consists of women and
minorities. The 2000 report of the Commission on the Advancement of
Women & Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology notes that,
although African-Americans and Hispanics represent 3 percent each of
the technical workforce, they are each 15 percent of the school-age popu-
lation. Demographic projections only reinforce this point: by 2035, these
students will rise from about 30 percent to nearly 50 percent of the nation's
schoolchildren.2 Twenty years of improvements in math and science
achievement have brought girls near parity with boys on National As-
sessment of Educational Progress tests. However, as they move through
middle and high school, girls' interest in math and science wanes, as
teacher, parent, peer, and media influences work in complex, often un-
conscious, ways to discourage their pursuit of these subjects. As a result,
women represent only 19 percent of the technical workforce, although
they represent 46 percent of all American workers. Success in encourag-
ing and retaining women and underrepresented minorities throughout
their pre-college, college, and postgraduate years must be a core compo-
nent of enhancing the U.S. science and engineering workforce.
A curriculum framework based on connecting science and mathemat-
ics to the world around them can also impart habits of mind to students
that yield benefits beyond workplace productivity and career advance-
ment. At the simplest level, the imperatives of good citizenship increas-
ingly require acquaintance with fundamental principles of scientific
knowledge. Taking a problem-based approach to learning, engineering
iTraining Magazine, "Industry Report 2001," Minneapolis: Bit Communications.
2Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and
Technology Development (2000~. Land of Plenty: Diversity as America's Competitive Edge in
Science and Technology.
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PAN-~CANIZAHONAL SUMMIT
education asks students to integrate knowledge and practices from the
sciences, economics, language, and creative arts. Thus, elements of sci-
ence and engineering education are important contributors to developing
fully literate citizens.
ENGINEERING EDUCATION DEMOGRAPHICS3
In 2001, just over 65,000 students earned engineering bachelor's de-
grees. While this is almost 3,000 more than in 1999, the total represents a
decrease from the mid-1980s, when about 85,000 students a year gradu-
ated with engineering degrees. Nearly 386,000 students were enrolled in
undergraduate engineering programs last year; however, the national at-
trition rate is high, and at least 40 percent of students who start engineer-
ing programs do not finish them.
Graduate enrollments increased approximately 5 percent in 2001, with
approximately 79,000 master's degree students and 41,500 doctoral stu-
dents. Within these groups, 43 percent of master's degrees and 54 percent
of doctorates were awarded to foreign-born students, and these trends have
been increasing. Meanwhile, U.S. engineering graduates incur near-term
financial penalties for choosing grad school with its modest stipends and
delayed rewards over immediate employment at some of the highest sal-
ary levels among college graduates. Foreign-born students bring a wealth
of diversity and energy to U.S. campuses, but they also have an increasing
inclination to return to their home countries after graduating, taking with
them expertise and potential achievement that would otherwise enhance
the strength of the U. S. science and engineering workforce.
In 2001, 19.9 percent of bachelor's degrees in engineering were
awarded to women, 5.3 percent to African-Americans and 6.4 percent to
Hispanics. For women and African-Americans, these percentages repre-
sent slight but perceptible decreases from recent years. And indeed,
when understood in the context of recent increases in overall under-
graduate enrollments, these dwindling percentages indicate even more
clearly that engineering is failing to attract the diversity of students
needed to draw on the full extent of abilities available in an increasingly
diverse American society.
Engineering programs' faculties have comparably low representations
of women and underserved minorities. Women make up about 9 percent of
tenured and tenure-track faculty members, although they account for 17.5
percent of assistant professors. African-Americans and Hispanics make up
less than 3 percent of tenured and tenure-track faculties, although they also
3American Society for Engineering Education (2001~. Profiles of Engineering and Engineering
Colleges. Washington, DC.
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~MERICAN SOCILTY FOR FNGINEERING FDUCAHON
represent a higher percentage of the entry faculty levels. If women and mi-
nority faculty continue to increase at the entry levels, their presence could
increase in the future. In light of the trends in undergraduate enrollments,
however, such increases might not be sustainable because the pool of fu-
ture women and minority faculty members is currently decreasing.
These statistics suggest that efforts to expand the reach of engineering
education to the entire spectrum of American society have not succeeded.
In spite of the growing importance of technology-related activities to
American life in the 21st century, the number of U.S. students pursuing
studies and work in technical fields is not increasing proportionally, par-
ticularly at the graduate level. For the United States to retain a position of
global leadership in these fields, these trends must be reversed.
LESSONS LEARNED
In formulating responses to the challenges described here, engineering
educators have taken as a guiding principle the need to attract better-prepared
students into engineering programs and to provide them with an education
that increasingly helps them meet their personal and professional goals.
The Need to Partner with K-12
The failure to prepare K-12 students with the knowledge they need to
make an informed choice about pursuing a career in a scientific or techni-
cal area requires significantly increased cooperation between science and
engineering professionals and K-12 teachers and students. We need to
engage vigorously and collectively to help teachers develop new curricula
and to help students understand the ways in which careers in science and
engineering help society.
The Need to Reform Engineering Education
Recent changes in the practice of engineering education span the con-
tent of the curriculum, the organizational and operational principles of
engineering education programs, and the opportunities for learning avail-
able in the field. This reform in engineering education has been dramatic-
perhaps matched only by the development of science-based engineering
education in the 1950s and continues to occur not only in higher educa-
tion but also in the K-12 arena. Codified in the Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology (ABET) Engineering Criteria 2000, new ap-
proaches to engineering accreditation require engineering programs to
incorporate critical professional skills and content into their curricula and
to strive for adaptability and accountability to their constituencies in their
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PAN-~CANIZAHONAL SUMMIT
operations and principles. In line with this trend, engineering educators
have significantly revised the ways in which they assess the effectiveness
of their own programs. Previously, engineering education assessment con-
sisted largely in monitoring schools' adherence to a fairly uniform cur-
riculum. Reform in engineering education assessment now holds schools
to a standard of continuous self-improvement, encouraging schools to
develop rigorous practices for defining educational missions and demon-
strating results that show fulfillment of these missions.
In addition to the fundamental science and engineering content, in-
creasingly important elements in the engineering curriculum are effective
communications, working in teams, and organizational management. Rec-
ognizing that new technologies drive so much economic growth, more
and more engineering educators are teaching entrepreneurship to stu-
dents, many of whom will provide the technical know-how for new com-
panies and innovative products to come. And in an effort to stem the tide
of attrition among engineering students, colleges increasin~lv Provide
1 ~ ~ · 1 1 1 · 1 · -
~J J 1
· ~ 1
substantive, hands-on design and engineering content In freshman
courses emphasizing the creative aspects of engineering. This marks a
change from the traditional engineering curriculum that puts students
through rigorous training in mathematics and science before providing a
context for the engineering process.
Engineering programs are evolving to make available opportunities
to pursue diverse areas of study that match the rapid pace of discovery
and innovation in science and engineering, many of which are interdisci-
plinary. Advances in understanding and manipulating the mechanics of
molecular and atomic activity have created new realms for engineering
education and research. Significant new programs in bioengineering and
nanotechnology have been initiated at many schools, drawing rapidly
growing numbers of students.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Many engineering educators have devoted significant effort to chang-
ing the way we recruit and support our students so that as many students
as possible from as many different American neighborhoods as possible
have a chance to pursue a scientific or engineering career. Some general
recommendations, based on this experience, follow.
K-12 Engineering Education
Starting at least in middle school, and preferably earlier, schoolchil-
dren need exposure to engineering concepts and applications. Existing
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MERICAN SOCILTY FOR FNGINEERING FDUCAHON
pre-college mathematics and science curricula can, in most cases, accom-
modate content related to engineering without departing from standards-
driven educational imperatives. The significant number of highly success-
ful engineering education outreach programs to K-12 classrooms across
the country show that this is possible. Pre-college engineering education
offers a vehicle for applying mathematics and science to students' real-
world experiences, for developing a sense of the creative aspects of engi-
neering, and for showing how working in teams contributes to achieving
goals. Equipped with both a sense of how mathematics and science re-
lates to their lives and an understanding of the creative aspects of engi-
neering, high school graduates will be better able to make informed
choices about studying engineering and other technical fields.
Reducing Attrition in Higher Education
Attrition among students who start out in engineering education pro-
grams results from various factors. One force behind the high attrition
rates in the study of engineering is the lack of preparation in technical
fields that high school graduates have when entering college. Students
enter engineering programs without either sufficient preparation in math
and science or a comprehensive grasp of what a career in engineering
entails. As a result, they face stark academic challenges in their first year
of college, which they must bear without a clear sense of how their stud-
ies relate to their future profession.
The task of attracting and retaining a diverse student body is influ-
enced by the climate that students encounter in engineering programs.
For women and minorities, the presence of role models and mentors on
the faculty often increases these students' abilities to imagine themselves
continuing and succeeding in the field. In addition, active peer support
networks provide a community of fellow students with whom they can
share their trials and successes. Increased effort is needed to create envi-
ronments that combine intellectual stimulation with opportunities for so-
cial and personal growth to help the broadest range of students become
successful in and committed to engineering.
Engineering education needs to accelerate the pace of reform and re-
newal and to consider both undergraduate and graduate programs from
a holistic view. Further efforts are needed to integrate the important inter-
disciplinary elements of science and engineering and, equally important,
the context of the practice and role of engineering in a technology-driven
society in the curriculum. These measures will help reduce currently high
attrition rates and make the educational experience more rewarding and
efficient for students and professors alike.
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Government's Role
Government at the local, state, and federal levels can help in develop-
ing the science and engineering workforce needed for the future. Govern-
ment support is vital to
· encourage all high school graduates to take four years of math-
ematics and science;
· provide opportunities and support for in-service teacher profes-
sional development in K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math-
ematics and for enhancements to science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics content in teacher-training programs;
· support partnerships between K-12 and higher education;
· provide graduate student support in science and engineering; and
· provide support for faculty starting their careers in science and en-
. .
gmeermg.
CONCLUSION
A final suggestion pertains more generally to how we frame studying
and working in engineering, science, and technology fields within a
broader social context. Aligning these fields with the services they render
to society as a whole will do much to attract the best students for the best
reasons the chance to engineer, if you will, a world free from pain
through bioengineering, a world free from fear through technology-sup-
ported counter-terrorism measures, and a world free from environmental
degradation through appropriate uses of our natural resources and the
development of renewable energy supplies. Such a message that com-
bines the promise of personal rewards with the opportunity to make
meaningful contributions to the world we all share would provide a pow-
erful foundation for the work we are contemplating here today.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
school graduates
