Engineering Education in the US: Time for a New Look?
• Dr. Bruce M. Kramer Director, Division of Engineering Education and Centers National Science Foundation • Engineering Schools in the US have been viewed as world innovators since the widespread adoption of engineering science-based curricula in the post-Sputnik era. These curricula expanded quickly, as graduates of forefront programs became faculty in rapidly growing and newly formed departments, energized by expanding federal research funding. Forty years later, undergraduate engineering enrollments have been flat for 10 years, domestic students increasingly shun graduate studies in engineering, and engineering skills are commodities available worldwide at low cost. These are only a few indications that we need to take a hard look at what we teach in engineering and how we teach it. It may be time for the next great wave of innovation.
