Toward a Broader Technical Education for Engineers
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 131, Issue 4
Abstract
Engineers are educated with significant technical depth in their chosen engineering discipline. Yet almost exclusively engineers work in teams made up of those educated in many different disciplines. And the design tasks that engineers face are becoming much more complex requiring engineers with a broader technical education to develop innovative solutions. Due to the increasing complexity of modern engineering projects, successful engineering leaders must have some degree of competence in more than one engineering field. Educators should recognize that modern engineers require this diversity in technical skills, and should identify in engineering courses the “connections” in topics that are common to more than a single discipline. In addition, engineering students should be required to work in multidisciplinary teams before they graduate.
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Acknowledgements
The writer thanks the three anonymous reviewers who provided thorough reviews of the original manuscript.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 131 • Issue 4 • October 2005
Pages: 257 - 262
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 2, 2004
Accepted: Feb 1, 2005
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
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