An Open Letter to the Profession: Civil Engineering Education at a Crossroads

I write this letter to my colleagues in academia and industry to promote a discussion concerning the direction that civil engineering education must choose for its foreseeable future. The challenge has been set for us by the ASCE Body of Knowledge and the National Academy of Engineering’s Educating the Engineer of 2020 to establish a new definition of civil engineering education. In these documents, it is clearly stated that tomorrow’s engineer will have a broader set of knowledge from which to address emerging world issues and challenges. Distinguished colleagues such as Mike Garvin of Virginia Tech and Jeff Russell of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have previously stated the need for our community to address this issue. I follow in their footsteps to renew the challenge that we urgently discuss this matter, not as an argument about the number of credit hours required of a student, but a real discussion of the types of knowledge that a future leader in our industry requires. The challenges in the world are not disappearing, they are only getting larger and it is our responsibility to look closely at how we can prepare individuals to not only meet these challenges, but take a leadership role in directing these efforts.

The recent election of a presidential candidate with visionary ideals and broad public support motivates this letter and should send a strong message to civil engineering educators. The time of a traditional curriculum with little flexibility is passing. This is a time of a changing generation, philosophical perspectives, national priorities, and student interests. These changes are challenging faculty, administrators, and students. There is no handbook, review course, or online tutorial that can provide insight into the appropriate direction to take. Unless there are faculty members among us who possess the prescience to foresee the future, it is up to current faculty to set the new path. I put forward that we remember the words of Robert Frost who said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” The time for leadership that is ready to take the path less traveled is now. It is time to recognize that the world’s problems of today and tomorrow are broader than the disciplines of yesterday.

Civil engineering builds on a history as deep as recorded civilization. The greatest constructed wonders of the world owe a debt to the innovations inspired by civil engineers. However, just as each generation of great innovators challenged the accepted thoughts of their time, the time is at hand for the current generation to recognize the imperative of change. The facts are indisputable. Consider among others that:

The modern challenges of global warming, mega-cities, natural resource depletion, and crumbling infrastructure are not restricted to individual silos. Rather, the era of collaboration and integration has arrived as the future for this industry. Currently, a significant amount of discussion is emerging from political, academic, and professional circles concerning the central role that infrastructure investment will play in the next round of economic stimulus packages. Civil engineers have the opportunity to influence these policies at the highest levels and shape the next great investments in our infrastructure. The future for civil engineers is at the center of these interdisciplinary projects and organization teams.

The ability to understand, interact, and contribute to a broad range of professional issues is the key for success in these discussions. Are academic departments ready to recognize the growing need, demand, and challenge and to introduce courses, tracks, and research initiatives that reflect these new priorities? Relevance to these priorities is not based in discussions of postgraduate requirements or reflections of past degree requirements. Rather, relevance to the challenges of today and tomorrow is rooted in interdisciplinary perspectives, multicultural inclusion, and multinational collaboration. Relevance is grounded in innovation, integration, and intellectual challenge. Relevance emerges as value in nontraditional knowledge is recognized. To be effective, we need civil engineers who are both technologically savvy and culturally sensitive. We should heed the words of Einstein who said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

The cultural and generational shift before us requires commensurate change in the civil engineering education experience. We should not be fooled by the temporary upswing in enrollments. History shows that economic downturns result in students enrolling in traditionally stable career paths such as civil engineering. History also shows that economic upswings often lead to students choosing more lucrative career paths such as information technology or management consulting. This is the time to examine core curriculum beliefs, while enrollments are up and before the next downturn occurs. However, our discipline deserves more than an examination that results in prolonged self-examinations of unit allocations. Our students deserve better than adherence to prior beliefs and experiences. Our country requires more than narrow perspectives. As faculty members, we must acknowledge the need for a new generation of civil engineering education. As researchers, we must recognize the importance of broadening the research questions. As civil engineers, we must recognize the tipping point at which the world exists.

There are many paths to choose from in addressing the new global imperatives. However, each of these paths includes an enhanced body of knowledge that embraces leadership, business, economics, cultural awareness, and global understanding. The discussion of whether these topics are relevant is past. The question is how do we engender these knowledge domains in addition to the traditional knowledge and skills. In answering this question, we need to consider several of the following as priorities:

Many individuals believe strongly that technical expertise and tradition are the foundation of a civil engineering education. I agree that a strong technical foundation is critical to long-term career success. The question to consider is how much of this foundation is required and how much of the foundation do we cling to because it is considered a tradition. I urge people to remember when hand drafting was considered an essential curriculum topic, but we realized that we could move beyond that skill and now issues such as 3-dimensional modeling and building information modeling are the foundation of visualization. We should consider that knowledge of economics, political science, and law are the next generation of these changes. If civil engineers are going to sit at the table when decisions are made concerning quality of life, then this is the vocabulary they must learn. If civil engineers are going to enter the public arena of politics, then they must understand the process in which public funding occurs. If civil engineers are going to make informed decisions about the long-term health of their companies, then economics must become as comfortable a topic as engineering statics. Are current civil engineering programs preparing individuals for these decisions and discussions?

The issues of global warming, mega-cities, and natural resource depletion are no longer abstract intellectual discussions. Rather, these are the foundational issues on which to examine the global responsibility of civil engineers. These are the issues that demand intellectual interaction with public health officials, medical professionals, and public policy developers. These are the issues that define the current generation. It is time for education and industry leaders to vocally and ardently challenge the status-quo. This is not a time to reinforce the past. This is a time to stand up, make those that doubt, believe; make those that abhor change, look at alternatives; and provide those that need somebody else to take the first step, leaders that are ready to redefine who we are, what we do, and reintroduce the concepts of vision, legacy, and impact. We stand at a crossroads. Selecting a path is the first step. Embracing that path is the true test of leadership.

If a country can peacefully change the mantle of leadership every four years, then an academic and professional discipline can once again find its way to achieving the importance that the past and future require. I look forward to a discussion of our future. We owe it to the profession, ourselves, and to the students present and future.