Origins of the Curriculum

1. Origins of the Curriculum The History of Engineering As it relates to the Everyday life of the Engineering Undergraduate Connecting the Pieces A brief overview of how engineering curricula came to be as they are today. In conjunction with a discussion of the individual university mission statement (as well as department and college) and the role of ABET, these materials allow students to understand the connections between classes within their own program. Engineering programs, in the student's eye, become a more comprehensive endeavor, moving well beyond a collection of courses that simply convey content and tool. This material works well at the beginning of any engineering or pre-engineering course, but is best suited to gateway, seminar, or overview courses.

2. A Brief History of Engineering 19th Century: “shop” culture Apprenticeship precedes entering field Late 19th Century: “school” culture Degree work (2 or 4 year) precedes field work Is largely “shop” based Introduction of basic science and theory: Limited by “crushing” teaching loads Hindered by tradition

3. A Brief History of Engineering Some Renegades in the “tradition” 1885: Robert Thurston (Cornell, ME) reduced “shop” hours and added basic science (OOOOOHHH NOOO!) Stillman Robinson, Ohio State William Burr, Columbia University, and Comfort Adams, Harvard University Contributed toward the “infiltration” And then, in the 1920’s European engineers came to America And hemmed and hawed about our incompetence in things of a theoretical and scientific nature Stephen Timoshenko: education of the American engineer is “feeble” Became faculty at University of Michigan to correct our educational “deficiencies”

4. A Brief History of Engineering Continuing, in the 1920’s Stephen Timoshenko: Transformed mechanical engineering education by grounding strength of materials, statics, and dynamics in a mathematical framework. Europeans Theodore von Karman and Harald Westergaard engaged similar transformations in aeronautical engineering at Caltech and civil engineering at the University of Illinois respectively. And, also, in the 1920’s Like good Americans, despite their effort We ignored the Europeans.....

5. A Brief History of Engineering What happened next? World War II The United States became “panicked” by the technology race U.S. Military allocated millions of dollars to cutting edge technology and basic research Engineers were perturbed that Scientists received most of the WWII credit. The Winning Combination: Federal funding dollars Groundwork laid by Timoshenko and his collegaues Status concerns of prominent engineers Led to “Enthusiastic” integration of basic science and theory into engineering. What happens to ethics when all the money comes from DOD?

6. A Brief History of Engineering Prominent Leaders in Post WWII: Frederick Terman (Stanford University) Solomon Hollister (Cornell University) Exposed speed and efficiency differences between private and public universities. Terman simply changed course content and hired new professors to teach the revised courses; Hollister, at a public school with a large population of veterans, made changes much more slowly. In the 1950’s: Concerns of the Cold War drove research funding Universities paid little heed to the demands of industry and Adjusted curriculum to make the federal government happy. By the 1960’s: Engineering science dominated engineering in American schools.

7. A Brief History of Engineering Late in the 1960’s: The very engineers who advocated so heavily for science in the 1930’s protested the swing too far away from design. Examples: Theodore von Karman responded to the overshift in educational emphasis with heavy concerns that one could now confuse a scientist with an engineer. Eric Walker, Solomon Hollister and others forced the pendulum to shift back toward design. In the 1970’s: Economic recession causes decreased federal funding Prevalence of electronic media reduced the “tinkerers” in engineering.

8. A Brief History of Engineering In the 1980’s: Hands on skills dropped precipitously Frustration with these lack of skills further fueled shift back to laboratory and design skills. In the 1990’s: Engineering design re-established prominence Freshman design Capstone design (ABET) Laboratory experiences throughout the curriculum. Universities attended more to industry concerns, causing even greater shift away from science to the “hands-on” and applied work What happens to ethics now? If so much is driven by money, when do we worry about what’s right ... Thank you very much ABET.

9. A Brief History of Engineering In the 21st Century: “We have moved from a world where the big eat the small to a world where the fast eat the slow” (IBM, Compaq, Dell, next?) (Klaus Schwab, Davos World Economic Forum) “The US workforce will to continue to increase in size, but at a considerably slower rate… work in the United States will be chased by demographic trends, technological advances, and economic globalization.” (Karoly et al, The 21st Workplace at Work)

10. A Brief History of Engineering In the 21st Century: The leading edge of American society in the 21st century will be carried by those that are creative and dynamic... Who are able to combine work habit, learning, and values into a single holistic view that enables the creation rather than the mere following of their career. Ray et al, The Cultural Creatives “Rapid technological change and increased international competition place the spotlight on the skills and preparation of the workforce, particularly the ability to adapt to changing technologies and shifting product demand … education becomes a continuous process.” (Karoly et al, The 21st Workplace at Work)