Holistic Engineering Education
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Holistic Engineering Education Domenico Grasso · Melody Brown Burkins Editors Holistic Engineering Education Beyond Technology Forewords by C. Judson King, Richard K. Miller and Maria Klawe 123 Editors Domenico Grasso Melody Brown Burkins Vice President for Research Senior Director for Research and Dean of the Graduate College Strategic Initiatives The University of Vermont The University of Vermont Burlington, VT 05405 Burlington, VT 05405 USA USA [email protected] [email protected] ISBN 978-1-4419-1392-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-1393-7 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1393-7 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2009938352 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) For our spouses, Susan and Derek, and our children – Benjamin, Jacob, Elspeth, Caitlin, Riley, and Porter – who will inherit and live in the world we design today. Whereof what’s past is prologue; what to come, In yours and my discharge. The Tempest William Shakespeare Biographical Sketch Domenico Grasso Dr. Domenico Grasso is Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Vermont. Previously Dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical at UVM, he holds a B.Sc. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an M.S. from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from The University of Michigan. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Connecticut and Texas, and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. Prior to joining UVM, Dr. Grasso was Rosemary Bradford Hewlett Professor and Founding Director of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, the first engineering program at a women’s college in the United States; and Professor and Head of Department in Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He has been a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, a NATO Fellow, and an Invited Technical Expert to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in Vienna, Austria. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Engineering Science, and has served as Vice-Chair of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, President of the Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors and Associate Editor of Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology. He has authored more than 100 journal papers and reports, includ- ing four chapters and two books. Federal, state, and industrial organizations have supported his research work. He has served on advisory boards at Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, WPI, and the National Academy of Engineering. In 1998, Professor Grasso served on a World Bank funded international team of scholars that established the first environmental engineering program in Argentina. In 2000, The Water Environment Federation named him a “Pioneer in Disinfection.” He chaired a US Congressional briefing entitled “Genomes & Nanotechnology: The Future of Environmental Research.” Dean Grasso was co-founder along with Dr. Sally Ride, the first American women astronaut, of TOYChallenge, a national toy design challenge for 5th–8th graders to excite them about science, engineering, and the design process in a fun, creative, collaborative process, relevant to everyday life. An environmental engineer who studies the ultimate fate of contaminants in the environment and develops new techniques to reduce the risks associated with these contaminants to human health or natural resources, Professor Grasso’s research vii viii Biographical Sketch focuses on molecular scale processes that underlie nature and behavior of contami- nants in environmental systems. He views engineering as a bridge between science and humanity, making it particularly well suited for incorporation into a liberal arts universities. His classes, although technically rigorous, also explore the societal and philosophical issues facing engineers and scientists. Melody Brown Burkins Dr. Melody Brown Burkins is the Senior Director for Research and Strategic Initiatives for the University of Vermont (UVM) in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate College. She also serves as Acting Director of the Vermont Advanced Computing Center, working to create opportunities for multidisciplinary programs throughout UVM as well as partnerships with diverse interests in academia, government, and business. Trained as an earth and ecosystems scientist with degrees from Dartmouth College (MS and PhD) and Yale University (BS), Burkins’ interests in holistic approaches to science and engineering and 21st century questions in technology and policy stem from experience: as a sci- ence educator in the United States and overseas, as part of a multidisciplinary team in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valley Long Term Ecological Research (MCM- LTER) program, as an aide in the US Senate, first as the 1999–2000 USGS-GSA Congressional Science and Technology Fellow and then as the energy and environ- ment advisor to US Senator Patrick Leahy. Since arriving at UVM, Burkins has helped advance strategic priorities for the institution in multiple roles, including Associate Dean for the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and Director of Federal Relations. In 2007, Dr. Burkins was appointed to the National Academy of Sciences’ US National Committee to the International Union of Geological Sciences (USNC/IUGS) and became Vice Chair of the committee in 2009. She also serves on the UVM Institute for Global Sustainability Advisory Committee, the International Advisory Council, and the Center for an Agricultural Economy Steering Committee. She serves on the Town of Jericho Planning Commission and has given professional support to the Vermont Engineering and Environment Advisory Committee (VtEEAC). Burkins lives in Jericho, Vermont with her husband, Derek, and their two young sons. Forewords This book addresses a major issue of our times. As knowledge has inexorably grown over the years it has become ever more compartmentalized, and nowhere is this truer than in engineering. Engineering has for more than a century been divided into subfields such as electrical, civil, mechanical, and chemical, and now it has become specialized within those fields. Engineering education is nearly entirely scientific and technical. It leaves little room, if any, for learning other areas. By contrast, actual engineering challenges are more and more multidimensional and are not solely technical in nature. Many engineering issues interact so closely with society and the public sector that they cannot be addressed without full recog- nition of the social and political dimensions. Examples abound, some of them being energy supply, conversion, and storage; clean water and water conservation; mit- igation of pollution of air, land, and water; health care for the world’s have-nots; global warming; and harvesting the potential of biotechnology for agriculture, food, and medicines. Many of these issues are so complex that they must be addressed by teams composed of persons versed in a variety of disciplines, with each mem- ber being cognizant of the concepts and approaches of the other team members. With globalization of business and society, engineering has become a worldwide profession, requiring good understanding of others’ cultures and circumstances. The highly technical and narrow aspects of engineering education have served to limit the population to whom it is attractive. The need for major change in engineering education is urgent. Domenico Grasso and Melody Brown Burkins have assembled an impressive array of authors from diverse backgrounds to explore the present-day circumstances and needs for engineering education and practice. The ideas and arguments put for- ward show that, while there is much agreement on the directions of change that are needed, there are still diverse opinions on the specifics. But it is clear that engineering education must be placed on a much wider base of knowledge, must integrate concepts of practice and social needs and impacts with the underlying scientific base, and must provide entry and exit points as education proceeds, rather that implicitly requiring a pre-college career decision. Koshland and Christ, in their essays, are convincing with regard to the value of an underlying liberal education for engineers. ix x Forewords With support and impetus from such leaders, why is change not happening faster? First of all, the traditional undergraduate engineering curriculum is chock full, in fact overstuffed. Thus broadening requires either taking technical material out or moving the professional degree to the graduate level, as is already the case for all other major professions. Therefore, in order to do the job right, not only must