Panel session - preparing the engineers of 2020 - emerging evidence from six exemplary colleges and universities

Abstract

This session will present preliminary findings from Prototyping the Engineer of 2020: A 360-degree Study of Effective Education (P360), funded by the National Science Foundation. The study is designed to provide empirically based guidance for engineering programs seeking to recruit and retain diverse students and to prepare all new engineers for work in a changing global economy. Researchers identified six institutions that are, in different ways, already producing engineers with some of the attributes of the Engineer of 2020: Arizona State University, Harvey Mudd College, Howard University, MIT, the University of Michigan, and Virginia Tech. Brief presentations will identify educational and institutional practices and policies that appear to be especially effective in producing engineers with superior design, interdisciplinary, and contextual knowledge and skills. Presenters will also discuss linkages between effective curricula, instruction, and student experiences and supportive institutional cultures, practices, and policies.