In a globally interconnected world that is shaped socially, politically and economically by accelerated technological innovation that has become a seamless and indispensable part of everyday life in 2020, the engineer would seem to be in his element.

Even so, Clough says the NAE aspires for engineers of 2020 to be more than competent technicians. That world will need ingenious leaders — ingenious engineers. The opportunity arises for colleges and universities to prepare Renaissance engineers — analytical, business savvy leaders who are effective communicators, creatively inventive and endowed with practical ingenuity.

"Engineering historically responded after the fact to changes in society and changes in the nation and the notion was that somehow we would catch up to those changes," Clough says. "That mode might not work anymore."

The first phase of the NAE initiative promoting engineering education reform, "The Engineer of 2020," was completed in May. The second phase, now under way, evaluates engineering education and how to prepare students for a future fraught with social and ethical issues ranging from global competition, personal privacy, transgenic food, instant communication and fantastic technological breakthroughs.

Clough says it is imperative that engineering education anticipates the future rather than reacts to the past.

"You want to prepare engineers for life, not for a job," Clough says. "Clearly you want them to do a job, so you can’t ignore the fundamentals. At the same time, you want to teach them a way of thinking and to broaden their education.

"The education we provide engineers must prepare them to move beyond merely fulfilling a technological function and become leaders who make wise decisions about technology and set policies that foster innovation."

In its executive summary, the committee says future engineers should be broadly educated, ethically grounded individuals who see themselves as global citizens, capable of being leaders in business and public service.

For the engineering profession to take the initiative in defining its future, the committee said it must foster a vision, transform engineering education to achieve its vision, build a clear image for new roles for engineers in the minds of the public and prospective students, accommodate innovative developments from nonengineering fields and focus the energies of the different disciplines of engineering toward common goals.

A somber reality is that engineering school enrollments in the United States have been dropping for the past several years and are down about 20 percent from the 1980s. Although Georgia Tech has successfully bucked that trend, the majority of colleges and universities have not. That does not bode well, Clough says.

U.S. engineering education stands to be marginalized if the nation is passive, Clough says. The country must produce engineers who are decision makers who understand technology and innovation.

China and India, each with populations of more than 1 billion, are emerging economic competitors, Clough observes. India is the No. 1 outsourcing destination for Western companies.

"Competition is good and always has been good for this country," Clough says. "What’s happening in India and China by and large is good. Their middle classes are beginning to develop.

"We in the United States have to recognize those facts and prepare for that future. The advantage of our global competitors is at the end of the spectrum where the processes and products have been standardized and become routine. Our opportunity is at the other end of the spectrum with creative, innovative, high-end products and services that offer higher value. We need to build an economy based on innovation."

If one side of the coin is competition, the other side is collaboration, Clough says.

"We can find ways to work with India’s engineers and China’s engineers to our benefit," Clough says. "If the world is going to operate on 24-hour business cycles in the future by shipping information from time zone to time zone, let’s find the best partners we can find in what we do — in India, China, Korea and Europe. There’s a new model out there. We have to develop it and use it to our advantage.

"If we develop collaborative approaches with certain universities in India, China and Europe, we can do things from a research standpoint we could not do by ourselves," Clough says. "It’s the same relationship we have with Emory University and that works very well. We need to find out how to successfully compete and how to use their growing strengths to our advantage."

The prospect of exciting new developments expected to come from such fields as biotechnology, nanotechnology and high-performance computing make the year 2020 a time of new choices and opportunities, the committee reports.

"The years between the present and 2020 offer engineering the opportunity to strengthen its leadership role in society and to define an engineering career as one of the most influential and valuable in society and one that is attractive for the best and the brightest," the report says.

"What attributes will the engineer of 2020 have?" the NAE committee report asks rhetorically. That engineer "will aspire to have the ingenuity of Lillian Gilbreth, the problem-solving capabilities of Gordon Moore, the scientific insight of Albert Einstein, the creativity of Pablo Picasso, the determination of the Wright brothers, the leadership abilities of Bill Gates, the conscience of Eleanor Roosevelt, the vision of Martin Luther King and the curiosity and wonder of our grandchildren."

©2004 Georgia Tech Alumni Association