engineering the end of technology domenico grasso, ph.d., p.e., dee dean & professor
TRANSCRIPT
Engineering the End of Technology
Domenico Grasso, Ph.D., P.E., DEEDean & Professor
[video clip from Jurassic Park unavailable, but for commentary, see http://benlast.livejournal.com/10690.html . - Symposium organizers.]
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Grasso & Helble, IEEE 2007
Engineering
en·gi·neer·ing P Pronunciation Key ( n j -nîr ng)n.
» The application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems.
»Necessary but not sufficient
Public Perceptions of Engineering
AAES/Harris Polls, 2003 Courtesy of Leah Jamieson
Engineer Scientist
Creates economic growth 69% 25%Would make a strong leader 56% 32%Cares about the community 37% 51%Save lives 14% 82%Sensitive to societal concerns 28% 61%Protects the environment 17% 71%Improves the quality of life 22% 71%
Traditional EngineeringLinear
Science& Math
HumanityEngineering
85% 15%
“If it weren’t for the people…always getting tangled up in the machinery…the world would be an engineer’s paradise.”
Kurt Vonnegut
Bioengineering Feats
[listen to the podcast at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90014997
- Symposium organizers
US Bachelor’s degrees in engineering by year
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Ba
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Sputnik
Enivr./Energy
Biotech/IT
Grasso & Helble, IEEE 2007
The traditional approach to technological education starts when we are young
Without lifting pen from paper,connect the dots with four lines
The real world is more like this
Engineering Algorithm Paralysis
Dimensions First
• 120 MIT ME Seniors
• Provide Units
Source: Woodie Flowers, “New Media’s Impact on Education Strategies”http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffpiu016.pdf
“Anthropogenic Impact on Global Geodynamics Due to Reservoir Water Impoundments”
Benjamin Fong Chao, NASA
Geophysical Research Letters
22 (24): 3529-3532, 1995
Length of a day -8 x 10-6 sec
AustriaGermany
JapanNetherlands
United States
Key Finding:•Between 1/2 and 3/4 industrial inputs are returned to the environment as waste within 1 year!
Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions.
Peter M. Senge, “The Fifth Discipline”
Corporate America Responding
The center of gravity for innovation is shifting from solving narrow problems focused primarily on technology
to
issues and opportunities confronting us at the societal level.
IBM
Click here to view the presentation:https://umconnect.umn.edu/didyouknow/- Symposium organizers
SSME: Service Science, Management, and Engineering
IBM Research © 2006 IBM Corporation
Nation % WW
Labor% A
%G
%S
25 yr %delta S
China 21.0 50 15 35 191
India 17.0 60 17 23 28
U.S. 4.8 3 27 70 21
Indonesia 3.9 45 16 39 35
Brazil 3.0 23 24 53 20
Russia 2.5 12 23 65 38
Japan 2.4 5 25 70 40
Nigeria 2.2 70 10 20 30
Banglad. 2.2 63 11 26 30
Germany 1.4 3 33 64 44
Top Ten Nations by Labor Force Size(about 50% of world labor in just 10 nations)
A = Agriculture, G = Goods, S = Services
>50% (S) services, >33% (S) services
2008 2008United States
The largest labor force migrationin human history is underway,
driven by global communications, business and technology growth,urbanization and low cost labor.
(A) Agriculture:Value from
harvesting nature(G) Goods:
Value from making products
(S) Services:Value from enhancing the
capabilities of things (customizing, distributing, etc.) and interactions between things
.Shift to Services
Courtesy of
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1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 26 to 30 31 to 35 over 36
Years Since Graduation
Pe
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Total Engineering
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical
Chemical
Civil and architectural
Electrical and computer
Industrial
Mechanical
Other
Employed individuals with engineering highest degrees whose jobs are closely related to field of highest degree, by years since degree: 2003
Grasso & Helble, IEEE 2007
What We Teach What Students LearnWhat Engineers Need
• MIT Mechanical Engineering Graduates 1992-1996 (10 years out)
• 676 email requests
• 308 completed the survey
• 46% response rate
Data source: Kristen Wolfe, 2004,“Understanding the Careers of the Alumni of the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department”, SB Thesis, MIT Adapted by Jun-Ki Choi – Center for Resilience, Ohio State University
Where did you learn what you know?
100%
80%
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40%
20%
0%
Undergrad
Grad
Job
Elsewhere/Didn’t learn
at all
Frequency of use100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Hardly ever
Hardly ever
OccasionOccasion
FrequentlyFrequently
NeverNever
PervasivelyPervasively
UniversityEducation
Intellectual PowerCritical thinkingReasoned judgmentEngage in the great debates that define our times
“… a movement away from subject matter toward to intellectual capacities as an organizing concept”
Carol Christ
The greatest enterprise of the mind has always been and always will be the attempted linkage of the sciences and humanities
E.O. WilsonConsilience, 1998
“…integration between engineering and liberal arts must take place at fundamental intellectual levels”
Stephen Ainlay
Unity of Knowledge
A New Holistic Definition of Engineering
The greatest enterprise of the mindThe linkage of the sciences and the humanities
Application of quantitative methods
to serve humanity
Engineering Thought Unity Vision Methods
• Unity of knowledge (different modes of thought and reason)
• Vision for making a difference in the world
• Methods to make a difference
“A cornerstone of any undergraduate education should be learning how to solve problems”
Lance Schacheterle
SSME: Service Science, Management, and Engineering
IBM Research © 2006 IBM Corporation
SSME is an emerging multidisciplinary field
Business and
Managem
ent
Science and
Engineering
Econom
ics and Social
Sciences
Hum
anities and A
rts
Com
puter Science &
Info. S
ystems
Industrial and System
s E
ngineering
Business
Anthropology
Organizational C
hange &
LearningAdapted Courtesy of
Multiple Ways Forward
• Slim down ABET accredited degrees to minimum technical requirements
• Create a BS in engineering science
• Create a BA in engineering
• Others???
Curriculum EvolutionFitness Landscape
Adapted from classes.yale.edu/.../FitnessLandscape.gif
BS BA
Engineering Practice and ResearchExpand the Solution Space
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/138784main_image_feature_460_ys_4.jpg
“The greatest challenge today … is the accurate and complete description of complex systems.
Scientists have broken down many kinds of systems…
The next task is to reassemble them, … that capture the key properties of the entire ensembles.”
Prof. E. O. Wilson, HarvardConsilience
Complex System
Research Analog to the Unity of Knowledge Complex Systems
• System of Systems• Emergent behavior:
– Behavior at a higher level is the result of many behaviors at lower levels.
• Sometimes adaptive• Cannot predict from
constitutive parts
Complex
Simple, Complicated, Complex
ComplicatedSimple
Separation: steer to avoid crowding local flockmates
Alignment: steer towards the average heading of local flockmates
Cohesion: steer to move toward the average position of local flockmates
Holistic Engineering, Design, and Innovation
HEDI
• “The next century will be the century of complexity.”
Stephen Hawking
• “Chance favors the prepared mind.”
Louis Pasteur
Stockholm Traffic Problem
http://www.seedforum.org/userfiles/Stockholm(1).jpg
Another Bridge??
http://bridgepros.com/projects/TacomaNarrows/TacomaNarrows.htm
Results
1. Traffic at cordon points reduced by 100,000 vehicle passages per day or 25%
2. Train and transit passengers increased by 40,000 per day
3. Congestion during peak hours dramatically reduced
4. No major re-routed traffic problem
5. Time tables for inner city bus lines have to be redesigned due to the increased average speed
6. Reduced pollution7. Reduced energy consumption
Holistic Solution
http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_on_1_6_2004_05_26_09/MegaCity1Preview2.jpg4f2ad324-685b-432e-bf64-64c9f9024e4.jpgLarge.jpg
http://arizona.sierraclub.org/rincon/images/trans91.jpg
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2342/15717938iu4.jpg
Cities of the Future
“The world we have created has problems
that cannot be solved thinking the way we
used to think when we created them”
Albert Einstein
Engineering a Liberal Education
Education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of nature, under which I include not merely things and their forces, but men [sic] and their ways, and a fashioning of the affections and of the will into an earnest and loving desire to move in harmony with these laws.
Thomas Henry Huxley, 1868
Holistic Engineering, Design and Innovation
(HEDI)
Thank God we are in the hands of engineers!!