In May 2020 graduated the “Engineer of 2020”. A 2004 National Academy of Engineering report anticipated their attributes more than 15 years ago (https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10999/the-engineer-of-2020-visions-of-engineering-in-the-new). But are they still applicable, and are they timely? Today’s world, where trust is increasingly absent, coupled with our exponential growing technological capabilities and their empowering nature, requires that our graduates are also driven by purpose and character, in addition to the technical competence attributes, mostly prescribed in the academy report. In this webinar we summarize our thoughts on this important subject and argue that a significant change in the non-engineering part of the engineering curriculum is needed to enhance purpose and character, which together with outstanding technical competence, will lead to trust and trustworthiness. We then sketch the steps we are taking to implement such changes.
Presenter
Yannis C. Yortsos is the Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the Zohrab Kaprielian Chair in Engineering, a position he holds since 2005. Yortsos served as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering between 1991 and 1996, and as Associate Dean and then as Sr. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs between 2001 to 2005. Since 1995 he also holds the Chester Dolley Professorship. He received a BS (Diploma) degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and MS and PhD degrees from the California Institute of Technology, all in chemical engineering. His research area is in fluid flow, transport and reaction processes in porous media with specific application to the subsurface. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008 and since July 2017 he serves as a member of the NAE Council. In 2011 he was awarded the distinction of honorary member of the AIME, in 2013 he was elected as Associate Member of the Academy of Athens, and in 2014 he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. As dean of engineering, he articulated in 2008 the concept of Engineering+, positioning engineering as the enabling discipline of our times, and has been actively engaged in the effort to “change the conversation about engineering”. Along with colleagues at Duke University and Olin College, he co-founded in 2009 the NAE Global Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP), now adopted by many universities in the US and overseas. As the chair of the Diversity Committee of the Engineering Deans Council (2012-2017) he has spearheaded an engineering diversity initiative, now adopted by more than 230 engineering deans nationwide. In recognition of these initiatives, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering received in 2017 the ASEE President’s Award. Yortsos served as the PI of the NSF Gender Equity Initiative EDGE (2018-2021) and currently, he serves as the PI of the NSF I-Corps Innovation Hub: West Region, a partnership with UCLA and the University of Colorado, as well as five other affiliated universities (Caltech, Colorado School of Mines, UC Riverside, University of New Mexico, and the University of Utah) to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in the Western United Sates. In 2021 he was elected on the Executive Committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council (2021-2024). In 2022, he was the co-recipient of the NAE Gordon Prize in recognition of his efforts in launching and growing the GCSP.