Public Perception of Engineers

When you hear someone is an engineer, what is your first thought? Are these poor souls cursed with “The Knack”?

Or, does something else come to mind? There is a lot of talk about technological solutions to energy and other sustainability problems, but who actually makes all of this happen? We need policy makers to create an environment conducive to investment, innovation, and implementation, but we also need creative people who have a grounded understanding of how to make things work (i.e., engineers).

When I was at the IESS Conference last month, I heard Chuck Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering, speak of the concerning state of engineering education in the U.S. (you can download his slides here). He explained that the graduation rate for engineering in the U.S. is lagging substantially, which “does not bode well for our future”. He described the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering (a topic for another article), which is a set of critical problems facing our world that require engineering solutions. We need more engineers to tackle these challenges, several of which involve sustainability and energy issues.

Chuck Vest spoke of studies that aimed at understanding why so few Americans pursue engineering as a profession. One question that was asked of college students in these studies was “why aren’t you studying engineering?”. A popular response was “because I want to make the world better”. Clearly this is a failure in communication; engineers can have a profound positive impact on the world and create lasting value. Why is there a disconnect? Why don’t our youth see engineering as a way to make our world better? What can we do to inspire more Americans to become part of the technological solution so that we can build a better future and reestablish America’s leadership role in science and engineering? Have a look at this video and this post for a few ideas.

Vest proclaimed that we must get the word Engineer back into the vernacular. Engineering needs to be a more common topic of conversation. We need to somehow remake the perception of engineers. I believe this requires action on two fronts. Obviously we need to get the public more interested and excited about engineering, not just absorbed with enjoying the fruits of engineering. In addition, perhaps we need to adjust what engineering is. For example, a common theme at IESS was to address problems holistically, not just from a narrow disciplinary view. We can’t just design technical solutions in a bubble, ignoring relationships with other aspects of the world. The problems we are facing are growing too complex to continue with that approach. We need renaissance engineers: people who are skilled in more than one discipline. We need engineers who can focus on solving important societal problems, and who are willing to learn about and engage with other disciplines outside engineering (e.g., economics, psychology, public policy, etc.). Taking a whole-systems approach to solving these socio-technical problems will lead to much better solutions, and perhaps will improve public perception of engineering and it’s role in improving the world.