|
 |
 Cover Story
|
|
Essence of Engineering Remains Unchanged An engineering student rotates a schematic on her computer screen. Reminded of a thought she had earlier that day in the virtual reality lab, she turns to the Internet to check a resource from a German university. She e-mails the reference to her major professor, who is lecturing in Australia. Outside her window, she can see a corner of Marston Hall, and she wonders how engineering students 100 years ago ever managed to get by without modern technology. The truth is, they managed just fine. “Things change—that’s the historical lesson,” said Iowa State’s David Wilson, professor of history, mechanical engineering, and philosophy. “But we’ve always been a technological society. Every society is, because each has some practical way of doing things.” It is that essence of engineering that remains as true today as ever. In traditional terms, Wilson said, the role of science has been to develop a theoretical understanding of nature, while engineers produce a control of nature. “What has happened is that scientific developments have become more germane to what an engineer does,” Wilson said. “Engineering departments now include the study of basic sciences.” Thus, the engineer remains a problem solver—just one with better tools. Engineering is still a way to control nature. It still demands creative approaches and imagination, and responds to challenges put forth by society. “Engineering is largely the pure desire to do something better,” Wilson said, “or to solve outstanding problems, such as those in agriculture or biology. It’s not problem solving in the sense of an engineering textbook because those are problems for which somebody already knows an answer. The problems that an engineer solves are those that no one has the answer to.” Finding those answers takes today’s engineers to the molecular level and beyond, or involves the subtle complexities and sub-second speeds of microelectronics. Computers play a central role, as tools or as the subjects of research. But have they transformed our world as much as we think? “I’m not sure that the overall change brought by computers is as radical as changes in the 19th century,” Wilson said. “The steam engine helped bring about an industrial, urbanized society; the computer hasn’t made us more urban or industrial to nearly the same degree. And it’s also worth remembering that there was globalization before the Internet. Look at the degree of global contact before and after the Atlantic cable.” Through all these changes of the past century and more, Iowa State has striven to produce engineers who can inspire progress and technological insight. “Iowa State certainly reflects the American ideal of education as something useful and something extending to a large proportion of the population,” Wilson said. “I think the things that are stressed here are the ones that go along with this practical side of a land-grant university.” Just where will the engineers of tomorrow take us? Wilson, a specialist in looking back, sees one certainty ahead. “The historical message is that things will be really different 100 years from now, and different in really unexpected ways,” he said. Today’s students may not yet know what those changes will be but, through engineering education, they will be prepared to help society adjust to them. |
Research & Learning
