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Development for the Other 80%: Evaluating Program Outcomes

Abstract: Engineering faces many challenges: most of the world’s population is under- served by designers, and interest in engineering is declining among students. Clever solutions will be required from dynamic engineers to meet the needs of the growing human population. International sustainable development engineering programs provide hope. Hope for those overlooked by engineers, and hope for academics to rejuvenate interest in engineering education, research, and practice. At University X multiple international sustainable development programs focused on developing communities have coalesced into the D80 Center, focused on providing hope to the 80% of the world’s population poorly served by engineered goods, services, and infrastructure. Based on ten years of experience, the programs clearly resonate with a more diverse student body and produce more well-rounded, global-minded engineers, as compared to traditional programs. Future obstacles include dealing with the demand of such programs with limited faculty, staff, and financial support, overcoming constraints to participation, and dealing with unusual personal demands of such programs. Introduction Multiple problems confront engineering. The world’s population is rapidly closing in on seven billion people among which there are tremendous inequities. Average life expectancy is around 40 years in some countries, more than 80 years in others; average infant mortality ranges from 3 in some countries to nearly 300 per 1000 births in others; and average national per capita income ranges from 500 USD in the poorest to nearly 65,000 USD in the wealthiest. These inequities result in substantial human suffering, diminishing hope and elusive happiness. Engineering solutions must be brought to bear to level these inequities, providing basic human rights to clean water and air, adequate food, education, appropriate housing and beneficial infrastructure. These rights form the basis of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (UN 2005). A parallel, yet seemingly disconnected challenge to engineering is the lack of adequate numbers of engineers who can work in a dynamic global community. In the US, after hitting lows in the late 1990s, engineering enrolments are increasing at the undergraduate and graduate level (EWC 2004). Yet, the increase hides some troubling truths: among university students interest in engineering, as expressed by percent enrolled, is at an all-time low, about 6% of all American university students are engineering majors (Sims 2004); and yet while engineering enrolments are increasing in numbers due to growing numbers of children in the States, graduate engineering education continues on a 15-year downward trajectory in enrolments of white Americans (NSF 2004). In 2000 the number of international students exceeded the number of white Americans studying graduate engineering in the States for the first time ever. On a brighter note, the numbers of women at the graduate level of engineering education continue to rise; women now account for more than 20% of engineering graduate students (NSF 2004). Clearly the engineering profession has an image problem. If engineering is not resonating with students entering college, then what does? A recent national survey (AMP 2006) showed incoming college students to be most interested in humanitarian issues: education, poverty, environment, health, human rights, disaster relief and hunger topped the list. This list provides clues to alleviating the above problems – the Millennial Generation wants to make a difference in the world (Gordon 2007). Since 1997 University X has created opportunities to engage engineering (and other) students in the solution to problems confronting people who have not historically been well-served by engineering. Over the course of the past decade, six distinct programs have been created to provide multiple

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Paterson, K., & Fuchs, V. (2008, June), Development For The Other 80%: Evaluating Program Outcomes Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3687