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Session 2251

Educating Engineers on International Environmental Security

Wendell C. King Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996

Introduction

The engineering profession wields the power of science and technology with the intent of building a better world. However, evidence exists suggesting that we may have become so good at the job of building new technological marvels that we fail in the mission of making a better world. In engineering terms, the life cycle costs of the engineered systems in the world may be an expense this earth can’t afford, at least as technology is being implemented today. Admittedly, this represents a worst-case view of the environmental future. Technology has the capacity to do great harm or immense good. All engineers must learn to address the issues of a sustainable environment, and not just environmental engineers. Further, and more difficult, engineers must bridge the gap between the social science and the hard sciences to develop workable solutions within the social/political construct that governments employs to make public policy decisions.

This paper addresses two themes, one concerning engineering education and the second concerning the importance of sustaining the environment as a national security interest. The discussion of environmental security will be used to emphasize the first theme of broader approaches to engineering education.

Consider an illustration, working engineers recognize the importance of conducting design integration pulling together the individual pieces of a design into one coherent package. They have learned that bringing the mechanical, electrical, civil, etc., together to assemble the individual pieces into an efficient and workable design is an essential part of any complete engineering project. There is, however, a level above the engineering design integration step. This is where the social, political, economic, and technological components are integrated. The hypothesis here is that if these components are to be part of the engineer’s job, they should be part of their education. At West Point we have developed this concept into the overarching educational goal of the Academy, stating 1;

Graduates anticipate and respond effectively to the uncertainties of a changing technological, social, political, and economic world.

Continuing with the example of design integration, how many engineers received educational preparation on this part of the engineering process? Nearly all senior engineers did not, while younger engineers may have some course work in this component of the design process.

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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King, W. (2002, June), Educating Engineers On Environmental Security Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10176