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Session 3142

THE GLOBETECH INTERNATIONAL SIMULATION: PRACTICAL TOOL TO TRAIN ENGINEERS - LEADERS FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Roxanne Jacoby, Jean Le Mee The Albert Nerken School of Engineering, Cooper Union

Abstract

The 21st century will require engineers not only technically well prepared in their chosen fields, but also able to understand the managerial, ethical, financial, etc. implications of their work. They will have to become effective leaders in the context of a complex, fast changing, highly competitive global economy. To achieve this, more emphasis should be given to well designed engineering management training in the undergraduate division. The practical side of solving engineering management issues, building students’ essential management skills can be emphasized through collaborative inter-collegiate projects that deal with up-to-date global technical, management, and financial issues. The Globetech International Simulation, offered free via the Internet for the past five years by Cooper Union, is such a project. It has widened the managerial perspective of many engineering students here in the USA and abroad. A larger participation in this or similar projects will ensure, at a minimal cost, that our future engineers are well prepared for the managerial challenges that lie ahead of them.

1. Introduction

“Using the power of information technology, engineering education activities will become increasingly global. Engineering education must become more encompassing, with an eye to the many new industries that will be served by engineers. To accommodate these changes, we must broaden the base of our education to keep the doors open to opportunities that cannot possibly visualized now”. This is what Ernest T. Smerdon, the ASEE President, urged all of us to consider and do, in a 1999 letter to engineering educators1.

Now, in the first year of a new century and millenium, we should pause for a moment and consider the meaning of his words. We should ask ourselves what kind of engineers our society will need in the next twenty to thirty years. What will engineers do? What will motivate them? How will they manage their lives and careers? What skills will they need to be successful, to make a lasting and meaningful contribution to society?

Considering the rapid pace of technological and scientific growth, the substantial political, economic, and social changes of the past fifty years, the accelerating pace of change in our society, we, at Cooper Union, are of the opinion that we will need a totally new type of engineer. The world will need engineers: • with great flexibility, able to understand and adapt to rapid technological and societal change,

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Jacoby, R., & Le Mee, J. (2000, June), The Globetech International Simulation: Practical Tool To Train Engineer Leaders For The Global Economy Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8412