Our conversation with Dr. Janusz Kozinski, Founding Dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering, covers the trials and tribulations of starting a new engineering school, as well as the the attributes and mindset of a “renaissance engineer.” Additionally, we learn a little bit about the skill sets that will be expected of tomorrow’s engineering professional.
Carmen tries to stay well-informed about topics outside of his field of engineering.
Our guest for this episode is Janusz Kozinski, Founding Dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University in Toronto, Canada.
Carmen has bestowed on Jeff the title of “Grand Vizier.”
Janusz had an early interest in biomedical engineering, leading him to study the effect of environmental pollutants on human health.
Our guest describes the “accidental” nature of many important discoveries, mentioning a book that describes how DNA structure was revealed by James Watson and Francis Crick.
Janusz like to see a “messy” lab, as he believes it reflects the chaotic nature of serious research. On the other hand, Carmen finds that he is more effective when he keeps his lab bench neat and tidy.
Smoke from a bad cigar (pdf) led to the discovery of electron spin by Stern and Gerlach, as Carmen notes.
A “renaissance engineer” should have an “open mind and open heart,” according to our guest, and should be imbued with both “passion and perspective.”
The engineering program at the Lassonde School of Engineering attempts to integrate curriculum from the business and law schools with traditional engineering subjects.
While the Lassonde School is relatively new, it is located on the campus of York University, the 3rd largest university in Canada.
Initiated in 2012, and named for philanthropist Pierre Lassonde, the Lassonde School is the first new engineering school to be established in Canada over the past 40 years.
A “flipped classroom” allows course content to be delivered via videos or screencasts outside the classroom, while class periods are used for solving problems and completing homework assignments under the guidance of an instructor.
Recognizing the importance of industrial experience, the Lassonde School is in the process of implementing a co-op program.
Jeff references a prior episode of this podcast, titled Empathy, in which it was noted that engineering students tend to be less empathetic than students in other programs of study.
Janusz explains the importance of matching an organization’s tasks and duties with its human talent.
A biological engineering initiative at Lassonde was put on the shelf because the school didn’t feel that it had the proper faculty to implement the program.
Learning more about oneself is the starting point for becoming a “renaissance engineer,” according to our guest.
Dean Kozinski notes that some of his school’s wealthiest alumni were C+ students who did not achieve top grades (although this is not a point he makes with his current students).
Lassonde is funding a movie about the “Renaissance of Engineering,” to be released in mid-October of 2014.
Our guest can be reached via the Lassonde School of Engineering website.
Geological engineer Pamela Rogalski shares her insights about using social license to enact change in organizations and communities during this episode of The Engineering Commons.
Adam notes that bureaucracies seem rather opposed to the concept of change.
Our guest for this episode is Pamela Rogalski, a licensed professional engineer from Canada who has worked as a manager, strategist, educator, negotiator, and executive level adviser for geotechnical engineering and power generation firms in her home province of British Columbia.
Pamela notes technology can be viewed as having both beneficial and deleterious aspects, a theme widely reflected in literature and the arts, as well as in engineering reasoning.
The conflict between humans and machines is woven into Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” in which the author expresses discomfort that people would “serve” a mechanical thresher he calls the “red tyrant.”
Pamela’s technical degree is in Geophysical Engineering, which maps the earth’s subterranean properties by analyzing how electrical, magnetic, or seismic waves propagate through the subsurface.
Geotechnical engineering investigates structural properties of the earth’s subsurface.
Both Geophysical and Geotechnical Engineering are subfields of Geological Engineering.
Our guest believes engineers can be much better at communicating how technical solutions align with organizational priorities.
Getting engaged in the “procurement conversation” is a method Pamela recommends for increasing an engineer’s organizational influence.
A social license is a community’s consent to a project or structure existing in their local area.
Pamela co-founded the Engineering Leadership Council, a non-profit organization that works with technical professionals to advise companies and communities in addressing social and environmental concerns as they implement infrastructure projects within Canada.
Our guest encourages engineers to work in line with their personal values, and to seek ways for nudging their organizations into actions that are consistent with those values.
Pamela can be reached via email: progalski ++ at ++ engleadership.org. There is also a “contact” page on the Engineering Leadership Council website.
We talk with aeronautical engineer Mark French about degrees and careers in Engineering Technology, as well as delving into wind tunnels, guitars, and how to launch a ping-pong ball at supersonic speeds.
While Carmen is unsure if he’s a technologist, he’s pretty certain that Daft Punk is Technologic.
Our guest for this episode is Mark French, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology at Purdue University.
Moving into the corporate world, Mark took a managerial job for Lear Corporation, where his consumption of Tums increased considerably.
Our guest moved to an academic job prior to the economic collapse of the auto industry.
Mark leads us through a brief discussion of academic ranks within the United States.
We again mention the Grinter Report (previously discussed in our episode with guest Dave Goldberg), which permanently altered the focus of engineering education.
Mark identifies some of the differences between engineering and engineering technology curriculums.
There appears to be a lot of overlap in the jobs that engineers and engineering technologists can compete for in today’s industrial workplace.
Carmen describes a History Channel documentary about designing and building the Yeti roller coaster at Walt Disney World. ( see this YouTube video, starting at about 1:25:00.)
Technology students are not eligible to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam that is required to obtain a Professional Engineering (PE) license. (Commenter David notes that this ruling may vary from state to state.)
Mark’s brush with internet fame has come from his involvement in the design and construction of a supersonic ping-pong gun.
Mark gives good marks to the performance characteristics of Double Happiness (DHS) ping-pong balls.
The ping-pong shooter was publicly announced via a short paper submitted to the Arxiv repository.
A recent MythBusters episode constructed a supersonic ping-pong cannon. While Mark got a small credit at the end of the show, alas there was no such glory for grad students Jim Stratton and Craig Zehrung.
Our conversation with Dr. Janusz Kozinski, Founding Dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering, covers the trials and tribulations of starting a new engineering school, as well as the the attributes and mindset of a “renaissance engineer.” Additionally, we learn a little bit about the skill sets that will be expected of tomorrow’s engineering professional.
