In a lively discussion of how to best prepare today’s engineering students for tomorrow’s engineering challenges, we talk with Dave Goldberg and Catherine Whitney about their new book, A Whole New Engineer.
Any “dot-com” dreams that Brian harbored during his college days have long since dissipated.
Carmen suggests that ridiculous buyout amounts are now measured in units of “Instagrams,” with one Instagram equaling one billion US dollars.
Engineers must constantly expand and refine their skills; Jeff notes that over his career he has moved from drawing prints on a drafting board, to working with 2D CAD packages, to implementing 3D models.
Our first guest for this episode is Dave Goldberg, who appeared previously on Episode 37, in which he talked with us about the evolution of engineering roles over time. Dave leads ThreeJoy Associates, a consulting firm that advises educational institutions.
Our second guest is Catherine Whitney, a New York-based writer who has previously written or co-written more than forty books on a wide range of topics, including nutrition, social issues, and entrepreneurial success.
Dave argues that the “old engineer” was entirely appropriate in a time of expertise and narrow technical focus. However, a “new engineer” must reach across disciplinary boundaries, and solve problems in domains that lack recognized experts.
Dave makes a passing reference to disruptive innovation, a term coined by Clayton Christensen to describe the manner in which existing markets and institutions may be displaced through the introduction of new technologies.
Current technological trends have led to people “bowling alone,” a phrase the describes how individuals are disengaging from the social and political networks that comprise local communities.
The story of Jack Andraka is offered as an example of how academic expertise is being undermined over time.
Jeff notes differences between “just-in-time” and “just-in-case” learning.
Dave notes that more than one version of the Grinter Report (pdf) was proposed back in the mid-1950s.
Our guests mention a study by Kristen Wolfe, later referenced by Woodie Flowers of MIT, that looked at the skills used by mechanical engineers five years after they graduated from college.
Dave was involved in establishing iFoundry at the University of Illinois, while co-author Mark Somerville was (and is) a faculty member at Olin College.
Michael Lachman, who started his career as an aerospace engineer, leads us through the pros and cons of following up an engineering degree with an MBA.
Adam doesn’t have much interest in business, so he doesn’t think he’s a likely candidate to pursue an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree.
Our guest for this episode is Michael Lachman, Founder and President of EyeQ Research, a consulting firm that provides ophthalmic medical device manufacturers with market research, industry insights, and business guidance.
As he was growing up, Michael was inspired by the efforts of the United States’ space program to land a man on the moon.
Michael started his career with Lockheed Corporation, working on feedback control systems.
Much of our guest’s work for Lockheed involved simulating spacecraft dynamics in software code, which he dutifully did by writing programs with the FORTRAN programming language.
Michael pursued a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, figuring that an MSME degree would provide him with a more diverse set of career opportunities.
Jeff and Michael worked together at Baxter Travenol (now Baxter International) for a short period of time, both having had their graduate design projects at Stanford funded by the company.
Despite wearing three-piece suits to work, Jeff and Michael found their work atmosphere in the mid-1980’s to be a far cry from the 1960’s era portrayed in the Mad Men television series.
Our guest reports that going to business school on a part-time basis, while working a full-time job, is a difficult task.
Already possessing strong quantitative skills from his engineering coursework, Michael elected to attend Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, so that he could benefit from the school’s emphasis on marketing and case studies.
Certain employers place a great emphasis on where one obtains their business degree, so it’s a good idea to investigate corporate hiring practices before committing to any particular university’s MBA program.
Universities conferred 74 percent more business degrees in the 2012-2013 school year than they did just eleven years prior. Brian wonders if this means that the MBA degree has been significantly devalued.
Receiving appropriate financial compensation for one’s enhanced skill set (in this case, through the acquisition of an MBA) often requires finding a new employer.
A typical MBA program has courses that fall into one of three broad categories: analytical, functional, and ethical.
Several years after receiving his MBA, Michael was hired by an investment banking firm.
The efficient market theory claims that, at any given time, all information about a firm and it’s financial prospects are immediately factored into the company’s stock price.
Michael covered the ophthalmic medical device as a research analyst. Ophthalmology deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye.
In 2005, our guest started his own consulting firm; this allowed him to continue performing the market research he enjoyed, but without having to make stock recommendations.
Opportunity costs reflect the value of foregone possibilities; that is, what benefits you could have enjoyed by pursuing the “next best” alternative.
Our guest suggests that engineers take a rational look at their career objectives, and the possible economic outcomes, before embarking on an MBA program.
Michael can be reached through the e-mail address found on his website.
Biochemical engineer Kai Zhuang walks us through the evolving relationships between technology and humanity, especially as it relates to engineering education, in this episode of The Engineering Commons podcast.
Jeff and Adam discuss the high salaries being offered to software engineers in Silicon Valley.
Adam notes that the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) placed a value of $2.6 million on the economic loss suffered by society due to a traffic fatality in 1994. The current estimates (2013) are considerably higher, in the range of $9.1 million.
Our guest for this episode is Kai Zhuang, a biochemical and operations engineer who has an interest in engineering education.
Kai’s application to the University of Toronto’s National Scholarship Program was a little more avant garde than most, consisting of creative art pieces.
Biomedical engineering is a fairly new engineering discipline that is only now beginning to work out its own sub-fields and areas of emphasis.
Kai was frustrated with the rigid curriculum structure he encountered as an undergraduate engineering student.
The ongoing shift of engineering instructors from expert to coach has been examined by Dave Goldberg, founder of Big Beacon.
When looking for innovative approaches to engineering education, Kai was advised by filmmaker Ryan Varga to investigate York University in Toronto, and Olin College in Boston, Massachusetts.
A recent quote from software developer Dave Winer concerns the inevitability of serious problems resulting from our increasing dependence on a “fragile and insecure” internet system.
Kai is disappointed that systems thinking is almost completely missing from the engineering curriculum.
Our guest notes that most fears are “past pain extrapolated incorrectly into the future.”
In a lively discussion of how to best prepare today’s engineering students for tomorrow’s engineering challenges, we talk with Dave Goldberg and Catherine Whitney about their new book, A Whole New Engineer.
