Engineer of the Future 3.0 - Register Today!

Next week, Engineering at Illinois will host “Engineer of the Future 3.0," the third annual conference about changing the course of engineering education here, and around the world. Students, faculty, corporate leaders, and friends of engineering education will gather on November 14-15, at the iHotel on campus to explore topics related to the theme of “Unleashing Student Engagement in and for the Transformation of Engineering Education.”

“Engineering today is unusually fast-paced and requires an uncommon blend of knowledge and skill along technological, humanistic, and artistic dimensions," explained Ilesanmi Adesida, dean of the College of Engineering at Illinois. “In our complex society, today's engineers must be capable of creating new products and services to compete in a globally competitive marketplace. As leaders in engineering education, we look to broaden the conversation to focus on all of these dimensions – both faculty leadership and pedagogical innovation, and the role of student emotional engagement in learning.”

A cooperative effort of the Olin-Illinois Partnership, Engineer of the Future 3.0 will continue the conversations that began at the Summit on the Engineer of the Future 2.0, held last fall at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and to take it in a different direction. This intensive, student-run and student-centered summit will feature keynote speaker Daniel Pink—author of four provocative books about the changing world of work—including the New York Times bestsellers, A Whole New Mind and Drive, The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us.

“This conference is part and parcel of cultivating fundamental change in undergraduate education at Illinois,” Charles Tucker, associate dean for undergraduate programs. “As the pilot experiments in the first-year of ENG 100++ and iCommunity take root, iFoundry continues to forge ahead with core experiments in creating ‘intrinsically motivated’ classrooms in core ECE courses, and other sophomore and junior year improvements.

“We observe, in many institutions, that the conversation about change in engineering education is almost entirely restricted to discussions among faculty members and, to a lesser extent, to conversations with those who hire engineers,” Tucker added. “Interestingly, those with the most to gain or lose from the success or failure of engineering education transformation efforts, our students, are often absent or excluded from the conversation. At Illinois we believe the student voice is essential.”

“In Drive, Daniel Pink examines notions of purpose, autonomy, and mastery to understand what motivates human beings in the creative technological era,” stated David Goldberg, co-director of iFoundry at Illinois. “Engineering education is attempting to move from the ‘sage on the stage’ to the ‘guide on the side.’ However, the language of these two phrases still makes the ‘sage’ and the ‘guide’—the professor—the prime actor in the educational process. At EotF 3.0, student, faculty, and industry leaders will explore the power and possibilities of making students the prime movers of their own educations—as well as how to get student engagement to be a more powerful force in transforming engineering education.”

Like the 2008 Workshop on the Future of Engineering, and other efforts supported by Deans Adesida and Tucker, the event will draw a broad and diverse audience of stakeholders invested in this conversation: students, and faculty, most obviously, but also Illinois alumni; corporate leadership, high school educators and innovative leaders in STEM areas; student leaders from top engineering colleges; and deans, provosts, and faculty at peer institutions around the world.

For registration information, visit: http://engineerofthefuture.illinois.edu
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Contact: Karen Hyman, associate director, Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education (iFoundry), 217/244-3824.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, writer/editor. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.