Special session: utopia university - building a roadmap for educating the next millennium's engineers

Abstract

Ailing multibillionaire P. Oscar Utopia wishes to endow a university in honor of Rose B. Utopia, his beloved wife and long-practicing engineer. He will be at FIE to draw upon the expertise of our community to design the master plan for a university of the next millennium, unburdened by the assumptions of the present and the past. Conference attendees who subscribe to Utopia's vision are encouraged to participate in this workshop, challenge the assumptions inherent to the current practice, and brainstorm a plan for educating the engineer of 3030. During this session, we will identify and challenge assumptions that are inherent to the current practice of how we educate engineers. Participants will engage in a series of rapid planning sessions based on the “what if” scenario of being able to establish a new engineering schoolunfettered by standard constraints of money, facilities,or current educational practice.