Global Engineering: What do We Mean by It and How are We Preparing our Students for It?

Abstract

Boulder since 1989. She has also designed and taught multiple courses at the intersection of STEM and Humanities/Social Science, including Engineering in History, The History of Modern Science, and The History of Western Medicine. All of her courses use texts from many disciplines, nations, and eras to bring students to self-knowledge through encounters with the Other. (This is most obvious in her latest new course, A Global State of Mind.) Whatever the subject, her courses are grounded in accountability-to the text, to oneself, and to one's fellows.

Workshop on Global Engineering Design for Low-Resource Settings

“…For the consideration of cultural context and user-friendliness of the projects' designs, the average pre-workshop score was 2.87 +/-0.78 and the average post-workshop score was 2.81 +/-0.86; the trends remained very similar at both time points (Figure 4B). (1)(2)(3)(4) given to student group projects by workshop instructors to evaluate the (A) feasibility of their proposed design in a low-resource setting and (B) the consideration of cultural context and the overall user-friendliness of the design at the beginning and end of the workshop. No significant differences between means was found in either metric, two-way ANOVA blocking by evaluator, p>0.05.…”

“…To keep up with the ever-evolving society, global engineers must work on cross-cutting issues and bring a diverse mindset to work nimbly across different environments with changing resources [1,2]. This adaptability requires being comfortable with design skills and being open to new ideas and international relations [3]. The design process is crucial for students to experience and understand how to meet a population's needs and iterate through feasible and culturally appropriate solutions.…”

“…Figure 1. (A) Pie chart visualizing the percentage of majors present in the 2022 workshops, (B) Bar chart representing the ratings(1)(2)(3)(4)(5) given to the question "I understand how to design with the cultural setting in mind, and I am comfortable working on design projects for settings with varying resources" by underclassmen and upperclassman at the start of the 2022 workshops, where 1 is 'strongly disagree', 3 is 'neutral', and 5 is 'strongly agree.' These results were not significant between underclassmen and upperclassmen, Mann-Whitney U-test, p>0.05.…”

“…Figure 4. Bar charts showing the distribution of ratings(1)(2)(3)(4) given to student group projects by workshop instructors to evaluate the (A) feasibility of their proposed design in a low-resource setting and (B) the consideration of cultural context and the overall user-friendliness of the design at the beginning and end of the workshop. No significant differences between means was found in either metric, two-way ANOVA blocking by evaluator, p>0.05.…”

Social Responsibility Related to Global Experiences and Interests of U.S. Engineering Students

“…For example, Deardorff [13] included "valuing others' values, beliefs, and behaviors…" among global competencies. Sandekian and Giovanelli [14] noted that engineers with global competency would act with forethought of the far-reaching consequences of engineering, both physical and social, as well as cultural sensitivity. The importance of cultural sensitivity and adaptability were also acknowledged by Russo and Osborne [15].…”