I should make three introductory remarks before getting to the substance. I know there are exciting, innovative programs in a number of engineering schools. Perhaps most schools are trying one or two novel things. Second, a word about my view of what an engineer does, since this colors my ideas of how an engineer needs to be educated. Science is analytic - it strives to understand nature, what is.
Engineering is synthetic - it strives to create what can be.
To be sure, our understanding of nature is one of the constraints we work under, but it is far from the only one, it is seldom the hardest one, and almost never the limiting one. An Accelerating Pace of Change Third, the practice of engineering is changing. Indeed, those changes are what underlie the urgency I feel for a new approach to engineering education. If anything, the pace of this change is accelerating. Although there are exceptions, in general, engineering education has not kept up with this changing environment.