WHAT IS AN ENGINEER?

Bernard M. Gordon ---------------------------------------------------------------------------Analogic Corporation, Peabody, Mass. U.S.A. Invited Keynote Presentation at the European Society for Engineering Annual Conference, 1984 University of Erlangen-Nurnberg

First Edition August, 1984

WHAT IS AN ENGINEER?
INTRODUCTION Historical Perspective Some Definitions OVERVIEW OF ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES Duties, Functions, and Responsibilities PREREQUISITES FOR THE ENTRY-LEVEL ENGINEER Formal Schooling Preparation Knowledges, Skills, Attitudes THE ENGINEERING CAREER The Design Career Ladder Evolving Functions and Responsibilities THE ENGINEERING-BASED COMPANY An Integrated Viewpoint of the Engineering Tree Engineering-Based Company Structures ROLE OF COMPUTER AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES Technique versus Content

About the Gordon Prize

Introduction The Gordon Prize is expressly intended to recognize and to reward originators and developers of innovative education programs that encourage young engineer with recognized leadership potential to understand and to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become engineering leaders. The Prize also provides funding to encourage and support the institution in which the innovation has been nurtured to continue its efforts to improve the education of future engineering leaders. describing the End Product It almost goes without saying that any valid evaluation of a nomination for the prize requires a vision and an understanding, in depth, of the character of a real-world engineer. It is, in effect, a specification of the end product of the program. Our vision of a real-world engineering leader was presaged in an Invited Keynote Presentation to the European Society for Engineering Annual Conference (SEFI) at the University of Erlangen-Numberg in 1984. Its content is surprisingly relevant now, more than 20 years later. It is interesting to note that, at a recent public occasion, the officers of the Technion Institute of Israel held up a copy of the Keynote Presentation that had been printed as a red-covered pamphlet, and announced that the Institute had adopted the recommendations therein for their Engineering programs. (The pamphlet is often referred to as the "Red Book". A Real-World-Leaders Actions It may be useful for Committee evaluators to consider some of the characteristics of a real-world engineer that capture and update the earlier presentation in somewhat less than the 30page "WHAT IS AN ENGINEER" (Red Book) of 1984. Consider the experience and wisdom of a real-world engineering leader who:

Performs or directs market research in order to identify- possible niches for new products, or even for more-bang-for-the-buck replacements of existing products; Has the breadth and depth of knowledge to understand the capabilities and limitations of emerging hardware and software techniques; Is the forceful, literate, and convincing advocate for adopting proposals as part of an accepted business plan or as the start of new ventures; Takes risks in exploring and/or inventing innovative designs and processes that may be needed in order to meet the performance goals anew products; Accepts the responsibility and accountability for the decisions and actions that are necessary in the completion of projects; Recruits team members with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to perform the designated tasks, as well as members who can be led to raise the level of their current capabilities;

Educates and trains team members to bring their knowledge, skills, and attitudes up to the leadership levels required for optimum use of their capabilities; Understands that the assignment as project leader is much, much more than a recognition of prior leadership in bringing projects to completion within the specified performance specifications, budgeted costs, and scheduled completion time; Empathizes with the with team members who have developed lowered expectations of their abilities, and accepts a personal involvement in heightening their levels of expectation and in meeting a higher level of their hierarchy of needs (Maslow): Monitors prowess in real terms by demanding attention to detail, maintaining time and budget schedules, and by delivering documented design, development and production on time; Recognizes the leader's moral responsibility for advancing the careers of team members by publicly acknowledging their contributions to the successes of the program and assuming personal responsibility for project shortcomings by identifying problems and assessing possible solutions ("the buck stops here"); and Brings an innovative product to market within specified performance, budget, and time. These qualities cannot be outsourced after an abbreviated indoctrination and taking of possible replacements. The leadership characteristics may be identified easily enough,

but their acquisition to any degree of utility bespeaks years of self-directed education and training, as well as years of realworld experience.

Putting it simply the Question before this Committee is: In what ways does the nominated program equip the future engineering leaders to understand the burdens of leadership and to encourage their confirmed dedication to pursue careers to that goal?

One aspect of the Failure to Develop Real-World Engineering Leaders The benefits of a successful engineering leadership education program go beyond the added value to the nominees and to the institution. Consider, for example, the problem of outsourcing that grows more serious every day. While the outsourcing of so-called "blue-collar" manufacturing is an expected result of the natural life cycle of a product that has become a commodity, the outsourcing of "white-collar" hardware and software engineering is a relatively recent phenomenon, but no less significant today arid in the foreseeable future. Should we be surprised to find that only two to three weeks of training an outsourced resource by the soon-to-be dismissed programmer is required to being the replacement up to acceptable efficiency and speed? Evidently, m too many instances, the soon-to-be-replaced software engineer who claims to have had 5, 10, or even 15 years of continuous growth experience, really has had, perhaps, 1 to 2 years of growth experience that has been put to use in the 5, 10, or 15 years of follow-on work assignments. They may even have been trained (or educated) to accept a lowered level of expectations in their careers. As long as the capabilities to perform the task can be transferred in a very, very short time to a reasonably well educated, and competent, lower-cost engineer, outsourcing is inevitable. Engineering Leadership to the Rescue The stream of new products emerging from Real-World Engineering Leaders will enter the increasing production lines so that American industry will welcome the outsourcing of manufacturing of commodities in order to make room for

the new product lines. In summary, it should be of no surprise that real world engineering leaders find a more receptive corporate environment among the Startups and in product development laboratories who place a high degree of interest and support for the Engineering Leaders who can wrap their arms around a whole design and development project, and who are able to present the risk factors in a competitive global marketplace fairly and completely.

WHAT IS AN ENGINEER?
Bernard M. Gordon Analogic Corporation, Wakefield, Mass. U.S.A. Invited Keynote Presentation at the European Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, 1984 University of Erlangen-Nurnberg. Chairman Prof. Dr. Golling, Professor Dr. Seitzer, Members of the Society, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a fundamental maxim that engineering education systems and techniques must be designed to produce individuals qualified to become engineers. What our industrial society perceives engineering to be and what successful engineers actually do should be the driving forces behind curriculum content and educational method development. An educational system that does not produce "societally acceptable" engineers cannot survive for long. In the rush to embrace technological advances to improve our educational techniques we may possibly lose sight of this fundamental goal of the educational process: to produce qualified potential engineers. In terms of dynamic memory technology: we must occasionally "refresh" our view of this requirement so as to prevent its loss. We could start by stepping backwards and by trying to classify engineering. Labels that classify are sometimes useful in defining broader terminology. Labelling engineering as a profession and engineers as professional, or labelling engineering as a technology and engineers as technologists, or labelling engineering as a science and engineers as scientists, or labelling engineering as an art and engineers as artists may be considered by some to be useful approaches to an acceptable definition. Their value is directly proportional to the extent to which the label's connotation is universally understood, and especially the extent to which it can be translated into a meaningful list of performance parameters. In most cases, however, such labels merely introduce additional ambiguities. That your Society has chosen to start this annual meeting with a definition of the output of the educational process, as seen from the viewpoint of an industrial user of that product, bodes well for the Society and for the activities of its members. That you have invited me to contribute to that definition is an honor that I deeply appreciate, and I approach the task with a deep respect.
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Engineering Education's goal is to produce qualified potential engineers

Labelling Engineering and Engineers

My reply to the question, What is an Engineer?, is couched in mundane everyday engineering language. I shall present my definition and then elucidate performance requirements in measurable functional career parameters and will avoid ambiguous labels wherever possible. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Each one of us brings to his or her understanding of an Engineer the cumulative effects of personal education, training, and experiences. In many respects, our concepts reflect the tradition and mores of the engineering culture in which we are nurtured. It is not unexpected, therefore, that the development of engineering education in relatively independent societal structures should have taken different paths. Our present concepts are fed by the streams of history from many diverse sources. Bear with me please, if you will, for a brief historical perspective. While engineering probably has been practiced for longer than written history can determine, it is only relatively recently that the title of Engineer was applied to others than "military engineers". Unfortunately, we have lost the threads of historic continuity with the engineering that built the pyramids in Egypt and the great wall in China. But we still marvel at the feats of Roman engineers who built the roads and aqueducts to support their Legions, and which we still use today. Their influence still persists. The formal education of civil (as opposed to military) engineers appears to have started no earlier than the mid 18th century. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, one Jean Rodolphe Perronet was charged in 1747 with the responsibility for directing the design of plans and maps of roads and... "to instruct the said designers in the sciences and practices needful to fulfilling with competency the different occupations relating to said bridges and highways." The Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses was established in that year (1747), followed by others specializing in different civil engineering branches. The French model greatly influenced the curricula in the United States. For example, that of Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in New York, in 1849 was modeled after that of the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, and the first professor of civil engineering in America appears to have been Claude Crozet at West Point He was a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique. In Great Britain, the accepted form of vocational training of engineers was a system of indenture and pupilage, and this

Engineering Education Development along different paths

Military and Civil Engineering

French Origins

English Origins

persisted almost up to the start of the 20th century, when the

Institution of Civil Engineers endorsed the system of higher education, including post-graduate study and research, for engineering education In Germany, the polytechnic school at Karlsruhe, created in 1825 as a combination of two older institutions, appears to have been the first of its kind in that country. However, in 1833 its curriculum was changed to emphasize a high scientific discipline with less dexterity. A Bauakademie was established in Berlin in 1799; a technische Schule was established in 1822, and it evolved into a Gewerbeakademie in 1866. Technical schools developed rapidly after 1871 to meet the needs for the expanding industry. This early German cleavage between the "professionalism of a science" and the "lesser vocationalism of a technology" persists in the lower esteem with which vocational schools are held in the United States, for example. It is only by virtue of the high quality of the work of its staff and of its graduates have the major institutes of technology in the United States, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology, been afforded appropriate academic recognition. To this brief recital of an earlier history, one could also add the influences on the educational systems of the Oriental and Indian cultures. But, regardless of origins of these developments, a basic societal value remains paramount. To quote from the charter of the Institution of Civil Engineers (London, 1828): Engineering is... "the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man,..." This paramount concern with the societal values is reflected in the current definition of a PROFESSION as presented in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. PROFESSION A calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive preparation including instruction in skills and methods as well as in the scientific, historical, or scholarly principles underlying such skills and methods, maintaining by force of organization, or concerted opinion, high standards of achievement and conduct, and committing its members to continued study and to a kind of work which has for its prime purpose the
Defining a Profession

German Origins

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rendering of a public service. The perceptions of Engineering and of an Engineer in a societal context are dynamic: changing in response to society's evolving perception of the engineering role, as well as responding to technological breakthroughs. Engineers and educators do not play a passive role in determining the societal needs for engineers. By their actions, alone, if not also by their expressed opinions, they have an important role to play in determining societal needs, along with their fellow citizens. At this stage in the maturation of engineering education, we see strong move to internationalize the development of curriculum and technique, brought about, no doubt, by the significant advances in communication technology. The world has been made "smaller" by, among other developments, satellite-based international communication networks, by internationally accepted standards for hardware and software, and by exchanges of ideas and practices, exemplified by international meetings such as this. Engineering, however defined, is an activity that has world-wide consequences; engineers cannot avoid the international consequences of their products. Engineering education that is parochial or provincial will be doomed to fail. Its products will not be societally useful, and its student sources and government support will inevitably be withdrawn. Unfortunately, it is apparent that society around the world, particularly the western world, is not entirely pleased with the current state of general education. Its displeasure is reflected in the barrage of criticism leveled at the graduate who cannot read effectively, cannot write effectively, and cannot master moderately complex arithmetic. The well-publicized question, "Why can't Johnny read?" sums up the societal concerns. A parallel question, "Why can't Mr./Dr. Engineer engineer effectively?" is now increasingly being asked, and sums up the frustration of engineering supervisors and of the public who suffer from the failures of inadequate designs. Critics of engineering education often cite the following inadequacies among the complaints about the educational system's "product" Disproportionately low and increasingly poor economic return for the amount of employed engineering resources; Limited formal training in and exposure to a breadth of basic technical knowledge, and inadequate training and orientation to a meaningful depth of engineering skills; Inadequate understanding of the importance of precise test and measurement; Insufficient competitive drive and perseverance; Inadequate communication skills; Lack of discipline and control in work habits;
Internationalizing Engineering Education

Engineering Performance leaves something to be desired

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Fear of taking personal risks. Therefore, it is appropriate that we reexamine our perceptions of real engineering so as to focus our attention on the content in terms of what we want engineers to do in their careers, while we are exploring the application of new technology to the methods of education DEFINITION I propose to define a REAL (i.e., professional) ENGINEER as "one who has attained and continuously enhances technical, communications, and human-relations knowledges, skills, and attitudes, and who contributes effectively to society by theorizing, conceiving, developing, and producing reliable structures and machines of practical and economic value." "The greater the breadth of knowledge, the more varied and accomplished the skills, and the more dedicated the attitude of any individual engineer, the more significant will be the accomplishment, resulting in proper recognition as a role model, teacher, and leader." Let us examine each of these three parameters of KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, and ATTITUDE, in turn, first with a brief overview and then with regard to some specific implications for the development of engineering education. KNOWLEDGE Knowledge, for a real engineer, is more than acquired data, and certainly much more than acquired engineering data. The cognitive process is different from the acquisitive process. While today's computer and information technology may make any of the world's data instantly available, the real engineer has developed a relational understanding of the data and will have learned how to recall and correlatively process relevant data in order to synthesize new information to solve problems. The areas of required knowledge are not limited to those of science or technology, as a consideration of the role of the engineer as a leader will reveal. An understanding of societal evolution through study of history, economics, sociology, psychology, literature, and arts will enhance the value of the engineering contribution. And, in the shrinking world that the new communications technology is producing, we should not forget the study of foreign languages; an item often ignored on the western side of the Atlantic.
Defining a REAL. ENGINEER

Cognitive learning involves correlating relevant data

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SKILLS A real engineer's skills are essentially scheduled problem-solving techniques of design in which the concentrated disciplines of science and technology are exercised with the personal creativity and judgment developed from training and experience. In addition, because engineering accomplishments are achieved in a group environment, the communication skills are critical to the roles as follower, and then, leader.

Judgment and experience. contributions to skills

These skills can be acquired only by doing: the practice may be on simulated problems, or, as for the entry-level medical doctor, on real cases under expert supervision. However, no amount of "study" can replace the "practice" in learning how to "debug" a design, for example. The case study technique may be useful, but it is not sufficient to qualify the real engineer. ATTITUDES A real engineer's attitudes will directly affect the quality of his design solutions, whatever the problem. The real engineer is a leader of a team of resources: financial, personal, and material, at all levels of engineering activity. Successful team leadership implies a degree of self criticism, where egotism and modesty have counterbalancing influences. It requires a spirit of curiosity and courage that leads to creativity and innovation. It is characterized by a forcefulness that gives orders, as well as receives orders, and accepts the challenges of competition in the market place with a perseverance to succeed. Leadership exhibits a loyalty downward as well as loyalty upward, and requires the earning of respect of project team members for personal competence, tolerance, and supervisory guidance.
Leadership is essential

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* OVERVIEW OF ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES Duties, Functions, and Responsibilities

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ENGINEERING AS A CAREER Almost all definitions of engineering imply a career activity of acquiring new knowledges and insights, of sharpening old skills and acquiring new ones, and of maturing attitudes and personality. In effect, a person who pursues an engineering career is always practicing to become an engineer, and never really completes the required education, training, and experience. Along the route, however, we can identify milestones of achievement, and, although we may not reach the end of the road, we can certainly recognize progress along the route. Among my objectives for today is that of specifying some recognizable milestones along the route. Allow me to start by sharing with you my perceptions of what an engineer actually may be assigned to do during his career, without allocating any particular activity to any specific career position: entry-level, junior, senior, or higher levels of engineering. This brief and incomplete listing is oriented towards the task activities of a design-development engineer in almost any engineering discipline. No significance is implied by the order in which these activities are presented. AN ENGINEER MAY BE ASSIGNED TO:. STUDY the market potential for a proposed product. PREPARE specifications. MODEL solutions in terms of major functional blocks. ORGANIZE work efforts into manageable subdivisions. ANALYZE designs and test data. ESTABLISH performance error budgets for each major subdivision so as to meet design goals. ESTABLISH performance error budgets for each major subdivision so as to meet design goals. ESTABLISH milestone schedules. ALLOCATE personnel and financial resources to engineering activities. MONITOR project results against established product performance, financial budgets, and time schedules. PERFORM detailed checking of designs or insure that all details have been verified. INSURE that produceability, maintainability, and reliability arc designed into the product.

A lifelong quest to become an engineer

An Engineer's assigned tasks are varied, and not all technical/scientific

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TRAIN, EDUCATE, and SUPERVISE subordinates. SERVE as a project team member in an "apprentice" or "journeyman" role at the start of a career. DOCUMENT test procedures, test results. DESIGN and BUILD special-purpose test equipment. BUILD prototypes to validate production documentation. STUDY new technologies, new components, new instruments for applicability to product design. DEFEND design to reviewing superiors. SUPPORT marketing and sales activities with product presentations and literature. CONDUCT design reviews. CONDUCT training and indoctrination sessions for in-house and customer personnel. SUPPORT customer service with repairs, maintenance, and on-site assistance. PLAN production schedules. ANALYZE inventory requirements. HELP qualify vendors' and suppliers' products and services. RESPOND to the changing requirements on design imposed by various regulatory agencies, both governmental and trade. ASSIST corporate management in contract negotiations. INTERVIEW and EVALUATE prospective employees. PROTECT corporate investments by assisting in patent filings design disclosure, and copyrights. SERVE on national and international committees. LECTURE on state-of-the-art technology.

Most who are part of the industrial engineering scene probably would agree to the inclusion of these functions in such a list of their engineers' duties. In all likelihood, a poll of engineering executives from diverse fields would add yet additional duties, functions, and task activities. Clearly, engineering is a multifaceted activity. Specifying the requisite knowledges, skills, and attitudes that will prepare a neophyte for an engineering career is a complex task. Most educational institutions (public or private, governmental or industrial) who profess to train engineers probably would claim that preparatory knowledges for the type of activities and skills represented in the previous listing are provided as part of the required curriculum or are available as electives. Or, they might, with some justification, claim that only minor modifications to the curriculum may be required, but that no radical changes are needed and they would be right... If our concept of real engineering is limited to carrying out assigned tasks. In accordance with our definition the
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Engineering Education appears to be adequate, but more is required

REAL ENGINEER conceives and invents. His outputs result in products that are innovative, inventive and economically accessible. They are useful to society. The REAL ENGINEER does not wait to be told to initiate the design of a new product. He (or she) imagines, conceives, proposes, propagandizes, pleads, and debates for a "cause", for "an impossible dream", ... and succeeds, in spite of the opposition of doubters and the discouragement of setbacks, in bringing order out of chaos, in producing something that is new, and, in the process, advancing the state of the art of engineering. The REAL ENGINEER is willing to take a risk, a risk upon which his professional reputation will be at stake. The definition of REAL ENGINEERING implies at least one other significant characteristic: that of multi-disciplinary project activity. Generally, a product is not brought to fruition solely by the talents of a single REAL ENGINEER, no matter how knowledgeable and skilled. The REAL ENGINEER calls on the specialized knowledge and skills of others as needed. However, the REAL ENGINEER does not abdicate responsibility for any phase of the project work, no matter how minor or how foreign it may appear. The REAL ENGINEER is intimately aware of every facet of design, development, test, and production, and he is capable of understanding and evaluating the minutest design detail that matters. He continuously evaluates and redirects the different efforts in the course of the project, planting new ideas and furthering inventions on the part of those who will contribute. Each capable talent is inspired and exhorted to perform beyond his (or her) recognizable limits. The REAL ENGINEER motivates each contributor to the project to want to excel, to grow, and to take personal pride in the project's successful completion. In a word, the REAL ENGINEER is a LEADER. When the education and training (both in academia and industry) add LEADERSHIP programs to the curriculum and to the work ethic, then we shall move closer to educating and training REAL ENGINEERS. We, of course, must recognize that not all ENGINEERS will become primary LEADERS. First of all, not everyone will have the necessary genes or will develop the necessary temperament. In fact, such an expectation may be counterproductive. To paraphrase a popular American expression, a team of all Chiefs and no Indians is ineffective.
Invention and innovation are the keys

Engineering means taking a ink

The broad basis of engineering actions

Motivation, pride, and achievement

Leadership

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I am convinced that, with adequate supervision, the broadly experienced engineering leader can increase the productivity of less experienced engineers by a factor of "e" or 2.7183. At Analogic, this is jokingly referred to as Gordon's Rule. In every project, at every level, educated engineers are needed to respond to the direction of the primary LEADERS. They are needed to design according to specifications, to build development models, to test them, to design manufacturing jigs and fixtures, etc. Certainly, one of the prerequisites to becoming a REAL ENGINEER, and henceforth, synonymously an ENGINEERING LEADER at some level of engineering activity, is to serve some apprenticeship at a lesser level of accomplishment. However, at every level of engineering some degree of leadership is required to function effectively in a recognizable manner. There will always be a need for qualified engineers, even though not all will become outstanding, leading, REAL ENGINEERS. No career promises the top to every neophyte entering at the bottom. But, as will be described later, there are, indeed, leadership opportunities at every level of accomplishment. What is necessary is an approach that encourages each individual to reach the highest level of leadership for which the personal talents are capable. We need, and will continue to honor, the contributions of the "loner" who almost singlehandedly makes significant contributions to society's store of engineering knowledge and skills. For example, Alan Cormack, a physicist of Tufts University, was awarded the Nobel prize (1979) for his original conceptual dissertation (1963) on the feasibility of using the mathematical relationships developed by Radon (1917) as a basis for instrumentation that would reconstruct images of the human body. Simultaneously, an identical award was made to Geoffrey Hounsfield, a real engineer, for his leadership of the engineering team that developed (1971) the first actual machine to do so.

Leadership and Productivity

Leadership at all levels

The Engineer "loner"

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The engineering and scientific community, and society, need to and should encourage those who have the talents to pursue independent, creative, analytical work. However, we must be careful not to point to such examples of achievements as proof that engineering education is adequately producing engineering leaders. Furthermore, it would be misleading to suggest that all individual engineering achievements which we honor are the results of isolated, individual efforts. Practically without exception, these so-called individual accomplishments are not possible without the interaction with contemporaries and, more important, without the contributions of earlier achievements. We honor, and rightly so, the individual who has added the creative spark, who has taken the lead, and who has made a quantum jump in the evolution of our engineering knowledge. The engineers so honored have usually credited a measure of their success to these foundations and peer contributions. Our educational programs should teach students to do likewise. The development and training of REAL ENGINEERS will be accomplished mainly in the caldron of the real-world marketplace and in post-graduate experience. However, attitude development and character building programs are most effective if started early. What may be most important is that the formal education does all that can be done to maximize the student's potential for practical leadership, implying, of course, that nothing is done inadvertently, let alone deliberately, to discourage or demean such leadership tendencies. This may be accomplished, in part, by first recognizing academia's significant role in contributing to the character building and attitude formation that are essential for leadership. It is encouraging, in this connection, to read in a recent edition of the New York Times that some experimental efforts are now underway to introduce leadership training in the formal curricula. There may be some who will conclude that educating REAL ENGINEERS (as distinct from Engineering Technologists) will lead to an "elitist" educational program for some. This very well may be a desirable solution, as long as the opportunities to participate and benefit from that elitist program are available to all who are qualified, and....as long as society does all it can to foster the development of qualified entrants. Graduates of this program will truly understand their role as professionals to lead in the invention and production of new products beneficial to society. Much has been written about the problems in training adequate numbers of engineers for tomorrow's high technology society, predicting tremendous shortages. However, some believe that the so-called "shortage of engineers" is overstated, if not a
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The debt we owe to those who have come before us

Character building

An Elitist program for Engineering Leaders

myth. There may, in fact, be a surplus of engineering technologists. But we might agree that there is a shortage of REAL ENGINEERS. To expand the instructional opportunities to produce more of the same quality of engineers, who may even be misdirected and discouraged from assuming the responsibilities of REAL ENGINEERS, will not relieve the real shortage. On the other hand, if there were an elitist engineering education program, whose graduates would surely be recognized and rewarded handsomely in the industrial marketplace, perhaps the competition for entry would, at the very least, raise the general standards, and, therefore, raise the level of performance of all engineers. With this perspective in mind, let us proceed to identify the knowledges, skills, and attitudes in the evolution of the REAL ENGINEER. We begin with some prerequisites for the practice as an ENTRYLEVEL ENGINEER.

Shortage of engineersor really a shortage of real engineers In an abundance of technologists

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* PREREQUISITES FOR THE ENTRY-LEVEL ENGINEER

Formal Schooling Preparation Knowledges, Skills, Attitudes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------THE ENTRY-LEVEL ENGINEER PREREQUISITES What knowledges, skills, and attitudes should be specified for engineering education graduates as they embark on their careers? We would expect, first of all, that the formal education has filtered out the truly incompetent, and that, at the very least, the graduate of the formal program suffers no intellectual handicaps. Almost any curriculum which demands performance against some graded levels of difficulty will accomplish this function. In this regard, we would expect industry to continue the filtering action by dissuading some of the less competent who may have slipped through the academic sieve. There are, indeed, established procedures for evaluating the content of the curriculum in order to accredit such education for specific professions. These vary from country to country, and, within the United States, for example, they vary from state to state. We may accept, for the most part, that successful completion of some formal educational program is normally a necessary, but not necessarily a sufficient requirement for successful entry into the engineering "profession". Accreditation procedures are usually confined to a consideration of the subject-matter content (KNOWLEDGE) and, sometimes, of the performance of a minimum number of hours of laboratory exercises (SKILLS). Consideration of ATTITUDES, if, indeed, they can be taught and evaluated, are not generally involved, except as they may influence the successful completion of the course subject matter. Attitude and personality growth are occasionally recognized, however, although not usually in a formal manner. Nationwide "Honor Societies" provide recognition for outstanding competitive scholarship, and, in some cases, recognize leadership qualities and "civic" contributions in extra-curricular activities. Unfortunately, these "attitude acquisitions" are rarely, if ever, considered a formal prerequisite for conferring of the degree. As far as I can determine, only the military academies establish a "leadership" requirement for successful completion of the course of study.

Engineering schools concentrate on KNOWLEDGES, develop some SKILLS, but do not stress ATTITUDES/LEADERSHIP

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KNOWLEDGE
The required formal education for a baccalaureate degree, in all specialities in the arts, sciences, engineering, technology, etc., should produce an educated individual. Such an education will provide a broad background that will include "college level" courses in many subjects. In addition to the intensive courses deemed necessary for the pursuit of a chosen career, at the very least, acquired knowledge should include some exposure to and appreciation of: Social and Political Sciences: Psychology Philosophy/Ethics Sociology/Comparative Cultures Economics History Natural Sciences: Biology Chemistry Physics Astronomy Geology The Arts: Literature Music Drama Painting Sculpture To the list of subjects we specify for the broad-based "education", we must now add the fundamental courses that are needed to acquire the specialized knowledges and skills of the focused professional engineering disciplines and their applications. Whether these courses should lead to narrow, intensive, specialization, or whether they should involve a broad, extensive exposure to the widest possible range of engineering disciplines remains, surprisingly, a matter of controversy on some campuses. We will find, I believe, that real engineering requires a strong inter-disciplinary base. PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS The curriculum should require engineering students to achieve a mastery of certain basic analytical skills through a concentration in mathematics that would include, at least: Logic and the Scientific Method Calculus Analytical Geometry
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Plan for an EDUCATED Engineer

Probability Statistics Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis and Programmed Calculating

Introduction to the Real World processes

The engineering graduate should have more than a "token acquaintance" with some of the realities of the real world of industrial and manufacturing engineering. Incorporation of this material into formal courses of study, without, in fact, requiring some on-the-job training and experience may present an interesting challenge. But I am convinced that it can be woven into the curriculum and should be done. Some of the topics to be included are: Industrial Business practices Economics of the Marketplace The role of inventions, patents, copyrights Product life cycles Inventory Control The role of documentation, specifications, assembly procedures, test procedures, test reports, etc. The factory, its machinery, its control Reliability, Maintainability The role of national and international regulations, both governmental and trade. Safety and product liability, warranty, etc. Project management, scheduling, control It is safe to say that topics of these types are of importance to all branches of engineering. Although our specification for the ENTRY-LEVEL ENGINEER will not require a high level of expertise in any of these areas, these "facts-of-life" should not come as a shock upon first exposure. COMMUNICATION SKILL Special emphasis should be placed on acquiring at least one skill that will play a significant part in determining an engineer's career success: that of COMMUNICATION. While some engineering may be an intensely individual activity, most engineers will 'operate as members of a group. If engineers' designs are to become useful products: Their benefits must be explained to the potential consumers; They must be manufactured, operated, and maintained by people of different backgrounds, training, and cultures around the world.

Engineers must intend to produce results

USING THE SLIDE RULE AS A "TOOL

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It is interesting to note that in a recent formal survey of representative Electronics Engineers of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, more than 80% of the respondents cited the lack of adequate training in communications skills as a deficiency of their education and training. It was the one subject that most agreed should be added to the curriculum. COMPUTER OPERATION SKILL Proficiency in the operation of computers and computer-based equipment is rapidly becoming an important part of an engineer's education and training, if it is not already a mandated requisite for admission. The computer's use as a tool is a skill that can and should be acquired as a 'by product' of the normal individual study and practice. In an earlier age, when the slide rule was an Engineer's "Badge of Distinction", facility in its use was obtained as part of the problem solving exercises in the class room and as part of the student's assignments. After-hours instruction was available for the novice, but such extra-curricula "help" was not elevated by credit towards a degree study program. There are numerous on-going experiments that explore the extent to which the computer can be incorporated as a tool in today's courses of study. In my opinion, except for the engineering students who are going to specialize in actual computer design, "computer-worship" is a misdirected activity. It may serve negatively to focus attention on a technique for learning, rather than on the objective and content of the learning process. ATTITUDES It is doubtful that attitudes can be "taught" explicitly. It is certain, however, that they will be acquired as part of the individual's growth and maturation, and that they will be the result of many influencing factors. The individual's family traditions, values, and practices, early schooling (and, more important, the individual's teachers in those schools), peer pressures, religious groups, and governmental practices and procedures, all contribute to the developed attitudes that an engineering-school graduate brings to his first career position. However they may be acquired, modified, or developed, the specified attitudes of an engineer-to-be should include at least the following: (Again, no significance is implied by the order in which these are listed.) Cheerful acceptance of work assignments Perseverance and determination to complete assigned work Attention to detail

WORSHIPPING THE COMPUTER AS A PANACEA

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Confidence in one's abilities; recognition of strengths and limitations Desire to improve, to grow Recognition of the "apprenticeship" nature of early career assignments Acceptance of deadlines, and a commitment to meet them; Drive to compete for excellence/superiority Willingness to cooperate in group work efforts: to contribute for common goals, and to recognize the contribu-tions of others in the group Willingness to accept risks for suggested solutions, design approaches, and procedures Willingness to accept responsibility for results, both successes and failures Willingness to learn from the failures Willingness to accept constructive criticism and to respond positively Forcefulness in advancing one's own concepts and ideas (becoming a strong advocate) Intellectual honesty and self-criticism Willingness to supervise and train subordinates It is not necessary to include courses of study on "Engineering Attitudes" in order to assist the engineers-to-be in their character development. In fact, attempts to "teach attitudes" may have just the opposite result from that which is desired. Attitudes reflect a self-discipline, that comes about from reinforced, controlled practice. Attitudes are indicated by the "way one goes about one's work", whatever that work may be. Students who are required to perform work assignments within
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BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL LEARNING TOMEET DEADLINES

specified time limits, and who are required to maintain written records of their work, may soon learn how to apportion their time and how to communicate. And if reports are presented for group discussion and evaluation, students may soon learn to accept criticism, and to profit by it. To the student, a goal is to perform so as to achieve a high grade. While to the professor, who assigns grades, there should be an additional goal: to develop good attitudes, work habits, and communication skills in the student. On the other hand, the student who is allowed to reject an assigned topic anti replace it with one of greater personal interest, or who is permitted to extend deadlines indefinitely and without good cause, or who is excused from the reporting because it is a

personally painful experience, or who recognizes the professor's indifference to these "peripheral" requirements and performs them perfunctorily, etc.,... may never acquire these beneficial attitudes for the industrial workplace. Unless early career experience results in a modified behavior pattern, these students will find very limited opportunities for a successful career, with very few exceptions, no matter how highly placed their first assignment may be. Attitudes are influenced greatly by the role model offered by the professors to the students. Respected professors, renowned for their practicality as well as their scholarship, their wit, their classroom manner, and concern for, their students, become positive role models and have a profound influence on their students behavior development by the very force of their character. If their expressed classroom interest and activity are directed solely toward "so-called scientific research" that may, in part, enhance their salaries, and if their contact with the problems and success-driven excitement of practical engineering is minimal, it is not surprising that their students are not "comfortable" when they are called upon to perform real-world engineering. CURRICULUM IMPACT To include acquisition of the specified knowledges, skills, and attitudes within the scope of the normal engineering course of study may appear, to some, an impossible task. Some critics will argue that the student's time is already so completely programmed with the "necessary" courses demanded of the engineering discipline, that there is no way to make room for any
25

FOLLOWING THE ROLE MODEL

new ones. In fact, some argue, the "information" in the engineering specialties is increasing at such a rapid rate that ways must be found to reduce the "irrelevant" in order to make room for the increased data. The avalanche of relatively low-cost data processing hardware and an almost-infinite variety of application software have inevitable impact on all knowledge/data intensive activities. Not the least of these is education, and, in particular, the education of engineers. The speed with which engineering and scientific data are being added to our store of literature, and the relative ease with which the student can access them through "dumb" and "smart" networked terminals have exerted tremendous pressures on the educational institutions to redefine the content of the curricula to include both the new data and the new techniques. The theme of this meeting is but another indication of the immediacy of this topic. There is no question that the amount of engineering "data" is proliferating at a tremendous pace. But how much of the new data must be incorporated into the curriculum is not clear. For example, I am informed that at least 5,000 new chemical compounds are "invented" each year.

Making room for the necessary and Important

There is probably an equally large number of electronic components and devices added to catalogs each year. And the mechanical engineers could cite similarly large numbers of added materials, alloys, tools, and fixtures.

There is no doubt that the store of data has expanded, but how much new knowledge has been added for our benefit? If we assume, for the moment, that the most, if not all, the new data is somehow useful, the new information retrieval technology can provide us with tons of hardcopy,... that we would never have time to read, let alone digest. Today's technology can be utilized to provide every student access to any book, pamphlet, article, including graphics, that was ever produced. Should the present trend in miniaturization and economy of scale persist, every student will be able to retrieve and store a sizable subset of this entire human knowledge data bank at his side, and to exchange it for a new subset as often as desired; at an insignificant cost. Whatever the achievements of the new information storage and retrieval technology, the basic problem still remains: How does the student learn to identify those data items that are relevant to the problem at hand? How does the student learn to make the correlative organization of data to gain fundamental insights?

Half-life of engineering data is short, but that of fundamentals is long

The new library

Filling the student's head with data, ad infinitum in the hope that some of it will become relevant at some later date does not appear to be a profitable use of the student's time. In view of the fact that the expected half-life of today's data is 326

to-5 years, one might find it difficult to justify any extensive efforts to acquire the wealth of new data available each year. In about 4 years, 50% of the data we learn will be obsolete.

It would appear to be far more valuable to teach broad fundamentals and library search techniques so that data can be retrieved when needs arc identified

We should specify the undergraduate course content for maximum life expectancy. We should remember, also, that for most engineers, their undergraduate education will be the primary, if not the only formal education to which they will be exposed in their career. We should define that content, therefore, not only for its viability, but

also for its adaptability to ancillary career development processes. It is beyond the scope of this presentation to define the viable basics in each engineering discipline. Perhaps the next section, in which we describe the duties and responsibilities of the engineer at various steps in his career, may serve to guide the curriculum developers in this selection.

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* THE

ENGINEERING CAREER

The Design Career Ladder Evolving Functions and Responsibilities CAREER LADDER The engineer's growth in the engineering career is recognized in a number of ways. As a member of an organization, the engineer's growth is recognized by assignment to positions of increasing responsibility and leadership, with commensurate greater authority and remuneration. As an individual, the engineer's professional title reflects increased knowledges and skills, and should also reflect maturing attitudes. A set of professional engineering titles that may distinguish among levels of individual knowledge and skill accomplishments are in a typical career ladder: Engineering Aide (Entry-Level) Junior Engineer Engineer Senior Engineer Principal Engineer or Chief Engineer Clearly, these titles are indicative only; different names and a different number of levels may be appropriate for various organizations. A suitable adjective may be used to indicate the engineering specialization; such as: Mechanical, Electronic, Chemical, etc. Titles of specific organizational assignments frequently reflect an engineer's position, but not necessarily increased leadership responsibility and authority. This may introduce some ambiguity between the two "titling" systems. Typical organizational assignment titles (without any "laddering" significance) are: Program Manager
Project Engineer

Titles that recognize Professional growth

Titles that recognize Organizational status

Test Engineer Component Engineer Product Engineer

Engineering Supervisor

Quality Engineer Manufacturing Engineer Software Designer Service Manager Applications Engineer Sales Engineer
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It is often very misleading to consider the organizational titles as valid indications of progressive individual professional accomplishments. A "Project Engineer" who successfully leads a team in the development of a new medical imaging system, for example, requires far more qualifications than a "Project Engineer" assigned to develop a CRT power supply. Or a "Quality Engineer" of automobile engines is probably far better qualified than a "Quality Engineer" of ball-point pens. Absence of some reasonable standards for the career "grading" of engineers makes for expensive and time-consuming personnel recruitment and hiring procedures. The work experience of prospective engineers must be carefully reviewed and interpreted to establish some confidence in the engineering accomplishments claimed in the "curriculum vitae". For this presentation, therefore, we shall briefly identify the progressively greater breadth of knowledge and diversity of experience as the engineer advances in career accomplishments. At each level, we shall point out opportunities for leadership development, and, most importantly, we shall consider some of the indications of leadership that are to be expected. ENGINEERING AIDE The "engineer-to-be", in this entry-level position, is assigned under close supervision to perform specific elementary engineering tasks that require direct application of a formally educated engineering skill and knowledge. For example, the Electronic ENGINEERING AIDE may be directed to prepare test instructions for a new power supply. The Electrical ENGINEERING AIDE may be directed to calculate the heat transfer through the case of a power transformer. Or the Mechanical ENGINEERING AIDE may be directed to calculate the stresses on the support members of a simple structure. The assigned tasks will probably be of relatively short duration, and

How can we compare Engineers by their titles?

Getting started in the Real World

Serving an apprenticeship

29

the ENGINEERING AIDE can be assigned to different departments in the organization, performing engineering tasks in test, manufacturing, inspection, design, quality control, purchasing, and sales, depending upon the organization and scope of its activities. The rotation is desirable to indicate the importance of interacting disciplines (whatever the branch of engineering practiced by the organization), and to indicate the great variety of skills required to bring a product from conception through production, sales, distribution, and maintenance

Attitude development and assessment

Performance evaluation of the ENGINEERING AIDE will consider the engineering knowledge and skill competence in the work performed by noting the speed and accuracy of the work effort. The evaluation will also consider the "attitude" shown by the ENGINEERING AIDE in order to obtain an early assessment of the leadership potential. Were the assignments accepted cheerfully and with good grace? Or was the detail nature of the work resented? Was there adequate recognition of the apprenticeship nature of the assignments? Was the documentation completed? Was the importance of the documentation recognized? Or was it treated cavalierly? How did the ENGINEERING AIDE "get along" with technicians in the group? Were there any evident personality conflicts? What were the work habits? Neatness? Responsiveness? What evidence was there of being a self-starter? Was there a requirement to acquire new information? Is the Aide a "quick-study"? Was there any overt leadership evidenced? Was Communication effective? Concise? Precise? Forceful?

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JUNIOR ENGINEER JUNIOR ENGINEERS are assigned relatively straightforward design tasks. They usually encompass a limited technological scope, such as a sub-unit of a larger project. In such tasks, the performance requirements are pre-specified, but considerable latitude exists for design implementation. Thus, an opportunity is presented for orignal and creative approaches. Work assignments to JUNIOR ENGINEERS need not depend upon specific prior training or experience. In fact, it would be advantageous for the growth of the Engineer-to-be if the technology of the assigned design task is relatively new, in order to encourage literature search and study. A Junior Mechanical Engineer, for example, may be assigned the task of designing the air conditioning portion of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) System of an auxilliary building in a larger construction complex. A Junior Electronic Engineer may be assigned the task of designing the power supply for an instrument. In these examples, the performance requirements, mechanical, environmental, and electrical interfaces for the end-item are provided in well-defined specifications.

Stepping up the ladder

In performing this assignment, the JUNIOR ENGINEER will have to study the specifications and thoroughly understand the implications of every requirement. In most instances, the intended use of the complete project unit (of which the task design may be only a small part) also must be studied and understood before accomplishing any useful design work. JUNIOR ENGINEERS are usually assigned as members of a larger design team, where they are directed and supervised by more senior staff. In their assignments, JUNIOR ENGINEERS may supervise and direct other technical support staff and will be directly responsible for their work. Task assignments for the JUNIOR ENGINEER vary in duration, depending upon the scope of the assigned design. However, they are of sufficient short-time duration so as to allow for several different assignments at this career level. Depending upon the breadth of the organization, tasks will be assigned in different departments, exposing the JUNIOR ENGINEER to a variety of applications.
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Opportunities to study and to invent

Knowledge and skill performance evaluation of the JUNIOR ENGINEER considers the following factors: How well were the application and specifications understood? Were alternative design approaches studied? Were new technologies investigated? Studied? Was the assigned design work completed? Was it carried out on schedule? Was it well-documented? Did the development include adequately directed testing under varying degrees of environmental stresses? Were the economic factors adequately considered? The human interface factors? The maintainability? Reliability? How well was the work planned? Were milestones checked within the project, or were excess supervisory forces required? Were budgets properly established? Maintained? Were details checked on a self-disciplinary basis? Thoroughly? Or were external resources required? Attitudes and leadership performance evaluation consider the following factors, in addition to those that were described for the Entry-Level Engineer? Were directions to others, such as drafting, documentation, and test personnel, presented clearly? Forcefully? Was the design elegantly simple and clever? Did it show any imagination? Did it show the benefits of judgment derived from the earlier experience?

Knowledge and skill growth assessment

Attitude growth assessment

ENGINEER The ENGINEER is assigned complete technical and administrative responsibility for the effective design of a major subassembly or enditem involving several significant functional blocks and different technologies. Autoritative direction may specify only the general mission and interfaces; detailed specifications must be developed.

A significant step up the ladder

In effect, the ENGINEER assumes "project leader" characteristics.

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The ENGINEER is responsible for the preparation of all documentation relating to the equipment, such as mechanical drawings, qualification test procedures, parts lists, and any instructional materials. He (or she) must maintain close liaison with personnel responsible for interfacing physical hardware and documented software to assure compatibility in the initial design and in subsequent engineering changes. The ENGINEER interacts with members of different internal departments/divisions: With finance and accounting in the preparation of budget and resource scheduling; With production to assist in the efficient transfer of the product to construction or full-scale production, as appropriate; With purchasing to assist in the procurement of unique components; With quality control to assist in the development of proper inspection procedures; With sales and marketing to assist in the development of proper sales literature; With customer service to assist in development of proper servicing and repair policies and procedures, and to assist in training programs.
Opportunities to expand the horizons of technical, fiscal, and social interfaces

Knowledge and skill factors in evaluating performance of the ENGINEER are evident in the end products. Were the products economically delivered on time? Do the end products meet all their performance specifications, including cost? Were assigned budgets of personnel and capital resources exceeded? Attitudes and leadership qualities of the ENGINEER's performance are increasingly more important to the successful completion of the assigned work as he (or she) advances in an engineering career. At this level, for example, there is an opportunity to assess the willingness of the ENGINEER to take risks and to propose unconventional, but well defended, design approaches. In addition, because of the increased interfaces with other organizational departments, there are more opportunities to observe how the ENGINEER interacts with others, of how bureaucratic obstacles are overcome, and how effectively assistance from non-project personnel is incorporated into the project.

Putting your reputation on the line

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SENIOR ENGINEER The SENIOR ENGINEER is assigned responsibility for a system or process that incorporates a number of related elements, each of considerable functional scope. For example, the Senior Mechanical Engineer may be assigned the task of designing the complete HVAC system in one or more buildings in a complex. Or the Senior Electronic Engineer may be assigned the task of designing and developing a sophisticated, microprocessor-based, analytical instrument that includes both the hardware and software for analog interfacing and signal conditioning circuits, digitizing and data storage circuits, digital signal processing, display and display control circuits, as well as several power supplies. The SENIOR ENGINEER's duties include all those described previously for the subordinate position. However, because of the scope of the different technologies and disciplines that are involved in the project, the breadth of technical knowledge required is considerably greater than at any lower level. Moreover, because the SENIOR ENGINEER is probably at least 8 to 10 years beyond his full-time formal education, the detailed technologies involved in the project are most likely beyond any that were studied in that schooling. Therefore, at this level, considerable time must be spent surveying and studying state-of-the-art technologies, and in creating new combinations of those developments and the most advanced components. The responsibilities are increased significantly: there are considerably more and different types of resources involved; risks are greater; and many more interfacing organizations must be consulted. The SENIOR ENGINEER is also required to represent the company's and the project's interests in meetings with the customer/end-user both at the organization's headquarters and at those of the customer. Evaluation of the KNOWLEDGE and SKILL factors in the SENIOR ENGINEER's performance may be performed as for the earlier career level: by examining the on-time economic completion of the end-product. The extended scope of the projects assigned to SENIOR ENGINEER's at this level provide ample opportunity to evaluate the ATTITUDE and LEADERSHIP qualities of the SENIOR ENGINEER's performance.
Keeping abreast of new technologies Widening the horizons of responsibility

Interfacing with user/customer

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Were the many contributing resources integrated effectively? Or did the mass of detail overwhelm the SENIOR ENGINEER? Was effective leadership asserted to encourage innovative design approaches by subordinates? Or were all details superimposed from above. What is the morale of the subordinates? Are they looking forward to working together on the next project? How well were the interactions with the end-item user/customer handled? Was there a willingness to see the problems from the user's/customer's viewpoint? Were creative approaches planted in and encouraged from subordinates, and were they credited to the subordinate when adopted?

PRINCIPAL ENGINEER or CH IEF ENGINEER Career progression to these two equally high levels of individual professional advancement is characterized by continuing expansion of the acquired KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS and by increasing responsibility for projects of greater complexity, substance, economic value, and for the greater amounts of human and physical resources involved. Assignments of these advanced ENGINEERS to positions of greater responsibility and authority recognize their record of continuing invention, innovation, and successful project completion. These are not "one-time" successful engineers. They do not, in their career, design and produce just one award-winning structure or generate just one novel idea. Their achievements are many and varied. Their success is consistent. The PRINCIPAL ENGINEER is recognized for the high level of his intellect and for the breadth and depth of his knowledge. He is primarily a High-Technology Problem Solver, who is called on to solve engineering problems over a very broad range of disciplines. The PRINCIPAL ENGINEER is recognized for his ability to see the "whole picture"; to relate to the end-user values and concerns; and to bring to bear the benefits of the latest developments in scientific and technological disciplines, creating elegantly simple solutions. The CHIEF ENGINEER is recognized for the high level of his ability to exercise control simultaneously over a number of projects of widely different scope and complexity. His record of proven successes is marked with consistently high performance in meeting project performance criteria, schedule deadlines, and budgetary constraints.
Principal Engineer is a HighTechnology trouble-shooter Top levels of Professional achievement

Chief Engineer is a high-level technology team manager

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The PRINCIPAL or CHIEF ENGINEER will have gained the respect of subordinates by virtue of the higher technical ability and stronger leadership characteristics. At this point, it should be clear that many titled "engineers", with as many as twenty years or more of so-called "experience" are really functioning as JUNIOR ENGINEERS. Their years of employment have not been translated into progressively more valuable knowledge, skills, or attitudes. They may have had, perhaps, only a few initial years of progressively increasing engineering experience and responsibility, and then have repeated that for an additional decade or longer. How would we distinguish the upper levels of REAL ENGINEERS from their entry-level subordinates? The CHIEF ENGINEER, PRINCIPAL ENGINEER, and SENIOR ENGINEER: Demonstrate a continually increasing breadth of knowledge; Have a record of successful project completion; Have a record of useful, meaningful inventions; Demonstrate art above-average skill of effective communication; and, above all, Demonstrate a leadership that is recognized by the expressed desire of subordinates to be assigned to their projects, and by the trust and responsibility assigned by supervisors.
Recognizing the achievement at high-level engineers

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* THE ENGINEERING-BASED COMPANY

An Integrated Viewpoint of the Engineering Tree Engineering-Based Company Structures -----------------------------------------------------------------------------THE ENGINEERING-BASED COMPANY AN INTEGRATED VIEWPOINT Conceptualizing, designing, developing, producing, and distributing products that benefit society require much more than the professional product-engineering knowledges, skills, and attitudes that have been specified in the previous discussions. Specialized knowledge of finance and accounting, international law, regulatory procedures, personnel administration, etc., and non-design skills in operating sales agencies and distributorships, in contract negotiation, in manufacturing, packaging and shipping, etc. are also necessary for the successful enterprise. In many engineering-based companies, these "staff" and support functions are considered as distinct careers, separate from that of engineering. In fact, an engineer who is assigned into these careers is often considered as "leaving engineering for management". Sometimes, these tangential careers are considered appropriate for design engineering "dropouts", and except for the leaders of such functions, the staffs are often perceived as being inferior, especially by engineers. With the proper career growth as described in this presentation, a better understanding and appreciation of the functions of these staff/support divisions are developed. In fact, the successful engineering-based company encourages the shift of some of the talented, but perhaps less technically creative, engineers into these staff/support divisions in order to assure that such support functions will be performed effectively and efficiently, and that they advance the company's long-range engineering goals. When support functions are led by engineering-trained and engineering-oriented personnel, fiscal policies are not promulgated "in vacuuo"; purchasing agents do not short-circuit technical performance for price/delivery inducements; sales personnel do not oversell products and mislead customers; and personnel administrators do not waste engineer's time interviewing unqualified candidates. The Integrated View of an engineering-based company may be illustrated by a well-cultivated, and well-pruned tree.
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Successful engineering enterprises need more than engineering expertise

Tangential careers for engineering "dropouts"

Engineers are needed for stall functions

The Engineering Career Tree Includes staff functions

The 'root-seeds' of the tree come from the Student Input root structure that reaches out to be nourished from all strata of society. Formal engineering schooling of 4-5 years completes the protected environment of the entry-level engineer-to-be, who 'breaks' into the real world at graduation. Growth in the early post-graduation years through the levels of ENGINEERING AIDE and JUNIOR ENGINEER expose the growing engineer-to-be to the duties and responsibilities of the staff/support functions, as well as to the inter-disciplinary specialties of design. At any level of ENGINEER and above, the 'tree' nourishes the branches of: ENGINEERING RESEARCHAND DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SALES AND MARKETING QUALITY CONTROL AND RELIABILITY INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING CUSTOMER SERVICE ENGINEERING PERSONNEL AND ADMINISTRATION

38

The tree's growth requires continuous 'fertilization'. This comes from the continuing input of new technologies, new scientific discoveries, and community support. They may be acquired by both formal and informal programs. Our 'tree' may also be nourished from above ground. In fact, it can receive "grafts" of additional branches from other organizational "trees". And this provides the opportunity to acquire engineering and support personnel at any level, from any source. It is of some significance to note that nearly all the successful innovative high-technology companies are led by chief executives who have come up through a "tree" of progressively more complex engineering project experiences and developments. They provide a direction that is based on sound engineering judgment and have taken, and continue to take, risks for innovative directions.

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* ROLE OF COMPUTER AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Technique versus Content
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ROLE OF COMPUTER AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES The foregoing description of an engineer's duties and responsibilities are relatively invariant. That is, they describe functions that were just as relevant for the building of the Roman roads and aqueducts, the Egyptian pyramids and temples, and the Chinese wall, as they are for the building of today's communication networks, skyscraper cities, and modern aircraft; and as they will be for the space stations, the underwater habitats, and the transport systems of the future. New materials, new technology, new insights into natural laws, and new insights into human relationships will change the "raw materials" with which an engineer works, but they will not change the basic functions! For example, today's engineer may sit at a work-station console and explore a technical library of designs that, in an earlier day, may have taken a significant time to research. But, archived designs only repeat earlier limitations. The essence of design is to "innovate"; to envision products and approaches that cannot be synthesized merely by manipulating tried and true concepts; to conceive and to take advantage of newer, less expensive, better performing, more efficient routes to products that meet the requirements of new problem solutions. The REAL ENGINEER achieves a "gestalt" that includes an instinct to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. The modern work station can serve a very useful function: it can free the engineer from laborious calculations and hours of detail drafting. It will be beneficial only if the engineer is able to use the new-found time to exercise his intellect and imagination, to initiate new designs, to explore new concepts, as well as to modify and improve old designs.

Engineering functions are invariant

Engineer's gestalt makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts

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Similarly, we should have no objection to the introduction of automated drafting machines, provided they do not destroy or remove the disciplines and attention to detail that were developed by the manual drafting techniques.

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Nor should we object to the use of programmed test equipment, provided its introduction does not compromise the development of disciplines of precision tests and measurements to assure product integrity and performance. One of the more significant functions of the maturing engineer is to exercise judgment, based on experience and insight, in order to make engineering decisions and to exert the leadership essential to direct and manage company resources. This decision-making function, some would suggest, can be routinized and programmed for computer execution, and thereby relieve the engineers of this function. Even the most ardent early proponents of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are now reluctant to make such claims. And, however thorough we may become in programming "consensus" solutions for legal, medical, biological, chemical, etc. problems, the computer solution is still a routine or a "statistic", and the departures from the norm require human insight. We cannot stress too strongly the role of vision and judgment and of the absolute necessity for the engineer to control the computer, and not vice-versa. In this connection, it is essential that our engineers become "computer-literate"... not so that they can design and build computers, but so that they can recognize the computer's capabilities and particularly its limitations. Dire consequences will follow any blind acceptance of computer-generated decisions; whether they are in engineering, medicine, politics, or law. As the size and cost of electronic memories continue their dramatic decline, it may soon be possible to package a memory in the size of a human fist that could store as many bits of data as we currently estimate are represented by the memory "cells" of the human brain. It is conceivable; therefore, that such a memory could store whatever may be stored in the human brain ... even including some combinatorial rules and algorithms that relate to human-to human conduct, as well as those of the engineering disciplines. Given the complex nature of our society, and the difficulty of determining the correctness of a decision (including its ethical character), allowing the computer to render unchallenged decisions of even the simplest of judgment problems ought to be avoided. As Dr. Egon Loebner of Hewlett-Packard has suggested (in an interview reported in the Silicon Valley Tech News, June 18, 1984), "...we should set up the computer in such a way that its understanding and manipulation of rules ....would be applied to check whether the human rules and regulations are being followed."

The computer's store of consensus solutions is not Artificial Intelligence

Blind acceptance of Computer solutions can be disastrous

Master the Computer

A proper expectation of computer use

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New technology is a "fact-of-life" in a free, dynamic society. The competent engineer remains alert and sensitive to the availability of new ways to implement design solutions. For the most part, this awareness is developed from a continuing informal self-education; by scanning periodicals and professional journals, and by attending seminars and conventions. However, from time to time a new set of tools requires a major assessment. This is not a new phenomenon. We are fortunate to have the following record from the August 1884 edition of the Scientific American. "The brilliant discoveries by Pasteur and by Koch are as much due to the perfected microscope as to any one cause. The nature and habits of the tubercular bacillus have only been capable of study since the microscope was so improved that organisms heretofore unrecognizable stand revealed. Disease has been traced to its source; the presence of bacteria and germs, by the use of the finest microscopic appliances; and in fact a thorough course of study in the art of intelligently using this instrument is becoming yearly a greater necessity". (Emphasis added.) One hundred years later we are faced with the same problem: how to make intelligent use of computer-based information processing technology. As long as we do not become so enamored of the technique that we lose sight of our mission, we shall intelligently take advantage or and use the new technology. SUMMARY If there is a single message I would like to leave you with, it is this: "You who are concerned with improving the education and training of engineers have a challenge to use the tools of the latest technology not only to broaden the knowledge-base and to strengthen the acquired fundamental analytical skills of the engineers-to-be, but especially to develop methods to encourage and train the real engineers-to-be, the leaders-to-be, to be imaginative, creative, daring, and responsible." Thank you.

New technology is a "fact-of-life"

100 years ago...

..and today

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