Monday, 31 March 2008
'Facing Facts' - '50s Forecasts vs. Today's Reality
I was recently directed to an article by Samuel C. Florman published in the fall 2007 edition of The Best of Tau Beta Pi. The title of the article is “Facing Facts About the Engineering Profession” (PDF document.) Mr. Florman has written a number of books, including “The Existential Pleasure of Engineering,” “The Civilized Engineer” and “The Introspective Engineer.”
From the vantage point of 2007, the 1946 graduate of Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering looked back at some of his hopes for the profession that he expressed during the 1950s. He hoped that the space race, environmental crisis, and the computer age would provide fertile ground for the engineering profession to achieve a significant level of prominence. He believed that engineers would take a leadership role in government. “I believe that individual engineers would emerge from the midst of anonymity and become well known, indeed celebrated, in the public arena,” Mr. Florman said. He also felt that increasing percentages of young people would enter engineering. As he looks back, he believes that none of these aspirations have been realized.
Mr. Florman believes that engineers have not become leaders in government, nor have they become significant advisors. He does note the successes of the establishment of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation and other agencies such as NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He felt that engineers would receive their due public recognition. Unfortunately this has not occurred in the degree to which he hoped. The most prestigious engineering award is the Charles Stark Draper Prize awarded by the National Academy of Engineering. Outside of the engineering community, few have heard of the Draper Prize. Maybe a Nobel Prize for engineering would receive more publicity, but unfortunately, none exists.
Mr. Florman concludes his article on a very optimistic note. While his 1950s hopes and aspirations for engineering have not been realized, he fervently believes that engineers have a strong commitment to humanity, benevolence and compassion. ASCE’s new relationship with Engineers Without Borders-USA is simply one example of how ASCE recognizes the importance of this ethic which engineers possess. He notes the Engineering Projects in Community Service, a program at Purdue University where teams of undergraduates design, build, and deploy real systems to solve engineering-based problems for local community service and education organizations. He ends by saying, “While I accept the universe…I also respect that impulse and human nature which seeks to improve the world. This impulse manifests itself in engineering.”
What do you think of Mr. Florman’s viewpoint? Do you share his optimism or not?