Speaker: Jennifer Stroud Rossman | Mechanical Engineering | Lafayette College
A liberal education introduces a wide range of methods of inquiry: “ways of knowing” the human condition and the world. The methods, values, and history of engineering provide another prism in the kaleidoscopic 21st century liberal education. One engineering method that transcends the practice of engineering is design. Engineering design is an iterative process in which empathy guides the definition and refinement of a “problem,” possible solutions are developed and evaluated, and prototypes are constructed and tested, with continuous interaction with various stakeholders. Engineering design’s use of collaborative work as an approach, a “way of knowing” through which people with different strengths combine forces to generate solutions not limited to a single lens or perspective, is both a hallmark of liberal education and a transferrable skill that would benefit students from all fields of study. Engineering departments and Colleges can also help graduates of their larger institutions become better technological citizens. Being a good technological citizen means appreciating how technology is developed and distributed; it means asking questions, and understanding where things came from and the processes which led to the current status quo. Even if distribution requirements in engineering do not exist on a campus, it is useful to consider how one might fulfill such a requirement: making engineering methods accessible and relevant to students of all majors becomes a primary goal. I will discuss several examples of this at Lafayette College. In several courses and programs, we endeavor to help non-engineering students gain literacy in engineering methods of inquiry and “ways of knowing,” and to learn “Engineering as a Second Language.”