April 21, 2008 University of Central Florida Evolving Models for Engineering Education Paul Penfield, Jr. Professor of Electrical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts Abstract: It has been over a hundred years since the first electrical engineers graduated from our nation's universities. During that time our technologies, the sciences they depend on, the context in which our graduates pursue their careers, and even what they do after graduation -- all these have changed dramatically. A convenient way to understand these changes is to look at the roles that engineers have played over the years, and the educational models that have supported these roles. The first electrical engineers had lifetime careers practicing engineering. Later, some engineers went into research. Recently, electrical engineering practice has demanded more technical breadth and depth than is attainable in four years. And some of our graduates are going into other professions such as law or medicine. Today there is another posssible role. Society badly needs leaders who understand science, technology, and engineering. Engineers are not now educated for this new societal role. A different model for engineering education is needed. Those universities that can prepare engineering students to be society's future leaders will be doing nothing less than completing the definition of what it means to be an engineer in today's world.