What skills will a future engineer need?

Published: May 17, 2023 • By Josh Rhoten

Researchers in the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience hosted a virtual workshop series in 2022 that included more than 100 participants from universities, foundations, government agencies and industry partners.听

On the agenda: What does the global engineer of the future look like? What skills and knowledge do they need to join the field in the next decade and beyond?听

The collaboration resulted in a that they hope will help align learning objectives and approaches in graduate programs. Here鈥檚 a glimpse at some of their takeaways:

New skills

Technical skills such as complex systems analysis and data-driven decision making will become increasingly important. For example, engineers will have to understand that poverty is not an initial stage of inevitable growth to be overcome by conventional technical solutions, but rather that reducing poverty requires accounting for its historical causes.

Non-engineering soft skills

Leadership skills, interpersonal communication abilities and demonstrating cross-cultural humility are vital for working across diverse stakeholder groups. Classroom settings can introduce these techniques and build the foundation for lifelong self-reflection and awareness.

Climate change, sustainability, and resilience

Global engineers need a transdisciplinary perspective to fully understand and address the ways the social, economic, political, cultural and environmental aspects of climate change directly impact global engineering priorities and approaches. Plus, they need confidence in discussing the trends and forces instigated by non-sustainable growth and development.

Public health awareness

With many projects motivated by public health needs, global engineers will need to be able to work easily with that field to develop sustainable, effective and practical solutions.

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