The skinny nerd with glasses and a pocket protector -- that is exactly the picture that pops into many people's minds when they think of an engineer. Yet, it is often far from the truth. In a country where engineering is often characterized as the field for math and science nerds, engineering students and professors frequently find themselves fighting against a false image and struggling to show others the reasons they love the field so much.
Among these engineers is Prof. Dana Elzey, who teaches various engineering courses ranging from Introduction to Engineering and Synthesis and Design I to Senior Level Engineering Design Capstone courses and Engineering in Context courses.
Elzey attributes his entry into the field of engineering to his love for learning and his innate interest in how things work (and why they fail to work). However, Elzey hadn't initially planned to continue his education.
"After high school, I had no intention of going to college," Elzey said. "I joined the army -- I just wanted to get away and experience something. But after the military, I had time to look ahead."
It is at this time in his life that a fateful trip to the library opened his eyes to subjects he had not explored previously.
"I had wandered into a part of the library unfamiliar to me, the math and science section," Elzey said. "I looked at the books and knew I could pick any one of them up and not know what it was talking about. I knew virtually nothing [about these two subjects]. If it had been history, philosophy, geography, literature -- there was a fairly reasonable chance I could pull out a book and have an idea of what it was. I had an image of a Renaissance person --liberally educated -- and I was missing that."
His desire to avoid missing out on a broad education led Elzey not only to study engineering but ultimately become a professor of the subject. As an engineer, Elzey is well aware of the stereotypes that plague the field.
"Engineering is not popular," Elzey said. "You see TV shows like 'ER' and 'Law & Order' -- the impact of those fields on society is showcased."
But, Elzey added, this is not so for engineering. He cited the exaggerated emphasis on math and science capability in high school as one of the reasons engineering is not as popular a field as many others.
"We unwisely discourage many that would be quite capable of engineering," Elzey said. "I don't want to underplay the importance of math and science, but if you had to put a percentage on how important it is to be a math and science thinker, I'd say about 10 percent."
Another issue Elzey said should be addressed in high school is the distinction between science and engineering. He quoted Theodore Von Karman, who once said, "Scientists discover that which exists; engineers create that which never was." Elzey strives to present a clear picture of this distinction. And despite his love for science, Elzey said engineering is his true passion.
"I recently discovered what really drives me -- what gets me up in the morning -- is the creative process that is engineering," Elzey said. "Discovery is a great feeling, but creating new things."
This love for engineering has prompted Elzey to teach his students to the best of his ability. In the process, he has taken a close look at the engineering curriculum and emphasizes the aspects of an engineering education he considers most important. He specifically highlighted the benefits of case studies.
When performing such a study, "it's immersing you in real problems -- letting you struggle with things you don't have all the tools for," Elzey said. "Some say it's unfair. I argue that it's real. You will have to effectively deal with the unknown in the real world. You should be able to jump in, organize, pull the right clues together and marshal your math and science knowledge to solve the problem."
Elzey also said he believes it is crucial to have interdisciplinary collaboration within the different engineering fields.
"Almost every engineering department has its own Capstone Design Project," Elzey said. "There's something odd to me about putting systems engineers with other systems engineers to solve your problem. That's missing the opportunity -- systems engineering is really powerful when you mix it with other disciplines. And the Engineering in Context courses are designed to help us deal with this."
Elzey said, however, efforts should not stop with collaboration between the various engineering disciplines. He sees a need for cooperation and exchange between engineering fields and humanities fields as well.
"I think that this one indisputable fact that we live in an increasingly technological society means that engineers will no longer have the luxury of having a myopic focus on analytical and problem-solving skills," he said.
Yet, Elzey said, there is something even more important and universal than collaboration between these fields. And that is a desire to learn.
"If I aspire to teach any student anything, it's the love of learning," he said. "Everything else stems from that."
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