0 or 3 credits
Fall 2025 Lecture Distance Learning JEDIScienceUpper Division
This course provides students with opportunities to study how engineering is intertwined with larger economic, social, cultural, and technological dynamics in an era of intensified globalization. Its major goals are to help students understand and appreciate what engineering is, how engineers are trained, what engineers do, and how engineering and society interact. The course approaches these themes through discussion of: the relation and interaction of engineering, science, technology, and society; the historical origins and development of engineering as a profession; diversity issues in engineering and other STEM fields; engineering in cross-national/cultural contexts; and contemporary challenges related to globalization, ethics, and sustainability. In summary, the course is designed to help students understand what it means to identify as, and/or work with, engineers. Recitation sections and/or independent projects (at the instructor's discretion) provide further opportunities for students to expand their knowledge and improve their skills in relation to course themes.
Learning Outcomes1Describe and evaluate the specific kinds of knowledge and methods typically employed by engineers, including in comparison with other professional fields.
2Understand the historical development of engineering education and the engineering profession in the United States.
3Recognize how national differences are important in engineering work, including by comparing and contrasting different national cultures and styles of engineering.
4Explain the significance of diversity in engineering education and professional practice, including by evaluating competing perspectives on diversity in different historical and sociocultural contexts.
5Understand contemporary trends and issues related to globalization, ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability, and interpret their significance in relation to engineering education and practice.
6Demonstrate written communication capabilities at the level of emerging or higher (as defined by the Purdue Core Curriculum guidelines).
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