Reimagining Engineering Education

This book considers a radical change to engineering education. It argues for a reexamination of the traditional way in which engineering students are educated in disciplinary silos and how, instead, we might re-imagine their professional education to more appropriately prepare students to design innovative solutions to increasingly complex global challenges. It poses the question: “How can engineers think outside the engineers’ box?". A box that has over generations rendered engineers to be unquestioning servants of the socio-political systems in which they function.

The book introduces a unique framework and language for engineering education which considers both the problems of the past and present, and the potential solutions offered for the future. By reaching out beyond the bounds of traditional knowledge and thought collectives, this book will also offer a pathway for other professional education programs to explore.

Caroline Baillie is Professor in Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego, and co-founding director of MESH (MS in Engineering, Sustainability and Health (with Paul Kadetz). She is also co-founding director of the not-for-profit ‘Waste for Life’ (wasteforlife.org), which supports vulnerable communities in the development of upcycled, waste-based businesses.

Paul I. Kadetz is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Institute for Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University, UK and a Professor of Practice in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at University of San Diego. He is the co-founding director of the Master's degree program in Engineering, Sustainability and Health (MESH) with Caroline Baillie. His research and scholarship works across the areas of global health, critical medical anthropology, and international development. He has designed and directed programs in global health in the Netherlands, China, the UK, and the United States. In addition to  over 100 book chapters, peer reviewed journal and conference papers, his publications include The Handbook of Welfare in China (Elgar, 2017); Creating Katrina, Rebuilding Resilience (Elsevier, 2018); and the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Health Humanities (Springer, 2024).