“A revolution is coming. It isn’t what you think.” This is the call of the book A Whole New Engineer, co-authored by former ISE professor David E. Goldberg and Mark Somerville, whose vision of an engineering revolution emphasizes emotion and student involvement as the driving forces to real change.
Released on October 1, the book brings together the storylines of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education (iFoundry) at the University of Illinois. Both were small institutions that had visions of changing engineering education. Together, they discovered how emotion, culture, and trust play a large part in changing engineering’s future. They provide a strong example for engineering education reform.
iFoundry was co-founded by Goldberg and Dean of the College of Engineering Andreas Cangellaris (at the time, a professor in electrical and computer engineering). The organization seeks to enhance the experiences of College of Engineering students and better prepare them for the future. iFoundry creates pilot programs that have become incorporated into curriculum, including the Illinois Engineering First-Year Experience, the iFoundry Innovation Certificate and much more.
ISE Professor Ray Price, iFoundry Co-Director, said that A Whole New Engineer lays out a set of principles that reflect what iFoundry works towards, specifically the “five pillars of engineering educational transformation:” joy, trust, courage, openness, and connectedness. “We’re excited to have the story of iFoundry told,” Price said.
Goldberg is currently the president of Big Beacon, a nonprofit organization working to transform engineering education. Somerville is a professor of electrical engineering and physics at Olin College. He began working with Goldberg during the Olin-Illinois Partnership and together they went on to co-found Big Beacon. A Whole New Engineer is a product of their collaborations and reflects their goals to change the world of engineering.