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OCR for page R1
Engineering in Society
Panel on Engineering Interactions With Society
Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer
Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems
National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1985
OCR for page R2
Page ii
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS • 2101 Constitution Ave., NW
• Washington, DC 20418
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was
approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council,
whose members are drawn from the Councils of the National Academy
of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute
of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the
project were chosen for their special competences and with regard
to appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors
according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee
consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the
National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was established by the National
Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of
science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering
knowledge and advising the federal government. The Council operates
in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under
the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which
established the Academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing
membership corporation. The Council has become the principal
operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the
National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to
the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering
communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the
Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the
Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970,
respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Support for this work has been provided by the National Science
Foundation, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of the
Army, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Navy, and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Additionally,
assistance has been provided through grants from the Eastman Kodak
Company, Exxon Corporation, the General Electric Company, the IBM
Corporation, the Lockheed Corporation, the Monsanto Company, and
the Sloan Foundation.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-61980
International Standard Book Number 0-309-03592-9
Printed in the United States of America
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Page iii
Preface
This report of the Panel on Engineering Interactions With
Society was prepared by the panel as input for the deliberations of
the Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer. It
served as a resource document on the societal, cultural, and
historical aspects of engineering for the summary report1 of the Committee. The panel thanks Mr.
Courtland S. Lewis, who acted as rapporteur.
The appendix to this report is "Engineering in an Increasingly
Complex Society," which is based on the proceedings of a conference
held in July 1983 to examine "issues, challenges, and responses in
the history of professional engineering and engineering education."
Dr. Arthur L. Donovan acted as conference moderator and rapporteur,
and the panel appreciates his efforts in thus helping to provide
some of the intellectual foundation for its work.
The panel would also like to thank Dr. Stephen H. Cutcliffe, of
Lehigh University, who generously provided a reading list along
with a number of key reference works as additional background for
the historical sections of the report.
Finally, as chairman of the panel I would like to express my
personal appreciation to each of its members for their enthusiastic
dedication to the project, which led, I believe, to an interesting
and unusual description of the engineering profession and its role
in our society.
GEORGE S. ANSELL
CHAIRMAN
1
Engineering Education and Practice in the United States:
Foundations of Our Techno-Economic Future, National Academy
Press, Washington, D.C., 1985.
Page iv
Panel on Engineering Interactions
With Society
GEORGE S. ANSELL, Chairman, Dean of
Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (now President,
Colorado School of Mines)
THOMAS P. CARROLL, Professor,
Science and Technology Studies Division, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute
SAMUEL FLORMAN, Vice-President,
Kreisler, Borg, Florman Construction Company
AARON J. GELLMAN, President,
Gellman Research Associates, Inc.
MELVIN KRANZBERG, Callaway
Professor of the History of Technology, School of Social Studies,
Georgia Institute of Technology
LAWRENCE M. MEAD, JR., Senior
Management Consultant, Grumman Aerospace Corporation
M. EUGENE MERCHANT, Principal
Scientist, Manufacturing Research, Milacron, Inc. (now at Metcut
Research Associates, Inc.)
Consultants
ARTHUR L. DONOVAN, Professor and
Director, Center for the Study of Science and Society, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University
COURTLAND S. LEWIS, Washington,
D.C.
Page v
Committee on the Education and
Utilization of the Engineer
JERRIER A. HADDAD, Chairman (IBM,
Ret.)
GEORGE S. ANSELL, Dean of
Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (now President,
Colorado School of Mines)
JORDAN J. BARUCH, President, Jordan
J. Baruch Associates
ERICH BLOCH, Vice President, IBM
Corporation (now Director, National Science Foundation)
DENNIS CHAMOT, Associate Director,
Department for Professional Employees, AFL/CIO
EDMUND T. CRANCH, President,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
DANIEL C. DRUCKER, Dean of
Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana (now at University of
Florida at Gainesville)
FRED W. GARRY, Vice-President,
Corporate Engineering and Manufacturing, General Electric
Company
JOHN W. GEILS, Director of
AAES/ASEE Faculty Shortage Project (AT&T, Ret.)
AARON J. GELLMAN, President,
Gellman Research Associates, Inc.
HELEN GOULDNER, Dean, College of
Arts and Sciences, Professor of Sociology, University of
Delaware
JOHN D. KEMPER, Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at
Davis
EDWARD T. KIRKPATRICK, President,
Wentworth Institute of Technology
ERNEST S. KUH, Professor of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of
California at Berkeley
Page vi
W. EDWARD LEAR, Executive Director,
American Society for Engineering Education
LAWRENCE M. MEAD, JR., Senior
Management Consultant (Senior Vice-President, Ret.), Grumman
Aerospace Corporation
M. EUGENE MERCHANT, Principal
Scientist, Manufacturing Research, Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. (now
at Metcut Research Associates, Inc.)
RICHARD J. REDPATH, Vice-President,
Ralston Purina Company
FRANCIS E. REESE, Senior
Vice-President, Monsanto (now retired)
ROBERT M. SAUNDERS, Professor,
Electrical Engineering, University of California at Irvine
(Chairman, Board of Governors, AAES, 1983)
CHARLES E. SCHAFFNER, Executive
Vice-President, Syska & Hennessy
JUDITH A. SCHWAN, Assistant
Director, Research Labs, Eastman Kodak Company
HAROLD T. SHAPIRO, President,
University of Michigan
MORRIS A. STEINBERG,
Vice-President, Science, Lockheed Corporation
DONALD G. WEINERT, Executive
Director, National Society of Professional Engineers
SHEILA E. WIDNALL, Professor of
Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Staff
WILLIAM H. MICHAEL, JR., Executive
Director
VERNON H. MILES, Staff Officer
AMY JANIK, Administrative
Assistant
COURTLAND S. LEWIS, Consultant
Government Liaison
LEWIS G. MAYFIELD, Head, Office of
Interdisciplinary Research, National Science Foundation
Page vii
Definitions Adopted by the Committee
on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer
Engineer
A person having at least one of the following
qualifications:
a. College/university B.S. or advanced degree in an accredited
engineering program.
b. Membership in a recognized engineering society at a
professional level.
c. Registered or licensed as an engineer by a governmental
agency.
d. Current or recent employment in a job classification
requiring engineering work at a professional level.
Engineering
Business, government, academic, or individual efforts in which
knowledge of mathematical and/or natural1 sciences is employed in research,
development, design, manufacturing, systems engineering, or
technical operations with the objective of creating and/or
delivering systems, products, processes and/or services of a
technical nature and content intended for use.
1Including
physical sciences.
Page ix
Contents
Executive Summary
1
1. Introduction
11
Engineers and Engineering in the
Cultural Context
12
Calculating the Vector of Change:
Where Do We Go From Here?
15
2. Evolution of American Engineering
17
Development of the Structure
17
Early Structural Characteristics of
Engineering
29
3. The Present Era: Managing Change in the
Information Age
35
Postwar Changes in Scope
35
Impacts on Engineering
40
4. Engineering and Social Dynamics
53
Fluctuating Supply and Demand
53
Adaptability in the Educational
System
57
The Impact of Technological Change on
Employment
59
Society's Responsibility to the
Engineering Profession
63
Page x
5. Maintaining Flexibility in an Age of
Stress and Rapid Change
65
How Well Is the System Working?
66
Can the System Function Under
Projected Future Conditions?
68
Where Are the Greatest Stresses
Appearing in the System?
70
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
72
References
76
Bibliography
77
Appendix: Engineering in an Increasingly
Complex Society
Arthur L. Donovan
81
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