Conversation with Dean Wei

We recently had a chance to talk with Dean Belle Wei about several current trends, topics, and issues that affect the direction of education at the Davidson College of Engineering above and beyond the core engineering curriculum.

Here are Dean Wei’s thoughts on the following topics:

  1. The role diversity and our respect for it in our future careers
  2. The prototype for the 21st-century engineer
  3. Green engineering’s role at the Davidson College of Engineering
  4. Why the college has a business minor
  5. The Global Technology Initiative – how it adds to our education

Topic 1: Respect & Diversity

Q1: I’ve heard you mention, several times, that respect and diversity are key factors of our education. How so?

A1: Learning engineering theory and sharpening your engineering knowledge are essential to your success as engineers in the future. But in my mind, learning how to work with engineers from around the world will be just as crucial to your success. That means learning how to respect, learn from, and indeed appreciate the differences that make up the world and the communities you work in.

Q2: What’s the benefit of this to our education?

A2: Diversity enriches our learning environment. The different people you interact with – now and later – can be agents for your own learning, beyond the technical capabilities you are developing here.

I see educating the whole person as the college’s mission, so that along with your technical capabilities, you see your work in a broader context, i.e., how your work affects the world. That’s why I encourage students to include coursework in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts.

There’s a term I use to describe this broader, more global education: holistic education.

Q3: But we live in the U.S., and most of us will work in the U.S. Why would we have to learn about these other cultures?

A3: In my view, all of us exist in at least several communities. Each and every community has a diverse “population,” if you will. Take a look at your family. You may have two or more, even five, generations at home. You have people of different genders, maybe of different sexual orientations and perhaps different ethnicities.

The same occurs here at the Davidson College of Engineering, but to a much greater degree. As you go out into the world, you’ll encounter larger and more diverse communities composed of many different people of different backgrounds, cultures and ways of thinking, feeling, reacting to situations and communicating. And just as you have to at home, you’ll have to get along with them to work with them. And as we all know, engineering teams are increasingly global in nature. You will have to learn how to work with people from other cultures to be effective at your jobs.

Q4: So how are we supposed to learn about and appreciate diversity? After all, there’s no course in the college called Respect and Diversity 101.

A4: Each of us has to respect those differences and commit to finding ways to bridge the cultural, ethnic, generational (as well as others) chasm. Most of the time, we passively accept differences in other people. We might say, “yeah, they’re like X and I’m like Y.”

We can take it a step further. We each can say, “wow, that point of view is intriguing! Now I understand where he or she is coming from.” Or, “It’s amazing how engineers in developing countries work under harsh conditions (whatever those conditions might be). Now that I know that I’ll keep it in mind when I collaborate with him or her on this design project. Just like I already account for the 14-hour time difference.”

For example, on the GTI 2008 trip to India, Melissa Bautista noticed pollution challenges in the cities we visited but also was impressed by Bangalore’s alternative energy infrastructure – more “prevalent alternative energy installed than any city [she’s] seen in the U.S.” She came to India with an open mind and learned that even cities in developing countries can leapfrog U.S. cities in technological development. She showed a lot of respect for a country that she’s only heard or read about before. As a result, she learned a lot about what that culture can do. And those that she talked to about her GTI trip learned much about the global engineering world that we’re all part of today.

Topic 2: The T-model engineer of the 21st century

Q1: You seem to be talking about a whole new type of engineer. Can you tell me more about that?

A1: My vision of the engineer of the future is that he or she has not only strong technical knowledge and skills, but also the broad education to understand the context of how engineering impacts our society. I like to call this prototype the “T-model engineer.”

This “T-model” engineer users his or her capabilities to improve the quality of life of the people living in his or her community and beyond. I believe that technology is a means to an end which is humanistic in nature. In my mind, the T-model engineer lives in and is an active and integral member of the community and contributes to its improvement.

Q2: T-model? What does that mean?

A2: I see the T-model as a graphic depiction of the intersection of depth within the engineering discipline coupled with a multi-disciplinary understanding of the world we live in.

Q3: How is that different from before?

A3: Previously, we viewed the engineer working in solitude in his or her cubicle. In truth, that engineer never existed, but that’s what we strove to develop: an engineer steeped in all facets of the specific engineering discipline – but someone who didn’t need to interact in the world.

Nowadays, engineers must work in interdisciplinary, multicultural teams. They also have to work with customers directly, know how to see the engineering problem from the customer’s perspective, understand the broader context of the customer’s problem, of the customer’s world.

So I’m looking at training our students to become citizens of the world as much as we continue to develop engineers who can immediately contribute to his or her employer’s project.

Topic 3: Green engineering

Q1: What is the college doing about becoming a part of the green movement that students and faculty are passionate about?

A1: Well, first, let me tell you what we’ve already done. We‘re in the process of developing a green engineering minor. So we’re already “in” at the nascent stage of the green engineering/clean tech R&D movement. Having said that, I see green engineering as a multi-disciplinary program that requires a multi-pronged approach to teach and learn. There can’t only and solely be an engineering solution or a business answer.

Q2: Why do you feel that green engineering is important?

A2: Clearly, green engineering is a crucial global issue that’s sparked worldwide efforts. It’s truly a new state of mind that’s captured the attention of politicians, engineers, scientists, citizens, and business people all over the world. Out of a significant fundamental global challenge, there’s a lot that we as students and teachers can do to contribute to a range of solutions.

Climate change compels us to think differently. We now have to think about how we use and harness energy sources without jeopardizing the living environment of our children and future generations beyond them.

Q3: What’s the solution to the global warming crisis and how do we play a part?

A3: Comprehensive action ranges from energy efficiency, renewable energy development to a focused public policy and the development of an ethical consumerism among all people all over the world. But to play a part in cleaning up and renewing our energy resources for the future, long after we’re all gone, calls for multi-disciplinary efforts. That’s where the college plays its – and you play your – role: developing and participating in a multi-disciplinary effort so that you all think in new, creative, out-of-the-box ways about green engineering.

Topic 4: Business Minor

Q1: Why do we have a business minor in the Davidson College of Engineering?

A1: Well, quite simply, because of feedback from the industry that hires engineers. Since the college provides more engineers to Silicon Valley firms than any other school, we stay in close touch with Silicon Valley to make sure we’re producing engineers that Silicon Valley (as well as other high-tech centers) will want and find productive immediately.

Q2: What did you hear from these companies?

A2: That engineers surely need technical skills. But they also need to understand how their work in the company is linked to generating profit for that company. Nowadays, many engineers must work directly with customers and understand the customer company’s needs. This is quite different from our perception of what an engineer’s job used to be. He – and she – is no longer working in isolation.

Q3: How has the college responded to this feedback?

A3: We started a business minor program in 2006, in collaboration with SJSU College of Business. Its core curriculum of four courses is customized for aspiring technical professionals who will work with technology companies.

Topic 5: Global Technology Initiative (GTI)

Q1: What is the Global Technology Initiative’s role in my engineering education?

A1: I see my and the faculty’s primary job as training students to be leaders in engineering. We see the GTI student fellows as delegates for the entire Davidson College of Engineering community. What they learn on GTI trips is what they’ll bring back to their fellow students at the college in a variety of formal and informal dissemination activities. And in that vein GTI is an essential tool for our students to gain knowledge of the interdependence between the U.S. and Asia.

Q2: Why is learning about some far-off country important?

A2: There’s an interdependence between the roles India and China will play in the global engineering community and how their roles will impact your study, your life, above and beyond the development of your technical capabilities.

We want to produce big thinkers who see the effect of their work on the world. We’re veering away from training students to be technical-only focused engineers. I have to admit that when I was in school, we were trained to become that stereotypical engineering specialist. We had no concept of, nor did we want to know, how our engineering work affected business issues. That won’t work in the 21st century.

Belal Abadalrahman, who participated in the GTI 2006 trip, noted that he learned “real-life lessons we cannot learn in school. This trip was an eye opener, showing us how fast the Chinese economy is growing and how it will affect the U.S. economy."

Q3: What is the object lesson here?

A3: Embrace the big issues and you’ll thrive as an engineer in the 21st century. Understand how you interact in a diverse global industry and you’ll be invaluable to your employer, to your society and community, to the world. Learn from other people, other communities and you’ll learn how to collaborate and compete globally. Each student, indeed, each of us as people, have to connect to others in the new global community. India and China will impact us all, as they deal with energy issues, as they develop their high-tech industries. Let’s ask ourselves, “what can we learn from them?”

Q4: How does visiting India contribute to my developing this bigger view?

A4: The GTI 2008 students witnessed three centuries of co-existence among a widely diverse population in India. And somehow, it’s worked for 4500 years. We saw old traditions with new; the rich and poor; traditional and innovative ways of thinking. There’s a rich cultural heritage to observe and reflect on. How does this widely diverse nation work? How does India combine its 4500-year history with its evolution into a vibrant high-tech powerhouse? Clearly, there’s a work ethic and reverence for education, a drive to improve one’s self – therefore one’s family – and place in society, a trait we might want to emulate here in the U.S.

Q5: How did GTI get started?

A5: We kicked off GTI in 2004. We were still in the midst of the post-dot.com bust, when we saw many jobs outsourced to India and China. Of course, those outsourcing decisions were business related. For maybe the first time, people in Silicon Valley saw that technical proficiency wasn’t enough to compete any longer. We had to learn how to work with others from different cultures and values. And we found that our young people were ill-prepared to work in a new world of globalization. But that they had to become exposed to, educated in this new reality. The best way to do this? See that new world with their own eyes.

Jonathan Hunt, who participated in GTI 2004, said, “Being allowed to meet and speak with innovating leaders of successful overseas companies enlightened me to the influence these global players have on the American economy and the future of technology. Experiencing the culture and history of a country foreign to me made me appreciate the differences of other cultures and made me question how I can learn from this new source of inspiration.”

If we can convey this perspective to the entire college’s student body, then GTI will have succeeded beyond our expectations.