0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

Electrical

Mechanical

50%60%70%80%90%

100%110%

EE MenME Men

6%8%

10%12%14%16%18%

EE WomenME Women

Electrical Engineering Graduates over Last Decade

Data from Science & Engineering Indicators, 2012

Good News and Bad News

• Anecdotally the decline has reversed.• Nobody I have talked to has any solid evidence of why the decline occurred.• Do not yet know why decline of women is more severe.

My (pessimistic) hypothesis:This is the rise in what will be a double-dip recession.

Tentative Rationale: Seeing increase due to poor economy but the root causes of the decline in electrical engineering enrollment remains.

• Are women a leading indicator of “lack of appeal” of the discipline?• The US share of global market in industries affiliated more with electrical than

other engineering disciplines is declining.

No Answers, Only Questions:

50%55%60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%

100%

PharmaceuticalsAircraft & SpacecraftPrecision Equipment

50%55%60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%

100%

SemiconductorsCommunicationsComputers

Other Engineering Industries

Electrical Engineering Industries

Data from Science & Engineering Indicators, 2012

Good News and Bad News

Anecdotally the decline has reversed.Nobody I have talked to has any solid evidence of why the decline occurred.Do not yet know why decline of women is more severe.

My (pessimistic) hypothesis:This is the rise in what will be a double-dip recession.

Tentative Rationale: Seeing increase due to poor economy but the causes of the decline in electrical engineering enrollment remains.

No Answers, Only Questions:• Are women a leading indicator of “lack of appeal” of the discipline?• The US share of global market in industries affiliated more with electrical than

other engineering disciplines is declining.• Is lack of appeal due to student’s perception of future jobs or other factors?• Is lower electrical engineering enrollment due to prevalence of more emergent

concepts?• What is up with “mechatronics”, didn’t this used to be electrical engineering?• Is the discipline becoming less relevant or do we simply need to “re-message”

electrical engineering ?

Relatively Little Work on this Issue?No more than 1-3 NSF-funded workshops on educating future electrical engineers from 1998 to present (out of over 450 funded workshops by ECCS Division).

The Future of Electrical Engineering Forum: December 2009*• Jan Rabaey, UC Berkeley:

• Rename ourselves from “electrical engineers” to “IT engineers”• Eliminate the EE-CS division• Integrate “Three Pillars”: components, platforms, services• Reduce barriers with other disciplines

• Heinrich Meyr• SWOT analysis of electrical engineering• Focus on large, complex systems

• Lothar Thiel• Close the gap between energy and information technology.• Strengthen disciplinary education in fundamental subjects .• Educate students to cooperate with other areas of science and engineering.

"Vision without action is a daydream.

Action without vision is a nightmare."

                         - Japanese Proverb

* http://si.epfl.ch/page-47800-en.html

Engineering in the workforce compared to science, technology, and mathematics; ignoring computer-related jobs that cut across STEM1.

Engineering Education: Policy Perspective

1: A. P. Carnevale, N. Smith, and M. Melton, "STEM," Center on Education and the Workforce, 2011.

Degrees granted in STEM; ignoring social sciences, psychology, and computer sciences to be consistent with above2.

2: National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2012

Engineering Education: Policy Perspective

Federal Inventory of STEM Education Fast-Track Action Committee, "The Federal Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Portfolio," National Science and Technology Council, 2011.

“Equitable Case” “Inequitable Case”

http://seekingalpha.com/article/144835-college-tuition-explaining-the-increaseshttp://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/03/02/business/the-burden-of-budget-cuts.html

3.6× higher than general inflation

160%

140%

120%

100%

80%

60%

Engineering

Visual and performing artsPhysical sciences

Computer and information sciences

Health professions and relatedBiological and biomedical science

Foreign languages, literatures, linguisticsEnglish language, literature/lettersEducation

Family and consumer/human sciences

Security and protective services

Is Engineering Education Worth It? (Bill Mahrer this last Saturday)

Is College Worth It? Pew Research Center Report, 2011

Is Engineering Education Worth It?

Characterization is drawn from three perspectives:Practitioner: engineering faculty member for 14 yearsResearcher: lead PI on Engineering Students for the 21st Century Policy Maker: Manage engineering education research program at NSF

1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

2000

From Practical to Science-Based Curricula

Grinte

r Report

Integration of Design

Harve

y Mudd D

esign Clin

icOutcomes-Based Curricula (ABET)

EC-2000

Timeline:A Century of Change in Engineering Education*

*Froyd, Wankat, and Smith, Five Major Shifts in 100 Years of Engineering Education, in preparation

Where is engineering education?1880

Committee of Ten, Committee of Fifteen, Committee on College Entrance Requirements

The Science of Learning has provided useful tools

Active, engaged, and situated pedagogies increase learning and

conceptual understanding1.

People generally learn better in groups that

cooperate2.

Novices and experts have different schemas; simply copying experts

doesn’t help learning3.

Motivation strongly affects learning; intrinsic more

important than extrinsic4.

Learning has hysteresis, i.e. prior knowledge and

experience affects learning5.

One methodology doesn’t work: align pedagogies to desired

learning outcomes6.