VOE As It Is

What Engineers Do, and How They Learn

Hello, and welcome to As It Is from VOA Learning English. Im Christopher Cruise in Washington. oda! on the program, we e"plore the comple" and important world of engineering ## how people use science to sol$e pro%lems or in$ent new things. &Well I %elie$e real engineers need to engineer things, need to en$ision what has ne$er %een, and to %uild things e$er! semester.' We sent VOA Learning English (eporter )aren Leggett out to li$e in the engineering world. O$er the past few months she inter$iewed officials at the *ational Academ! of +ciences, an engineer at the ,.+. -eological +ur$e!, engineering educators and an engineering professor in India, among others. +he learned how engineering students are %eing taught. .elie$e it or not, some of them are reading literature to help them learn how to %ecome %etter engineers. *ow, %ac/ from the world of engineering, here is )aren Leggett. The World of Engineering: Successes and hallenges hin/ a%out the great engineering successes of the 01th centur!. What would !ou include2 We could start with airplanes. How a%out radio and tele$ision %roadcasts or computers2 In 0113, the *ational Academ! of Engineering as/ed a group of scientists, engineers and technolog! e"perts to identif! the %iggest engineering challenges for the 04st centur!. his group identified 45 %ig challenges or issues. he! di$ided these issues into four su%6ect areas7 sustaina%ilit!, health, reducing threats and 6o! of li$ing. The !oy of Li"ing and Engineering 8o! of li$ing2 What does that ha$e to do with engineering2 (ic/ 9iller is :resident of the Olin College of Engineering. &Well not e$er!thing that we thin/ a%out going forward is a threat to the human race. +ome of it is a%out 6o! and impro$ing the ;ualit! of life. One of the things that is certainl! true in the ,.+. ## and I %elie$e its increasingl! true across the glo%e ## is the e"pectation that e$er! generation will ha$e a ;ualit! of life that e"ceeds that of their parents.'

9r. 9iller sa!s part of engineering toda! is a%out ma/ing life %etter. <or e"ample, engineers can help pro$ide clean water for more people. Or the! can impro$e medicines. Engineering can help us understand how the human %rain wor/s, and how e$er! person can learn %est. All these efforts are part of impro$ing the ;ualit! of life. In other words, the! help to increase the 6o! of li$ing. How Engineering Hel#s $a%e the World a &etter 'lace E"perts sa! engineering can help the world %ecome safer and more efficient in the 04st centur!. he! sa! engineers could design wa!s to pre$ent terrorists from using nuclear weapons. Or the! could stop computer hac/ers from stealing information on the Internet. Engineers can ma/e it easier to use energ! from the sun, or find new sources of energ!. (ic/ 9iller sa!s engineers ha$e to wor/ together to sol$e man! challenges. he issues are too large and comple" for an! one group of engineers ## or one countr! ## to sol$e alone. 9r. 9iller sa!s that when engineers from around the world cooperate, the! can sa$e the planet= .ut he sa!s %efore engineers can start sol$ing the worlds pro%lems the! need to learn how to thin/ creati$el!. His school ## <ran/lin W. Olin College ## was recentl! recogni>ed for de$eloping engineering leaders. &Creati$it! is important to what we do. We loo/ for students with multiple intelligences ## not 6ust math scores. Olin %elie$es that an engineer is a person who en$isions what has ne$er %een and does whate$er it ta/es to ma/e it happen.' How Students Learn to &eco(e Engineers Olin College is a small engineering school in the state of 9assachusetts. Its students learn through creati$e pro6ects. 9r. 9iller sa!s, for e"ample, a student might design an insect such as a grasshopper. In fi$e wee/s, students ha$e to create the design, %uild a model, and then compete to see whose &grasshopper' 6umps the highest. Olin College students also identif! people the! would li/e to help. +ome students ha$e in$ented wa!s to help older adults suffering from memor! loss. Others ha$e created designs to help ser$ers in coffee shops do their 6o%s %etter. 9r. 9iller sa!s he wants his engineering students to wor/ at %eing engineers ## 6ust li/e art students practice ma/ing art. &(eal musicians need to pla! music e$er! semester. And, in fact, its li/e o"!gen. Well, I %elie$e real engineers need to engineer things, need to en$ision what has ne$er %een and to %uild things e$er! semester.' Learning How to )se Engineering to I(#ro"e Li"es Olin College is not the onl! school that teaches students how to thin/ a%out engineering challenges. :enns!l$ania +tate ,ni$ersit! offers what it calls the Humanitarian Engineering +ocial Entrepreneurship program ## in other words, students use engineering to impro$e peoples li$es. In one pro6ect, students de$eloped and tested

low cost greenhouses in )en!a. -reenhouses are used for growing plants. enclosed areas gi$e farmers a longer growing season.

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Other college engineering programs are gi$ing students a chance to create products and launch %usinesses %efore the! finish their education. <or e"ample, engineering students at (ice ,ni$ersit! in e"as ha$e designed ?3 health care products. he uni$ersit! sa!s the products are now used to care for 5?,111 patients in 04 countries. High School Students Learn Engineering In *orth Carolina, classes at a new secondar! school are organi>ed around the grand challenges of the 04st centur!. (o% 9atheson is head of the + E9 Earl! College High +chool. + E9 stands for the words +cience, echnolog!, Engineering and 9ath.

+ E9 Earl! College High +chool &And what struc/ me as a science educator is that the challenges reall! cut across all of the %asic sciences that we teach ## earth science, life and chemical. he answers to these %ig ;uestions ## li/e access to clean water ## is in the humanities.' *eading Literature to &eco(e &etter Engineers (o% 9athesons students not onl! ta/e engineering classes@ the! also stud! literature and histor!. He sa!s students might read %oo/s li/e & he .o! Who Harnessed the Wind,' %! William )am/wam%a. his %oo/ tells the true stor! of a %o! in 9alawi who %uilt a windmill to %ring electricit! to his $illage. Another assigned reading might %e &Lord of the <lies,' %! William -olding. he %oo/ tells a%out a group of %o!s alone on an island. & he! read ALord of the <lies and then the pro6ect is, !ou /now, AImagine that !ou were, !ou crash#landed on this island and how are !ou going to sustain !ourself2 How are !ou going to pro$ide the energ! that !ou need2' 9r. 9atheson %elie$es students should learn earl! in their education to ma/e connections %etween science and people. & he ;uestion nowada!s is what are !ou doing with !our chemistr! /nowledge2 What processes or product are !ou producing that is %enefitting man/ind as opposed to 6ust, AI, I /now m! chemistr!.' And thats our program for toda!. It was reported, and written in +pecial English, %! )aren Leggett. E$er! da! on As It Is, we report on issues that we %elie$e are of interest to !ou as we

help !ou learn e$er!da! American English. We present a new As It Is e$er! da! at 11B1 ,ni$ersal ime, with man! re%roadcasts throughout the da!. han/ !ou for spending some of !our time with us toda!. Im Christopher Cruise reporting from VOA Learning English head;uarters in Washington. 8une +imms will %e here tomorrow with another edition of As It Is. I hope !oull 6oin her then, here on he Voice of America.