Engineers must also acquire non-technical skills to prevent catastrophic failures: Opinion

In a recent article for eCampusNews, Kevin Craig argues that engineering education must evolve to meet the needs of today’s system complexity. Craig argues that even engineers with multidisciplinary engineering breadth are not currently equipped to manage system complexity and related, unique challenges. In order to prevent catastrophic failures, Craig writes that engineers should be trained with a balance between theory and practice and a skillset that includes both technological knowledge and non-technical breadth. Craig recommends that engineering students be trained as T2 engineers who have both the engineering and non-technical breadth necessary to address multidisciplinary problems.