Engineering Marvels in the Next 25 Years

In the next 25 years the world will: develop a cure for cancer, reach out and start to colonize other planetary worlds, discover new nanomaterials that will forever change our understanding of physics, start to control and hopefully reverse the ravages of global warming and climate change, develop quantum machines to interface with human biological processes, provide the world with limitless and clean energy, be able to see further back into the past than ever imagined, and we will begin to understand the origins of everything.

Solving Tomorrow’s Challenges

Engineering design is the execution of applied physics for the development of technical solutions for challenges facing the survival of mankind, and the technical communication of those solutions. The challenge for academic leaders is that we are faced with the unnerving reality that we teach concepts and present materials that have not changed for 100+ years. We are challenged, however, to solve problems that we cannot imagine today, and to prepare students to develop and to use tools based upon concepts that have not been conceived.

Developing the Mindset of an Engineer

We live in a daunting academic environment, and the only solution is to focus on student development that embraces discovery and inquiry. We must develop a mindset that rejects being told all the answers and to alternatively develop a mindset that expects to be challenged and to understand that it’s “ok” to not know all the answers. The most important skill that we can impart to students is to develop an understanding of the Process and Roadmap to find and to understand answers to unknown problems and questions, that we can only dream about today. It will be these students and these institutions that will contribute to the long-term universal expansion and survival of humankind.

Instilling a Problem-Solving Mentality

Often there are discussions regarding the development of independent thinkers and how to achieve the development of the independent mindset. This is never achieved by providing all the questions and all the answers, all the time! Researchers expect that at the beginning of any research endeavor, no one will know all the problems nor have all the answers. The hallmark of the independent mind is a problem-solving mentality, focused on the necessity to self-learn, and combined with an ability to interpolate and extrapolate data to form conclusions with the fortitude to be unafraid to seek validation from multiple independent sources. 

Providing the Next Generation of Independent Thinkers

Academic institutions at all levels have a formidable task for the 21st Century to transform student learners from an environment where “likes” and “dislikes” are seen as more important than learning and demonstrated knowledge.  Institutions that are successful will provide the next generation of independent thinkers that will face significant challenges in the next 20 years, considering the massive rate of technological advancement. 

Dr. Berry’s response: Parametric Thought

The focus of Dr. Berry in response to these challenges is to help student engineers transcend from an environment of simply “getting an answer” yet without a regard for the process or result confirmation, to an environment where Parametric Thought allows the formulation of mental solution pathways before putting pen-to-paper while ensuring solution validity and technical structure.

Dr. Berry has also been the recipient of the Kettering University Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award, and the Dean Charles L. Tutt Jr. Award for Innovation in Teaching.