Engineering Change Lab-USA (ECL-USA) is a catalyst for change within the engineering community, helping it reach its highest potential on behalf of society
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“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Aldo Leopold

How will the engineering community adapt to the rapidly changing world of water management? Are we content to keep responding incrementally or will we rise to the challenge of fundamentally rethinking how we engage with water? How can a new water ethic be part of a national movement driven by local solutions? Those were the questions posed by Dave White of Arizona State University and Sarah Robinson of the U.S. Water Alliance as they kicked off the April 8 virtual preview portion of Engineering Change Lab – USA’s (ECL) Envisioning a New Water Ethic for the Engineering Community Summit.

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In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, that barred colleges and universities from using race as a factor in admissions decisions. This decision represented a clear signal of change with respect to Diversity / Equity / Inclusion (DEI) programs in public and private organizations across the United States. Since that decision other signals of change confirming the pushback against DEI have emerged. These include actions by multiple state legislatures that ban DEI programs at state universities and legal challenges to corporate and non-profit DEI programs. This emerging trend, which was one of the focal points at our 2024 Engineering Change Lab – USA (ECL) Engineering Ideas Institute, brings significant implications for the engineering community workforce…. Read More

Mike McMeekin & Kyle Davy

In his new book, Wicked Problems, Guru Madhavan of the National Academy of Engineering tells the story of Ed Link, the inventor of the flight trainer for pilots which transformed the aviation industry in the early 20th century by addressing the educational, workforce, and cultural challenges that accompanied the rapid development of aviation technologies. Link’s technological expertise and systems approach addressed a significant challenge of his time. In the 21^st century, we face an even more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. The 2024 Engineering Change Lab – USA (ECL) Engineering Ideas Institute featured a deep dive into the role of the engineering community in this VUCA world. Madhavan posed a key question to the participants in the Institute, “What is the equivalent of a Link trainer for engineering in the 21^st century?”

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