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Engineering Change Lab – USA

Engineering Change Lab - USA

A catalyst for change within the engineering community, helping it reach its highest potential on behalf of society

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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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Recent News

Envisioning a New Water Ethic for the Engineering Community – Summit Wrap-Up

May 14, 2025

Kyle Davy and Mike McMeekin

According to author Peter Gleick, human history has been shaped by our relationship with water. Gleick’s recent book, The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future, recaps this history. In the First Age of Water, early civilizations formed based on the natural availability of water, and the first attempts to control water for human consumption and agriculture were conceived. The Second Age of Water coincided with the emergence of science and technology and followed a “hard path” marked by the engineering and construction of major water-related infrastructure – dams, drinking water and wastewater treatment systems, hydro-electric generation facilities, and irrigation systems. This age produced huge benefits to humanity, along with unintended consequences in the form of withdrawals beyond natural recharge, pollution, and damage to eco-systems. In addition, despite the remarkable advances of the Second Age, we have still failed to provide safe water and sanitation for everyone.

In his kick-off address to Engineering Change Lab – USA’s (ECL) Envisioning a New Water Ethic for the Engineering Community Summit, Peter Gleick outlined the history of the first two ages of water and offered a blueprint for a hopeful future, a “necessary and possible transition” to the Third Age of Water. According to Gleick, this new “soft path” must:

… Read More

Envisioning a New Water Ethic for the Engineering Community – Virtual Preview Wrap-Up

April 11, 2025

“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.

… Read More

The Pushback Against DEI and the Implications for the Engineering Community Workforce

December 9, 2024

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

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ECL-USA Financial Supporters:
Logo - NCEES
Logo - The Lemelson Foundation

Corporate Leaders

Logo - Mead & Hunt
Logo - Freese and Nichols

Corporate Partners

Logo - Degenkolb

Corporate Benefactors

Logo - Pinyon Environmental
Logo - Ulteig
Logo - Jose Guerra Consulting Engineers

Other Donors

Logo - GMB Architects and Engineers
Logo - KL&A Engineers & Builders
In Recognition Of Kyle Davy’s Lifelong Commitment To Leadership Development In The Professions

 

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We are living in a world that is facing an unprecedented combination of technological change…

and rapidly evolving societal needs, driven in large part by environmental imperatives. As this uncertain future unfolds, maintaining the status quo is not an option for the engineering community. The imperative for change and adaptation has driven the formation of ECL-USA.

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Summits

ECL-USA convenes two to three times a year to share perspectives, deepen our understanding of engineering’s emerging future, and to launch experiments and focused initiatives designed both to foster change across the entire engineering system from education to practice to research to licensure.

Upcoming Summits

Our Way Forward

Our way forward is through action inspired by the Engineering Change Lab-USA’s mission. ECL-USA was started in 2017, with the mission of becoming a catalyst for change within the engineering profession, by helping the profession reach its highest potential on behalf of society.

To achieve our mission, we will:

  • Bring together stakeholders, innovative thinkers, and change agents to explore and generate new knowledge about the role of engineering in an emerging future.
  • Self-organize as an independent (non-aligned) entity – complementing existing stakeholder organizations (professional societies and associations), not attempting to duplicate their efforts.
  • Become a communications hub, linking and sharing knowledge between stakeholders engaged in creating the future of the engineering community (profession).
  • Engage in and lead collaborative initiatives designed to transform the engineering community (profession) to help it thrive in an evolving world.

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