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Summit Wrap-Up, Part 3

In 1965 Alvin Toffler coined the term “Future Shock” to describe the shattering stress and disorientation induced in individuals, organizations, and communities by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time. Our observation, leading into the Engineering Change Lab – USA (ECL) Beyond Disruption Summit, is that 2025 has been a year of accelerating, disruptive change leaving people and institutions unmoored, at risk, and clearly suffering from Future Shock “Squared”.

75 years ago, the behavioral scientist Kurt Lewin articulated a simple, but powerful theory of change for social systems. He theorized that to change a social system you must go through three stages: Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze. Unfreezing involves preparing people for the transition by breaking down existing mindsets and behaviors that normally act as barriers to change (think bootcamp experiences in the military). The change stage introduces new processes, mindsets, and behaviors. Finally, during refreezing the system stabilizes and the change is embedded into the culture of the social system.

The Future Shock of 2025, brought about by governmental actions and the explosive growth of AI, represents an unfreezing moment for the engineering community. New possibilities as well as desired changes that have been inhibited by the frozen conditions and the inertia of the existing social system may now be possible — provided we act strategically and with urgency before the situation freezes once again.

Clearly, this is a time for imagining a new vision, transcending goals, and robust strategies that could allow the engineering community to take a leadership role in society and become, once again, the fundamental driver of economic growth and prosperity for the country.

ECL’s summit, convened in Austin, Texas in November 2025 gathered a group of engineering leaders, students, and associated stakeholders to engage in this type of strategic thinking effort on behalf of the engineering community. The primary objectives of this summit were to demonstrate both the potential value of and urgent need for engaging in this type of strategy work across the engineering community at this critical juncture in time.

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Summit Wrap-Up, Part 2

For this summit, we asked six thought leaders to play the role of “evocateur,” to help call forth and breathe life into our collective imagining of a future vision, goals, and strategies for the engineering community. A summary of those evocations as well as perspectives shared by the five members of our student panel are provided below.

Ed Finn, Director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University

Ed Finn evoked the power of storytelling, image-based worldbuilding, and speculative fiction to inspire collective imagination. Drawing on a recent article, “Step Into the Free and Infinite Laboratory of the Mind,” (https://issues.org/science-fiction-policy-tool-finn/), Finn observed that collaborative narratives, such as good science fiction, can play a primary role in helping science and society reach beyond current configurations toward positive transformational futures.

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Summit Wrap-Up, Part 1

Imagine waking up on a Spring morning in 2046. Over the last two decades, the U.S. has experienced a sustained period of technological progress, rapid economic growth, social prosperity, and environmental stewardship.

Central to the achievement of this abundant future has been the engineering community. Through their commitments, actions, and achievements the engineering community has emerged as the pre-eminent driver of economic growth and abundance in the 21^st Century.

Looking back to 2025, the disruptive change and “future shock” experienced across the country due to governmental actions and the explosive growth of AI that year constituted, in the words of social scientist Kurt Lewin, an “unfreezing” moment. Previously frozen systems, policies, ways of doing things, and attitudes were suddenly tractable and new possibilities for positive futures emerged.

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Engineering Change Lab – USA (ECL) is committed to including students in our discussions of the future of engineering. To support that goal, we have launched a campaign to raise scholarship funds to support student attendance at our fall summit, Beyond Disruption: Pioneering a New Path for the Engineering Community.

The summit will explore the changing landscape that has emerged in 2025 and imagine a new vision and path forward for the engineering community. Including the voice of students will enhance and complete the discussions at the summit. Now is the time for the engineering community to take a clear-eyed look at today’s realities and take the lead in forging a new path.

Please consider donating by visiting our GoFundMe page at this link.

Our goal for the campaign is to raise $15,000 to support the attendance of ten students at the summit. We appreciate our early donors who have helped us exceed $3,000 in donations so far. Help us continue this momentum and support additional students.

Every donation, no matter the size, will help students gain critical insights and network with leaders, shaping their future as stewards of technology and society. Please consider using the Share button on our GoFundMe site to connect with your industry associates!

Students who are interested in this opportunity should reach out to Mike McMeekin, ECL Executive Director ([email protected]) before October 3, 2025.

Learn more and register

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:

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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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