Traditional engineering courses are becoming increasingly varied as universities and major firms alike recognize the need to cater to the needs of a quickly globalizing world.
“The field of engineering is changing. It’s no longer focused on the local type of engineering — it’s more global talk, global engineering, and the key is, how do we create global engineers?” said Bernard Amadei, the founder of Engineers Without Borders and former director of the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities at Colorado University Boulder. “You ask engineering students today why they are interested in the degree and they say they want a meaningful education and careers.”
The Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities, founded in the early 2000s, is one of the engineering programs that has popped up within the past 10 years to prepare engineering students to work in developing countries. The work requires students to dramatically broaden their skill set and frame of mind.