Work in progress — Engineering´s Grand Challenges: An analysis of student viewpoints

As the next generation of engineers, engineering students at the local level have specific views on what key issues should be addressed in the coming decades. Results of a University of Kansas survey completed by over 220 engineering students from sophomores to graduate students in seven engineering majors from five departments are reported, analyzed, and compared with the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering presented by the National Academy of Engineering in 2008. While some areas follow from the NAE list, other suggestions are innovative beyond that list and yet support the goals and spirit of the subsequent NAE Grand Challenge Scholars Program. The contributions of this study are: (1) a report of survey findings from six classes of students, (2) an analysis of student responses according to levels and majors, and (3) a comparison of these viewpoints with the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering.