Engineering the Future Workforce

Engineers have played a critical role in creating the world that we live in today. They are still the people that we are looking up to and hoping they deliver many more life-changing innovations that will make our life easier, safer, and more fun.

That is why the people responsible for creating those engineers are working hard to instill the right mindset in them as early as possible. They also want them to understand that they have a responsibility to make this world a better place by improving sustainability and creating a positive social impact.

Joining us today is Yannis C. Yortsos, the Dean of the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering and the Zohrab Kaprielian Chair in Engineering. He will share with us how they are helping engineering students learn about the ethical repercussions of their work and the societal impact they have the potential to make.

Listen to learn more about the 5 mindsets of change that the next generation of engineers will need. You’ll also hear about some of the alumni success stories and the impact that they are creating in the world. Additionally, you’ll hear the reason why remote learning is here to stay.

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The ability to plan ahead and adapt is one of the biggest strengths in today’s fast-changing world. In the aviation industry, this involves working on eco-friendly planes and continued investment into space tourism and exploration. Beyond that, the industry is working to ignite the passion of future aviators at an early age through initiatives such as the Experimental Aircraft Association(EAA)  AirVenture Oshkosh. 

In this episode, we’ll talk to a couple of guests. From EAA, we have David Leiting, Vice President of the EAA, chapter 252, and Rick Larsen, Vice President of Communication and Member Programming. From Siemens Digital Industries, we have Sonya Sauvé, Director of Aerospace and Defense solutions. And, Dale Tutt, Vice President of Aerospace and Defense. We’ll also hear from Jarrett Schiedermeyer, a Senior at Oshkosh West High School, and an EAA Young Eagle.

We’ll start by discovering what inspired our guests to join the field of aviation. We’ll also discuss what the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh involves and the impact it hopes to have on the 1000s of participants and visitors. Additionally, we’ll discuss AeroEducate, a partnership between Siemens and EAA that aims to bring interactive and educational virtual experiences to young people, ages 5 to 18. Lastly, we’ll talk about what the future holds for the aviation and space travel industries, as well as what is being changed to promote sustainability. 

Tune in and find out more about EAA’s passionate aviation community, and what they are doing to attract and prepare future aviators.

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Resources:

Connect with David Leiting Jr:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Rick Larsen:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Sonya Sauvé:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Dale Tutt:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Shannon O'Donnell:

• LinkedIn

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The partnership between Leoni and the University of Sonora is an exciting initiative with massive potential; it represents a considerable opportunity for young graduates. And the best part of it, it is replicable and scalable. 

The University of Sonora is the alma mater of most engineers in Hermosillo, the capital of the Mexican state of Sonora, and Leoni is a German company that manufactures harnesses for different vehicles located in the same city.  

Today, we talked with Adrián Aello, Capital Harness Engineer at Leoni, and Jesús Pacheco, from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Sonora. 

We had a delightful conversation about the details of the partnership between the two institutions and its benefits from an academic and industrial standpoint. We talked about the creative solutions partnerships like this can offer to both the students and the companies and how this idea can be adopted by other companies from different industries. Finally, we discussed how the educational system should improve students' chances of getting hired and performing better in the real world.

Some Questions I Ask:

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

Resources:

Connect with Adrian:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Jesus:

• Email: [email protected] 

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One of the biggest challenges of the imminent arrival of the 4.0 industry is knowing how to prepare for it. In ABET, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization, they prepare students to tackle this new industry's challenges providing them with technology tools and exposing them to programs constructed to guarantee that they're prepared to ensure quality, precision, and safety in the global workforce.

In this episode, we talk with Michael Milligan, Executive Director and CEO of ABET. Michael is also an Engineering Educator, an International R&D, and Military Veteran. He holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University, an MBA from Western New England University, an MSE from the University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas. 

We talked about Michael's background and how he got to be part of ABET. Michael also shared ABET's role in preparing students and employers for Industry 4.0, their concerns, and how they deal with them. We also discussed how ABET establishes its criteria to measure students' progress in their programs. In addition, we talked about inclusion and diversity, non-degree credentials becoming popular among learners, and ABET's role in that.

Tune in and find out more about ABET and its fantastic work in adding crucial value to academic programs and preparing students for the new world. 

Some Questions I Ask:

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Resources:

Connect with Michael:

• LinkedIn

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Mobility in the modern world is a primary need and a concern about its impact on the environment. Researchers, scientists, engineers, and other professionals work daily to generate vehicles moved by green, renewable energy. Their final goal is to develop the technology and make it accessible and available to the masses. 

In this episode, I talk with Frederik Vanmaele and Gilles De Baets, both members of the Belgian Agoria Solar Team, a dream that started over 16 years ago. A group of Belgian engineers decided to do something with their degrees and created the first Belgian solar car. The Agoria Solar Team won the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia in 2019 and the iLumen European Solar Challenge in 2020. 

Frederik and Gilles kindly explained the entire process to create and develop solar cars, from the communication needed to attract investors to the basic understandings of 3D modeling and how it can help understand a vehicle before its existence. We also talked about the impact of using Siemens software and its benefits to the team. 

Tune in and listen to these two young talented engineers talking passionately about the present and the future of solar cars and renewable energy.

Questions I Ask:

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

Resources:

• Agoria Solar Team website

Connect with Frederik:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Gilles:

• LinkedIn

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The future of tech-related disciplines lies in an interdisciplinary approach to teaching. Professor Stephan Simons believes that industrial, electric, and mechatronics engineers shall find their way into working together. 

Stephan is an electrical engineer; he has a major in Control Theory and a Ph.D. in Robotics. He worked in medical technology for more than 11 years, where he developed some of the respiratory care systems used today to fight COVID. He had a passage in a company initially owned by Siemens, Sirona Dental Medicine. In 2006, he decided to move to the automation technology business. After Siemens bought UGS, Stephan found a way of combining his interests - automation technology, software business, and medical technology. In his own words, "It's all mechatronics."

The new normality pushed everyone deeper into the digital world; that should sound ideal for electrical engineers and robotics students, but it is not. Students need both a combination of the digital and the real thing. 

Listen to what Professor Simons has to say about the present and future of engineering, robotics, and automation students and the importance of collaboration between companies and universities. 

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Interns are the future full-time workforce so it is important to provide them with responsibility for projects that are impactful for the current and future innovation they will be working on. 

In this episode of Innovation In The Classroom, Susanne Barnsteiner, an industrial engineering intern and graduate student at the University of Applied Sciences in Kempten, Germany, details the projects that she has worked on and her unique current role. Susanne describes her current internship at AGCO and her experience in her university studies as the cornerstone for where her career will go. 

Some Questions I Ask 

In This Episode You Will Learn 

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The global pandemic has caused most industries, including engineering, to adapt, adjust, and innovate their digitization techniques. On today’s episode of Innovation in the Classroom, I am joined by two engineering industry professionals, Michelle Boucher and Sirin Tekinay.  

Michelle Boucher is the VP of Research for Engineering Practices at Tech-Clarity and Sirin Tekinay is the Dean of the College of Engineering at the American University of Sharjah. Both women have amazing insights into how the global pandemic has impacted engineering professionals, students, and teachers. The current pace of digitalization in the industry is affecting how prepared engineering students are when they enter the workforce and engineering education has begun to adjust its curriculum accordingly. 

Sirin provides a fascinating take from the academia side of digitalization in engineering, addressing the mental health impacts of online classes for students, the adjustments that students have had to make in their projects, and her advice to simulate a campus experience. Michelle’s knowledge as a researcher brings in the industry point of view. She dives into the newfound importance of business skills in the engineering industry, the global consistencies she has found between universities, and what she believes is the key to preparing students to enter the industry as it rapidly becomes more digitized. 

Tune in to learn how engineering education and industry are aligning, finding dissonance, and what Michelle and Sirin recommend for joint success. 

Some Questions I Ask 

In This Episode You Will Learn 

Connect with Michelle 

• LinkedIn

Connect with Sirin

• LinkedIn

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Staying relevant in technology is important now more than ever, especially for an Information Systems professor at the university level, like Sabine Matook.

Sabine grew up in Germany where she studied Information Technologies and has since gained prestige as an Information Systems professor of 16 years at the University of Queensland in Australia. She teaches thousands of students the fundamentals of Information Systems with a particular focus on the development of technology and how it is applied. Her global academic experience has taught her the ins and outs of diverse teaching and learning styles which she applies to her classroom. 

Although COVID-19 has provided teachers with many roadblocks, Sabine has handled the transition to online teaching with innovation and positivity. 

Listen in to Sabine explaining relevance in technology, teaching during COVID-19, and her own teaching philosophies. 

Questions I Ask: 

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Connect with Sabine 

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Do you remember the first time you looked up at the night sky after learning that those tiny twinkling lights were actually giant glowing spheres of hot gas? What was going through your young mind when you learned that other planets existed, so far away from Earth that we could only wonder through the eye of a telescope what they were like? It’s the youthful bewilderment of moments like these, the ceaseless curiosity instilled in us as students, that eventually inspires a new generation to explore the great unknown. 

Preparing students who are interested in pursuing careers in the Space Industry is the goal of NASA’S L’SPACE Academy. It’s an interactive online program for undergraduate students in STEM majors who are gearing up for careers with NASA or other space-focused agencies. Each 12- Week program provides insight and hands-on learning, and even offers opportunities for students to collaborate, in real time, with industry professionals. 

Sheri Klug Boonstra is Principal Investigator of NASA's L'SPACE Program. She grew up in the 1960’s, a time when space age dreams were finally being realized. From her home in the Mojave Desert, she spent youthful nights gazing at stars, wondering “why?”, “what?”, and “who?”. The world was intent on discovering the mysteries of the cosmos, and a combination of luck and curiosity put her in the right place at the right time to be a part of the fold. 

Some Questions I ask: 

In this episode you will learn:

Learn more about the work of Sheri Klug Boonstra and the L’SPACE Academy:

https://www.lspace.asu.edu/

https://mars.nasa.gov/msip/teachers/contacts/SheriKlugBoonstra/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheri-klug-boonstra-8375a016

https://chamberbusinessnews.com/2019/06/07/fail-fast-and-go-on-asu-creates-space-workforce-pipeline/

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