Major Challenges to Engineering Education for Sustainable Development: What Has to Change to Make It Creative, Effective, And

Scholars and professionals committed to fostering sustainable development have urged a reexamination of the curriculum and the restructuring of research in engineering-focused institutions of higher learning. The focus is on engineering, more than on the natural and physical sciences or on social science, because the activities that drive the industrial state – the activities that implement scientific advance – are generally rooted in engineering. Moreover, engineers are known as ‘problem solvers’ and if economies are becoming unsustainable because of engineering, it is natural to ask whether engineering as an activity and as a profession can be re-directed toward achieving sustainable transformations. Of course, engineering can not do it alone; scientific as well as social and legal changes must occur as well. This paper addresses the challenges ahead, if this optimistic vision is to be more than wishful thinking.