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NC State European Center in Prague

E 102: Engineering in the 21st Century

Instructor: Laura Bottomley
Credits: 2
GEP: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This course will be offered in Summer 2022

*E 102 is open to all students, first year engineering students will be prioritized.

Course Description

This interdisciplinary course will provide an overview of the fourteen engineering grand challenges of the 21st century and their relationships to all of the separate engineering disciplines in the College of Engineering. The lectures will incorporate class excursions, guest speakers, and specific readings on the challenges in sustainability, health, vulnerability, and the joy of living to advance civilization into the next century. Students will gain an appreciation for the methods in which engineers, in each discipline, acquire knowledge and design tools or interdisciplinary solutions essential to meet society’s future needs.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the semester, students will be able to:

  • Identify differences in the engineering disciplines which apply scientific theory to analyzing, developing, and designing technological solutions to the Engineering Grand Challenges of the 21st Century.
  • Identify the approaches of at least two engineering disciplines in the College of Engineering to a problem, issue, or design.
  • Explain the four focal areas of the Engineering Grand Challenges (sustainability, health, security and joy) which face humankind in the 21st century and their significance in terms of political, social, and historical importance.
  • De-construct a complex technological challenge into smaller, multidisciplinary issues.