Rethinking Education for the 21st Century Engineers

Experiences from the University of Toronto

The engineering profession continues to increase in relevance and complexity with the convergence of disciplines and globalization while benefiting from greater diversity of perspectives. Engineering education is evolving in response to these factors and the increased emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation to drive economic prosperity.

Educating engineers for this 21st century reality requires instilling in our students professional competencies in cross-disciplinary collaboration, global and diverse perspective, leadership, entrepreneurship and business, in addition to strong technical foundation. This talk describes curricular and co-curricular programming which provides opportunities for engineering students to develop those competencies, offered through the Centre for Global Engineering, the Entrepreneurship Hatchery, the Institute for Multidisciplinary Design & Innovation, the Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering and the recently launched Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice at the University of Toronto. It also describes the relevance of collaborative learning environments and experiential learning programming as well as initiatives in cross-cultural and multidisciplinary capstone courses in partnership with industry.

Biography

Cristina Amon is the Distinguished Alumni Professor and former Dean at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Under her visionary leadership, Canada's top ranked engineering Faculty has become a global hub for interdisciplinary research and education, known for its strategic initiatives, cross-Faculty centres and institutes, and innovative undergraduate and graduate programming. Prior to joining U of T in 2006, Dean Amon was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered at Carnegie Mellon University.

A pioneer in Computational Fluid Dynamics for thermal designs subject to multidisciplinary constraints, Professor Amon's current research is in thermal transport in nanoscale semiconductors, energy systems, EV batteries and biomedical devices. She is a professional engineer, fellow of all major professional societies in her field, and has contributed over 380 articles to the education and research literature.

Among numerous recognitions, Cristina Amon received the ASME Gustus Larson Memorial Award, the ASEE Westinghouse Medal, and the ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award. She was named one of America's most important Hispanics in technology and business, and received the Engineers Canada Award for support of Women in the Engineering Profession. She was recognized as Canada's Most Influential Women in 2012, received the YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction Award, and was honoured with the Society of Women Engineers top award. She received the 2017 Sir John Kennedy Medal, the highest recognition of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and was awarded the 2015 PEO Gold Medal, Ontario's most prestigious honour for engineering public service, technical excellence and professional leadership. She was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Spanish Royal Academy, U.S. National Academy of Engineering and Royal Society of Canada.

Born in Uruguay, Dr. Amon earned her Mechanical Engineering degree from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, and her M.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.