Growing the national innovation system: Assessing the needs and skill sets for innovative professional graduate education defined by the tasks and responsibilities of engineer-leaders in industry

This is the second paper in the special panel session on reshaping engineering graduate education to better serve the needs of the practicing professional. Although several incremental changes have been made to improve undergraduate education as preparation for entry into practice, sweeping changes are needed in graduate education to address areas of neglect that hinder the ability of the U.S. technical workforce to fully contribute to the nation's need for economic growth. Central to this transformation is a change in the perspective of graduate education, including contextual and experiential learning activities, required to support the modern process of engineering in creating new innovative technology in industry. A new vision for the graduate education of engineers as creative professionals is evolving, a vision based upon career-long needs of professionals as a growth process for leadership of technological innovation. This paper focuses on the critical skill-sets, knowledge, and experience that engineers need as technology leaders beyond basic, four-year undergraduate education to stimulate constant technological innovation for enhanced U.S. competitiveness in the new economy. The paper outlines the functional requirements and a new approach to the design of professional graduate education as an integrated system for lifelong learning that supports innovative practice throughout the working professional's career.