Distinguishing Engineers of the Future: Comparisons with EWB-USA Members

In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which require access to clean water and sanitation, UNESCO 1 estimates that 2.5 million new engineers and technicians are needed in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Fortunately, engineers are responding to such needs through larger participation in engineering development organizations and curricula. Among these programs, Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA) stands out as one of the largest and most senior of engineering for development programs in the US, making it an important group to study in order to gain insight into engineers who participate within these organizations. This research aims to understand differences between engineers involved and not involved with the organization to help educators and employers better understand engineers of the future. Extensive qualitative data collection led to the creation of a survey to test pre-educational traits, educational gains, and career expectations between engineers involved and not involved with EWB-USA to help address whether engineers involved in EWB-USA are different from engineers not involved in EWB-USA. This paper presents and discusses the results of responses from 566 engineering students at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Results showed significant differences in which EWB-USA engineers displayed different personality traits and community service attitudes, higher professional ABET learning outcomes, and higher expectations of professional skills in their future careers than engineers not involved with the organization. These results can help inform how to recruit, create, and retain engineers to work toward the MDGs and other major challenges that engineers of the future can address.