From Soft to Essential: The Skills Needed for Engineers to Face Wicked Problems

Today’s engineering students are inundated with coursework and technical skill acquisition. There is only so much time in higher education curricula and so much for students to learn. Many students could go through their entire collegiate career with minimal interaction in fields outside of their major and earn a degree. But the world is changing. The interconnected nature of our society has created new challenges that continue to become more complex. These “wicked problems” require more than technical acumen. The new generation of problem solvers need skills that allow them to cut across disciplines and create interdisciplinary solutions. This talk discusses the skills STEM students need to be successful when they enter the workforce and the ways we can foster these skills in academic settings.

Ethan Rivera

The Ohio State University on November 10, 2023 at 10:15 AM in EB3 2207
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Ethan is the Student Programming Lead for the Ohio State Battelle Center for Science, Engineering, and Public Policy in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. In this position, Ethan coordinates all programming and community development for students to have a space that they can call home, network, and connect with peers who can support them. Ethan also co-instructs the center’s interdisciplinary capstone course, Rapid Innovation for Public Impact, that has worked with numerous organizations and government agencies including the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, NASA, Ohio Department of Transportation, Missile Defense Agency, Engie, Honda, and more. Ethan is also a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at the John Glenn College and hopes to create more opportunities and a healthier environment for those often left behind.

This lecture series features exciting and dynamic visiting and virtual speakers from across the range of ECE disciplines. Take some time every Friday morning to be inspired by these great scientists and engineers before heading into the weekend!