Dean Joseph Hughes of the College of Engineering attended the 2015 Global Grand Challenges Summit (GGCS) in Beijing, China, on September 15-16, 2015.
Sponsored by The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), the objective of the event was to prompt international cooperation to creatively address some of the most pressing issues of our time: the Grand Challenges for Engineering. The Grand Challenges identifies 14 goals that are believed to be necessary to help people and to secure the future of the planet.
At the event, Dean Hughes was elected to serve as host to a committee of eleven other deans from around the country who will address the educational needs of engineering students as they prepare themselves for the future. The first meeting will be held in the spring at Drexel or in Washington, D.C.
“This initiative has strong support not only from the NAE but also from the White House,” says Hughes. “As educators, we must take the concepts presented in the Global Challenges and embed them into engineering curriculum. We must change the role of engineers through education.”
The 2015 GGCS was the second in a series, the next of which will be held in 2017.