At a time when engineers are called upon to help transform organizations and make a positive impact on society, engineering leadership is an important skill. Ensuring a pipeline of engineering leaders was the spirit and substance of a special event held last week at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that featured MIT president Dr. Susan Hockfield, Raytheon chairman and CEO William H. Swanson, and other distinguished speakers.
Entitled “The Engineer-in-Chief: Engineering Leadership for the 21st Century,” the breakfast meeting for MIT alumni, faculty, students and invited guests from New England’s technology business community served as the official launch of the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program.
Supported by a $20 million inaugural gift by the Bernard M. Gordon Foundation, the program combines leadership development activities with the rigor of the MIT educational experience to help undergraduate engineering students develop the skills, tools and character they will need as future leaders in engineering.
The event was fittingly held at MIT’s Vannevar Bush Room. Dr. Bush was a scientist and professor of electrical engineering at MIT, who co-founded Raytheon Company as the American Appliance Company in 1922.
In introducing Gordon and Swanson, Hockfield commented that "our path out of the current mix of challenges is innovation. We're not going to get there unless we have great leadership."
In his keynote address, Swanson recognized Bernard Gordon as “a true pioneer and leader in engineering and electronics,” noting his “outstanding leadership in converting analog to digital and transforming our world.” Swanson went on to discuss three key themes:
· The importance of project-based learning – the “learn by doing” that “gives one a feel for real-world considerations, such as cost, schedule and the other variables like maintainability, reliability and producibility, to mention a few.”
· Leadership in engineering – saying that “Developing an elegant solution is not everything...Identifying that solution within the right context is also critical to finding the pathway to success."
· The engineer and society – commenting that “Engineering is serious business...ours is a tremendous calling, and a tremendous responsibility.”
