Diversity In Engineering

Abstract

The president of the National Academy of Engineering argues here that engineering is a profoundly creative profession. He contends that, as in any creative profession, what comes out is a function of the life experiences of the people who do it. He points out that without diversity the set of life experiences brought to bear on a particular problem are limited. As a result society pays an opportunity cost—a cost in products not built, in designs not considered, in constraints not understood, and in processes not invented.