CPACE Advisory Board Executive Summary October 30, 2008

This document summarizes key progress to date. We will discuss the findings in greater detail at the Advisory Board meeting.

The overarching goals of the CPACE project for this period were:

-    Design and test interview and survey protocols

-    Engage engineering and technology stakeholders in the region to conduct interviews and to connect with employees for surveys

-    Interview representatives of engineering and technology companies, including executives and HR representatives

Preliminary Results

These results are based on a set of employer interviews: seven pilot interviews and six interviews with companies represented in the Advisory Board. Analyzes of employer interviews to date reveal some common themes that employers are seeking in their engineering workforce.

-    Employers desire engineers who are capable of using a variety of engineering and standard business software including:

o      process simulation

o      computer-aided design (CAD)

o      collaboration and project management tools

o      spreadsheets

o      modeling software

o      facility with programming languages

-    Employers place a high value in interpersonal skills such as communication skills, ability to organize and present data and team work. Critical and innovative thinking as well as problem solving are important attributes.

-    Employers place a high value on the ability of engineers to understand engineering principles and use computational tools to solve engineering problems by moving between abstractions in software and physical systems.

-    Employers see trends towards computational globalization which translates to the need for engineers to understand business practices and the importance of integrating engineering data across larger systems (i.e., logistics & ordering).

Advisory Board Meeting Discussion

We will present more information about these findings during the Advisory Board meeting on October 30 and have discussion of the findings regarding:

-    Current Engineering Practices

-    Computational Aspects of Engineering

-    Future of Engineering