The professional doctorate for the engineering & technology profession

Abstract

Clearly Blocked to Anonymize initiative toward a professional doctorate is a work in progress. This paper serves both as a compilation of the thoughts of many colleagues in the USA and internationally, as well as presenting our team's synthesis. The need for the professional doctorate is driven by four forces: business and industry's need for in-depth and practice-focused professionals, universities' need for disciplinary leadership, the needs and capabilities of professionals, and the future and emerging needs of society at large. Our goal is to evolve a professional doctorate that addresses these four forces and that helps individuals seeking to advance their skills to become researching practitioners. The hope is that this paper may evoke thought and comment among others in academia, industry and government seeking to develop professionals with the in-depth knowledge and demonstrated ability to create theory-based improvements applied in practice areas.