Deliberate development of creative engineers

Abstract

The ability of engineers to create and innovate is an essential part of delivering design value. The engineering profession has made this clear in The Engineer of 2020 and it is also a central part of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge, 3rd Edition. Many programs provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate creativity and innovation in their capstone projects but few provide foundational instruction or opportunities to hone creativity skills throughout the curriculum. Inspired by the need to develop creative and innovative engineers and encouraged by the literature about how the necessary skills and attitudes can be developed through education, this paper describes how creativity has been deliberately and explicitly integrated in a required senior-level civil engineering course. Although early in implementation and assessment, the data suggests that integrating creativity into existing engineering courses is viable, does not detract from the traditional technical content, and is appreciated by students. The authors argue that we must aggressively continue to develop creative skills through targeted actions across our curriculum and this paper suggests potential areas for future development in this endeavor.