Exploring connections between engineering and human spirituality

Abstract

The wealth of knowledge and wisdom within a diverse university community provides a rich and fertile setting for students to explore connections between their chosen discipline and their own spirituality. Multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students and faculty explore, and wrestle with, the connections between science/engineering and spirituality as they endeavor to become whole persons. Engineering, science, and theology students team up to investigate and assess evidence of purpose from findings in science and engineering. They apply reverse engineering techniques to natural systems in an effort to assess the potential for design recovery. Psychology students help to provide a better understanding of the human condition and the role of perceived affordances in establishing purpose. Anecdotal and survey evidence suggests that undergraduate students find such interdisciplinary studies to be interesting, motivating and beneficial for solidifying personal meaning and purpose. What better place than in higher education to address such monumental and multi-faceted questions? These are the issues that students want to discuss, since the answers they uncover play a significant role in shaping andmotivating their future careers and lives. The fields of science and engineering have a huge role to play in this discussion, but they need other disciplines to join them at the table. Engineering students in particular are well equipped to address such big questions,but they benefit greatly from dialogue with students and faculty in other areas. If the goal of higher education is to produce well-rounded and responsible professionals, then institutions should seriously consider addressing the issue of human spirituality as it relates to each student's field of study. This article presents one such perspective for the field of engineering. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.