A Gap in Engineering Education

Engineering education is a matter of major interest to the members of The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE). Studies of educational problems and projects have appeared in these PROCEEDINGS, and the Institute has established an active Committee on Education. Accordingly the Institute membership will read with interest a basic study of one factor involved in successful engineering education, as presented by the Chief Engineer of the Hazeltine Electronics Corporation. One objective of a complete engineering education should be the developing in the engineer of an understanding of the economic basis of his profession. Whether this understanding can be developed during the man´s formal schooling I do not know; perhaps it must be sought subsequently, as the man´s experiences broaden his view sufficiently. Viewed in this fashion, engineering can hardly be thought to exist without relation to a product. The product, and its prospect of satisfying a user´s need, are the whole economic motivation of our profession.