The Growth of Interdisciplinarity in Engineering Education in the 21st Century

Abstract During the exploration and progression of knowledge from the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries, there was no established boundaries for disciplines, and scholars made simultaneous contributions in many knowledge domains. With the evolution of the first two industrial revolutions, a growth of specialization in engineering field of expertise began emerging in the nineteenth century. The second half of the twentieth century saw the rise of the silos in engineering due to the requirement of disciplinary specializations. Advanced technologies such as personal computers and internet served as a major catalyst in accelerated growth in depth and breadth of knowledge in respective engineering discipline during the third industrial revolution. With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, we are beginning to study evolving phenomenon involving the breaking down the silos resulting in the emergence of interdisciplinarity across and beyond engineering fields. From a pedagogical perspective, two distinct types of interdisciplinary approaches are identified: 1) Bolstering of existing fields with infusion of technological knowledge and 2) Evolution of hybrid fields combining two or more existing fields. Inclusion of emerging technologies in the era of Industry 4.0 such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IoT), and Robotics will also be discussed. Examples such as smart cities, smart manufacturing, and innovations in the medical & health sectors will be used to demonstrate pedagogical approaches. The engineering educational curriculum of the third decade of the 21st century is proposed to be as follows: 1) Creation of new curriculum incorporating hybrid education 2) Use of new teaching tools offering flexibility to students and 3) Proposing interdisciplinary within and across programs between different engineering disciplines.