Engineering in the Modern World

Lectures and readings focus on bridges, railroads, power plants, steamboats, telegraph, highways, automobiles, aircraft, computers, and the microchip. We study some of the most important engineering innovations since the Industrial Revolution. The laboratory centers on technical analysis that is the foundation for design of these major innovations. The experiments are modeled after those carried out by the innovators themselves, whose ideas are explored in the light of the social environment within which they worked.