Engineering the future

In the late 1960s, people were noticing changes in the air they breathed and the water they drank, perhaps no place more than in the Steel City. At Carnegie Mellon, engineering faculty were noticing it too. As industrial pollution was shifting from a regional issue to a national priority, decisions about emerging technological remedies were falling to policymakers without technical backgrounds. A group of professors began to wonder: How can higher education better train engineers to address complex real-world problems that cross traditional boundaries?

In the second installment of the EPP 50th anniversary celebration series, foundational Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) faculty member Ed Rubin reflected on how a bold educational experiment grew into five decades of interdisciplinary leadership.

Rubin joined CMU as an assistant professor in the autumn of 1969, in the midst of social turmoil spurred by the Vietnam War. Around the same time, a small group of senior faculty led by Herb Toor—then head of Chemical Engineering, and later dean of the College of Engineering—were already discussing the need for a broader approach to an engineering education. They recognized that solutions to societal issues such as air pollution control, clean energy, and consumer product safety demand rigorous technical expertise as well as social science skills. "But most of the people in government legislatures making decisions about what to do had little or no technical background or expertise," Rubin said.

Most of the people in government legislatures making decisions about what to do had little or no technical background or expertise.

Ed Rubin, Professor Emeritus, Engineering & Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering

By 1971, Rubin and a team of like-minded early-career faculty recruited by Toor and headed by assistant professor of materials science and engineering, Bob Dunlap, launched a curriculum to train engineering undergraduates with the skills to navigate open-ended sociotechnical challenges. "It was basically a bunch of young, untenured, probably somewhat cocky group of people that said, 'We're not in this for the money, so let's have some fun and do something useful,'" Rubin laughed.

Not yet a standalone department, the Engineering and Public Affairs program was a double major created for engineering undergraduates seeking to tackle pressing societal challenges. It was initially a joint venture with the brand new School of Urban and Public Affairs (now the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy) with funding from the Sloan Foundation. Rubin developed the double-major curricula and helped design new coursework built on concepts accessible to students across the core engineering disciplines. His Air Pollution course, for example, applied the principles of fluid dynamics that would be familiar to mechanical engineering students, while also introducing key policy themes. An electrical engineering colleague taught about designing consumer products to be safer for the public. “In each of the five traditional disciplines,” Rubin says, “we had at least one faculty member creating new coursework that supported the goals of the program.”

The junior and senior project courses became an early defining feature of the program. These classes required students to work in interdisciplinary groups to address unstructured problems with real-world stakes. Initially, course topics were often built around local and regional issues. One vivid example Rubin recalled was the local bridge crisis in the 1970s. At the time, many of Allegheny County’s numerous bridges were reaching the end of their lifespans, and after decades of heavy industrial use, quite a few were closing due to safety concerns. Rubin and his colleagues used this as an opportunity to test the program’s practical applications. “So now you ask a class of 25 students: ‘We have a bridge crisis, and not nearly enough money to fix everything at once. What should we advise the government to do? What are the priorities? How do we analyze and make defensible recommendations on what we should do first?" he recalled.

We have a bridge crisis, and not nearly enough money to fix everything at once. What should we advise the government to do?

Ed Rubin, Professor Emeritus, Engineering & Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering

Project courses produced actionable recommendations that were noticed by government and industry leaders. As part of course evaluations, external experts reviewed student findings and were routinely impressed with the quality of their work. 

The increased visibility and student success lent credibility to the program, and in 1977, Toor ushered in what is now the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, marking the first new engineering department at Carnegie Mellon in at least 50 years, Rubin recalled. The founders knew that the department would need a graduate-level research engine and established a Ph.D. program alongside the undergraduate double major. Granger Morgan stepped into the role of department head and remained there for nearly four decades.  

These are very fuzzy issues with no single answer, and one of the key challenges for students is to figure out what they need to learn and do in order to come to a reasonable conclusion. EPP is giving them the tools to do that.

Ed Rubin, Professor Emeritus, Engineering & Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering

Rubin emphasizes that the department’s primary identity remains rooted in its educational mission to prepare students to solve complex social challenges in which technology plays a central role. "These are very fuzzy issues with no single answer,” Rubin notes, “and one of the key challenges for students is to figure out what they need to learn and do in order to come to a reasonable conclusion. EPP is giving them the tools to do that." 

As EPP adapts its curriculum to address emerging sociotechnical issues, including cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, maintaining firm connections to core engineering fields is central to its mission. "All the students we've produced so far, when they've gone out into the world or were interviewed for a job, are able to present themselves with an engineering credential, as well as a broader set of skills and experiences that are very highly valued." From his new vantage point as an emeritus professor, Rubin concludes, ”While there will always be room for improvement, I’m extremely proud of what we’ve built over these five-plus decades. EPP is a crown jewel of Carnegie Mellon University.”