“I joined the GCSP at Louisiana Tech University, and it encouraged me to give back to my colleagues through peer tutoring, to explore entrepreneurship in the Top Dawg Idea Pitch, and to look beyond the textbooks, understanding the impact that ...
“The GCSP served as the catalyst for my introduction to academic research. I was attracted to the program because it aims to tailor engineering curriculum around global issues rather than isolated disciplines. In exploring my Challenge of ...
Being in the GCSP encouraged me to pursue a well-rounded, global education. I found opportunities to perform research and travel to India and Ghana and also took a fantastic class in entrepreneurship that I never would have without GCSP. My long ...
“GCSP has helped guide the way I think about interdisciplinary studies. With a Computer Science background and interest in investments, I see a huge growth opportunity within money management. As the focus on investments increases combined ...
“I had a strong interest in cleantech and entrepreneurship throughout my undergraduate career. In an extraordinary stroke of fortune Olin began graduating Grand Challenge Scholars in my senior year, so I and another entrepreneurial Oliner got ...
The NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering, created in 2008, presented an aspirational vision of what engineering needs to deliver to all people on the planet in the 21st century. In just 15 words, the vision it calls for is:
“Continuation of life on the planet, making our world more sustainable, secure, healthy, and joyful.”
The century-spanning vision was based on 14 GOALS that the NAE recognized as necessary to deliver this vision in the 21st century.
Numerous engineering schools and K-12 programs have adopted the NAE Grand Challenges to inspire practical projects for their students through an educational supplement called the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP), which identifies the following five competencies that students must achieve to prepare to address these global challenges:
Addressing any of the Grand Challenges for Engineering naturally spans multiple disciplines, and because solutions are implemented differently in different parts of the world, the program prepares students to think in international terms and to develop globally relevant perspectives and skills.
The GCSP was inspired by the NAE but is not controlled by the academy. Each adopting university, college, and school is independently drawn to the program—often by its students—and defines its own supplemental approach to preparing students in the five competencies within its existing engineering program. Each institution selects its students, determines their attainment of the competencies, and decides how it will recognize their achievement.
For more information on the GCSP, please contact Sherri Hunter (SHUNTER@NAE.EDU) or GCSP Proposal Review Committee Chair Katie Evans (KEVANS@LATECH.EDU).