To enhance the continuity of the civil engineering profession, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and its History and Heritage Committee have created an interactive web page, to highlight several notable engineers and historical engineering landmarks. I visited this site as part of some research related to the changing demographics of the American workforce. What I found there, however, gave me pause and prompted several questions about what young engineers are expected to live up to and why.

Among the goals of ASCE Body of Knowledge Outcomes #20 is the ability to recognize and explain the contributions of significant individuals on society and the profession. It should be safe to assume that the Committee’s selection of 52 such notable engineers is but a starting point for deeper research and is meant to sow the seeds of further inquiry. Nevertheless, I found the "demographics" of the list to be somewhat lopsided toward 1) engineers born more than a century ago (the median birth year was 1835), and 2) engineers who would have worked prior to the institution of professional licensing (in the United States, between 1907 and 1950). Clearly, the list is made up of some of the greatest engineering minds of their time—individuals who could have an equal impact today. But most of them had been deceased long before I knew what engineering was, and those who hadn’t were nearing the end of their years. What could have made them worthy of my admiration?

Consider that prior to going through the list, I had a passing knowledge of only a handful of them—Terzaghi, Strauss, Judah, Bechtel, the Roeblings—and a few of their most famous works. They are all before my time, but the attributes that made them great had less to do with the technical engineering that they undertook and more to do with their character. They shared a persistence, dedication, and willingness to risk everything during some of the most challenging times that the world has faced. I suspect that many of them will remain legends, if not for their engineering, then at least for their timeless passion. Compare this to the equivalent list that will exist in the next century. What will that list look like and will we be on it for the same reasons? When our great-grandchildren look over the list, will they admire us for the same qualities that we admire now in those who came before us?

In particular, what does it mean that the courses of many of the lives on the current list would not be possible today? Engineers my age and younger are charged with studying historical figures so that we might somehow glean some of their "good" qualities. But what of those individuals who disregarded convention, fought with governments and the public, or didn’t obtain formal educations? What of the dropouts, job-hoppers, and egoists who didn’t so much have a career as move from challenge to challenge across the country and globe? To be sure, the majority of the list has a suitable resemblance to today’s "typical" engineer—college graduates, often with a Ph.D., who work their way from drafting, surveying, research, and teaching through a record of great inventions and monuments to civilization. But is this to say that the rest are from a time to which we will never return?

Will civil engineering continue to attract the entrepreneurial spirit that today focuses more on the internet and personal technology? Has it rather become a case of engineers "driving" projects along a well-worn path of regulations, documentation, and tried-and-true methods? Will the future list say that we held true to the course of ensuring proper education, experience, and licensing, but let opportunities for true innovation and progress slip by? I hope not.

Jason Burke, P.E., works for Allied Engineering in Bozeman, Mont.


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