Assessing the Role of Technology in the Work of Modern Engineers

研究人员对工程师执行的任务、他们使用技术的方式、他们的知识和任务如何体现在技术中以及未来几年可能需要哪些技能知之甚少。 在这个项目中，将评估技术在现代工程师工作中的作用。 使用观察和访谈的人种学技术，将研究两种类型的工程师：设计建筑物的结构工程师和设计计算机芯片的电气工程师。在这项研究的过程中，工程师做什么，他们采用什么技术，在何种程度上，以及在何种方式，这些技术体现，增强和改变工程知识和任务将被调查。这项研究增加了目前对工程工作的了解，并将对组织在考虑如何管理和支持其工程人员时产生重大影响。 此外，这些研究问题的答案将为工程师的教育和培训以及他们在社会科学中更广泛的研究提供信息。 我们的研究结果将有助于深入了解工程设计，工具和支持技术。更广泛地说，它们将进一步增加我们对工作场所如何使用技术的理解。

Researchers know very little about the tasks engineers perform, the ways in which they employ technology, how their knowledge and tasks are embodied in technology, and what skills are likely to be required in the years ahead. In this project, the role of technology in the work of modern engineers will be assessed. Using ethnographic techniques of observation and interviewing, two types of engineers will be studied: structural engineers who design buildings and electrical engineers who design computer chips. In the course of this research, what engineers do, what technologies they employ, the extent to which, and the manner in which, these technologies embody, augment, and alter engineering knowledge and tasks will be investigated. This study augments current knowledge about engineering work and will have significant implications for organizations as they consider how to manage and support their engineering workforce. In addition, the answers to these research questions will inform the education and training of engineers, as well as their broader study in the social sciences. Our results will lend insight into the design of engineering workspaces, tools, and supporting technologies. More generally, they will further add to our understanding of how technologies are employed in the workplace.