Engineers and Engineering in the United States, Japan, and Germany -- A Proposal for the U.S. Component of a Comparative Study

本研究建议调查那些构成“优秀工程”并使工程师成为“高绩效”的因素，这些因素比“最佳实践”的研究受到的关注要少得多。该项目将对五个行业的制造公司进行个案研究，以确定和审查将工程师定义为“高绩效”的标准；对高绩效最重要的教育和工作经验（由“高绩效”工程师及其经理确定）；以及工程教育的优势和不足。目前的建议是一项跨国研究的美国部分，与日本和德国的研究小组协调，用一套共同的核心问题来研究同样的问题。

This research proposes to investigate the factors that account for "good engineering" and make an engineer a "high performer," factors that have received much less attention than studies of "best practices." The project will undertake case studies of manufacturing firms in five industries to identify and examine the criteria that define an engineer as a "high performer"; the education and work experiences that are most important for high peerformance (as identified by "high performing" engineers and their managers); and where the strengths and deficits are in enegineering education. The present proposal is the US component of a cross-national study, coordinated with research teams in Japan and Germany examining these same issues with a common core set of questions.