For the first time since its inception in 1998, the University of Rhode Island hosted its annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education on campus in Kingston, teaching students, faculty and professionals about ways to further integration between engineering, languages and study abroad.
The two-day event began on Nov. 7 and featured professionals who discussed the expansion of engineering and business into the areas of humanities and language, according to Sigrid Berka, executive director of the International Engineering Program at URI. Language and cultural integration can help students broaden their perspectives, ultimately helping them understand that they are not limited within the field of engineering.
“Engineering takes place everywhere,” Melissa Schenck, coordinator of the International Engineering Program, said. “It helps engineers be more culturally savvy, to work with both teams here and abroad.”
The International Engineering Program is trying to integrate more humanities and language learning into URI’s engineering courses, according to Berka. This is because other countries may have different approaches to solving engineering problems.
“There’s different ways to connect with people when you do it through their first language,” Schenck said.
The engineering education colloquium was a big success, according to Berka. There were 167 faculty attendees across multiple universities, including the University of Connecticut, the University of Arkansas and Purdue University. International guests came from Germany and Togo, located in West Africa.
The event featured multiple keynote speakers that discussed topics ranging from cultural education to medical innovation, according to Berka. One keynote was Samuel Mathey, who spoke on entrepreneurship.
“[Mathey] sort of invented an approach called the ‘zero capital’ approach,” Berka said. “He helps young entrepreneurs in Africa to start a business without a lot of capital.”
Keynote speaker Meghan Soens ’05 introduced the subject of medical innovation. Soens earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish, as well as a bachelor’s degree in biomedical and electrical engineering. She is also the vice president of sales at Boston Scientific Endoscopy.
At the event, Soens discussed how being in the International Engineering Program, studying abroad and speaking another language influenced her career in the engineering field, according to Berka.
“[The experiences] made her [Soens] more agile and flexible to deal with diverse populations,” Berka said.
Linguistic proficiency is the goal of all language classes at URI, and with its year abroad spent studying and interning, the International Engineering Program can really help students to achieve that goal, according to Schenck. While most of the International Engineering Program’s engineering coursework in students’ secondary languages does take place abroad at the program’s partner universities, there are some courses at URI that do already integrate language learning and engineering topics in French, German and Spanish.
“If you speak to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head,” Schenck said, quoting Nelson Mandela. “If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”
For more information about student requirements for studying engineering outside of the Ocean State, visit the International Engineering Program’s website .