The iFoundry community is looking ahead and planning for next month’s iExpo, in which iFoundry students will display their final team projects. iExpo will be held on 2 December at the iHotel (1900 S. First St) in Champaign from 5-7pm. All iFoundry community members are welcome. iTeams will present their accomplishments in the world of work, service, academics and identity.

To view initial videos from the iTeam presentations that were shown at iFoundry’s midterm checkpoint (iCheckpoint) on 14 October 2009, visit here.

The iFoundry-sponsored 2010 Forum on Philosophy, Engineering & Technology (fPET-2010) is now accepting submissions on its website (here) or directly at the secure submissions site (here).

iFoundry believes that the concern for mathematical and scientific rigor that has arisen in engineering and engineering education since the cold war needs to be matched by a concern for conceptual rigor, and philosophy as the formal discipline that deals most directly with matters of conceptual rigor is critical to that change.

Read more about the 2010 Forum on Philosophy, Engineering, and Technology at www.philengtech.org.

iFoundry co-director Ray Price’s new book (with Chuck House) The HP Phenomenon is “a gem” according to a recent review in Forbes online:

Truly new ideas are extremely rare in business books, but Charles H. House and Raymond L. Price have come up with a gem: how to build a great company when the boss isn’t always right.

Read the whole review here and find out more about the book here.

Check it:

iFoundry co-director David E. Goldberg’s ASCE Philosophy and Civil Engineering presentation is available below in the viewer

or at www.slideshare.net/deg511.  More information about philosophy & engineering is available at philengtech.org or @philengtech twitter.

iFoundry co-director, David E. Goldberg, is attending the American Society for Civil Engineering (ASCE) National Convention in Kansas City today to participate on a panel on Philosophy & Civil Engineering.

If civil engineers are to become “the master integrators of the future,” some self-reflection is in order to investigate the intellectual foundations on which the profession is built. Besides helping engineers to do their jobs better, such an exercise may lead to the discovery that engineers have more to contribute to society than previously realized. This session will explore the idea that civil engineering is more of an art than a science by suggesting how the various branches of philosophy-metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, and aesthetics-apply to it, and highlighting how philosophical considerations are relevant to current issues in the profession.

Each panelist will give a brief presentation to introduce the subject matter. Jon Schmidt will provide a general overview, including definitions of philosophy and engineering and suggestions for how the two fields are, and should be, related to each other. Erik Nelson will address the nature of engineering knowledge, including the distinction that is commonly made between theory and practice, and some implications for education. David Goldberg will contrast today’s typical engineering curriculum with the largely qualitative skills that separate great engineers from the merely technically competent, and note how philosophy can help restore needed balance. A question-and-answer format will follow, including ample time for audience members to participate.

MODERATOR: Jon A. Schmidt, P.E., SECB, M.ASCE, Associate Structural Engineer, Burns & McDonnell

PRESENTERS: David E. Goldberg, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois; Erik A. Nelson, P.E., M.ASCE, Partner, Structures Workshop

Professor Goldberg’s opening remarks The Missing Basics: Philosophical Reflections on a Complete Engineering Education picks up on a theme that has graced these pages more than once (here, for example).  More information on the ASCE convention program is available here.  More information is available on philosophy and engineering at www.philengtech.org.

iFoundry co-director, Dave Goldberg, explores engineering as a liberal education in the 21st century, the role of emotion and passion in being a great engineer. He also discloses a personal secret to lifelong learning as an important aside in the middle of the presentation.  See the presentation here or in the viewer below:

Related presentations are available on the iFoundry slideshare page (here) or in Professor Goldberg’s page (here).

iFoundry students may be interested in a special presentation by Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 2:00pm at Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 South Lincoln, Urbana, IL.  Mundie will speak about how software and information technology can help solve the most pressing global challenges we face today.   For more information, visits here.

iFoundry students, and grassroots volunteers are invited to help shape our message to prospective students and families for 2010.  Students can assist with outreach activities in their home high schools, on UIUC campus visit days, and in crafting the communications to high school students around the country and world that will help build and sustain this transformative initiative.  Please contact Karen Hyman, Associate Director, iFoundry, kkhyman@illinois.edu if you are interested in joining this team.

On March 1, 2010, Dr. Muhummus Yunus, 2006 Nobel Laureate honored for his work in microfinancing will visit campus for a series of engagements and presentations.  iFoundry has been asked to recommend top students who will be part of direct presentations and poster sessions with Dr. Yunus on global health related projects.  iFoundry students, freshmen through graduate level, who have done significant work on a global health project and would be interested in this opportunity, should contact Karen Hyman, Associate Director, iFoundry, kkhyman@illinois.edu as soon as possible.