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.

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.

To learn more about The HP Phenomenon go here. To view more videos on engineering and education, visit here.

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

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.

DesignMatters3 is hosting Mickey McManus, president and CEO of MAYA Design, on Monday, November 2nd, at 5:30pm in the Deloitte Auditorium, 1001 Business Instructional Facility, 515 East Gregory Drive, Champaign, IL.  The event is free.

MAYA applies human-centered design to help multi-national companies such as Whirlpool, Bayer Healthcare, and General Dynamics kickstart innovation around business challenges in the increasingly connected world.  Visit designmatters3 for more information.

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.