Engineers may soon be solving their design problems with skills they’ve learned in art classes, as engineering colleges start to adopt art-inclusive curriculums.
Pioneering this trend is the University of Iowa’s (UI) College of Engineering, which will require all new students to take three semester hours of creative arts credits. This will typically translate into one university course. However, students will be able to divide their time between up to three arts classes.
The College of Engineering Curriculum committee plans to work with the College of Liberal Arts and Science to develop a set of creative courses specifically designed for engineering students. The current system, to begin this fall, is merely in beta stages.
“We see this requirement as really enhancing the education our engineers get and preparing them for the 21st century by helping them understand the broader societal context in which engineering is based,” said Alec Scranton, dean of the UI College of Engineering. “We are trying to graduate a broad engineer.”
Exposure to art classes and the different ways art students think should not only broaden engineering student’s education, but introduce them to alternative forms of thinking to help tackle issues in design.
Classes available to incoming students will include dance, studio art, music and theatre. Imagine how a better understanding of the human body in motion, a skill learned in dance, can inspire an engineer to design aircraft cabins big enough to comfortably move around in.
Mike Bauerly, creative director and product designer for Amazon’s Lab126, received an industrial engineering degree and a studio arts degree from UI. His wife, Kristi Bauerly had a similar education.
“We are right on this edge of design and engineering, of being able to combine both those things and figure out what makes products appealing and useful and desirable,” said Bauerly in an interview with The Gazette. Creative training is becoming increasingly necessary in today’s engineering workforce, he added.
Where Engineering and Art Have Already Mixed
It should come as no surprise that arguably the best engineer of all time, Leonardo Da Vinci, is also one of the best artists of all time. In fact, many classical minds in STEM were noted for their great artistic skills. Perhaps studies into the math, science, technology and engineering side of art will be beneficial to the next generation of STEM leaders.
The importance of art in product functionality is also growing in the market. Every product you see has slicker designs, from buildings to cellphones. Alternatively, engineering has already influenced art with trends like steampunk, which brings Victorian aesthetics into fictional engineering designs.
Adding art into engineering can increase diversity in the field. Reducing the gender and minority gaps is, in part, an effort to bring new ideas and ways of thinking into design. It’s also an effort to promote equality. Adding artistic problem solving is no different. Designs can only benefit from increasing permutations and different thinking styles. Perhaps these art courses might be a way to encourage people to take engineering that would never have considered it before.
One wonders why high schools continue to cut art classes in favor of “harder” STEM courses while UI and market trends suggest we should be embracing their intersections, like shop class and maker spaces. Let’s hope high schools take notice.
What are your thoughts of adding art into STEM education? Did you take any art courses? How have they helped you in your engineering designs? Comment below.