Humanistic Studies in Engineering

FAIN: EO-10165-69

Princeton University (Princeton, NJ 08540-5228)
David P. Billington (Project Director: July 1969 to present)

Graduate in civil engineering with emphasis on the cultural impact of technology. ABSTRACT: Graduate program in civil engineering with emphasis on the cultural impact of technology. Aimed at producing a new type of engineer who, while fully competent in engineering design, will center his career on a union of technology with the humanities, either in practice or in teaching. Emphasis on historical development of architectural and engineering forms, including analysis of the relationship between efficiency and elegance in well-known structures. Technology, having in the recent past provided the basis for industrialism, needs in the near future to be focused on the means for creating a more human life. Until engineers recognized that within their own tradition there exist works of humane elegance to serve as prototypes for new designs, they will not be be likely to answers, by better designs or more vigorous criticisms of their own, the charges of ugly engineering and short-sighted policies. Project designed to make engineers more aware of the human as well as technical factors involved in their work. Funds for salaries, equipment, travel, computer time, and indirect costs.