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<topsidefarm -at- mva -dot- net> wrote in message news:213465 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
> So what of the future of TW degrees? I believe that we my be seeing the
> last days of the free-standing TW degree, at least at the undergraduate
> level. There just isn't enough time in a four year program to learn both
> the technology and the communication skills required to be a good TW. The
> graduate TW degrees are another story. Contrary to what was generally said
> in another recent thread, the advanced TW degrees are of great value.
> HOWEVER, there is a huge caveat that goes with that statement: it assumes
> that your undergrad degree is in engineering, science, or technology.
> Without the engineering, science, or technology undergrad degree, advanced
> TW degrees are not really worth a whole lot.
>
But an appropriately designed and placed TC degree *is* an engineering
degree. TC is an engineering discipline, and if the undergrad degree doesn't
require significant study for the "T" part, I wouldn't recommend that
program.
>
> As an example, I'll use the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) rules
> and the engineering for a fuel pump assembly system (a project I have
> recently been involved in). For over a decade under the Bush Sr. and
> Clinton administrations, everybody in the auto industry "knew" that the
> CAFE standards were not going to get any easier, and might actually be
> tightened. This meant that everyone was planning on having to squeeze more
> mileage out of the fuel their cars used. Given that the quality of a fuel
> pump directly impacts fuel mileage, the designers of these pumps moved
> toward greater and greater precision in the pumps. In turn, this required
> greater and greater precision in the assembly systems, and a proportional
> reduction in the speed of these systems. Now comes Bush Jr. The auto
> industry "knows" that the CAFE rules are not going to get tighter and may
> even be eased. That leads to a change id design standards leaning more
> toward speed over precision. In turn, this leads to changes in some of the
> technology being used in the assembly systems.
>
I drive an Insight. I have averaged more than 55MPG during the past 2+
years--not to mention the fewer pollutants I've spewed into the air.
Consumer demand can drive engineering as much as politics, and consumer
demand is driven by corporate advertising and societal whims.
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