“Engineering before engineers”: appreciating the rounded ingenuity of Renaissance inventors. From the article:

Now in its second year, W[ake] F[orest] U[niversity]’s Department of Engineering has distinguished itself from other Engineering programs by integrating a liberal arts education into its curriculum.

With that mission in mind – and after several conversations between the History and Engineering departments that started with the two department chairs – it made sense for [Professor of History Monique] O’Connell to provide guest lectures as Engineering’s first Humanist in Residence….

“There are all kinds of humanists who can add immense value to an Engineering education,” said Olga Pierrakos, Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Engineering. “For somebody like Monique who has historical knowledge around a period of time in our history that spurred the beginnings of Engineering and that everyone understands to be a time of revolution, a time of exploration, a time of intense growth, how did people achieve that?”…

After listening in class as O’Connell described the personalities, accomplishments, and career failures of da Vinci, Brunelleschi, and Hooke, [Assistant Professor of Engineering Kyle] Luthy built stronger connections to modern Engineering practices. He also shared the similarities and differences that shaped the Engineering profession of today.

“Dr. O’Connell’s discussion on ‘Engineering before Engineers’ highlighted how much of Engineering as we know it today was developed in the arts or was born of a social need,” Luthy said. “She not only presented their Engineering achievements but commented on how their character and interpersonal skills influenced their contributions.

“While not technical in nature, these lessons are still very much relevant in Engineering today.”