What Makes an Engineering Education an Engineering Education?

Engineering education is distinct from education in other disciplines because it teaches the budding engineer to think in ways that other disciplines typically do not. The primary driver for that difference is the need for engineers to be able to perform engineering design. Engineering design requires knowledge of engineering science, how to use heuristics, and how to visualize a system that does not exist yet. These three traits partially demarcate engineering education from other disciplines. Furthermore, engineering education is based on a balance of non-engineering courses and engineering science courses, primarily knowing-that, versus the art and practice of engineering embodied in engineering design, knowing-how. This balance continues the demarcation of engineering education with respect to other disciplines. The required balance is hard to keep and has been nearly lost in the past. The realization that the balance between knowing-that and knowing-how is necessary also demarcates engineering education from other disciplines.