Description: There’s a growing array of online degrees designed to educate aspiring engineers to build tomorrow's infrastructure and technology.
While engineering is traditionally associated with hands-on skills and training—designing, planning, building—there’s a growing array of online programs to educate aspiring professionals. There are two significant trends driving the growth of online engineering degrees: the robust demand for engineers and the increasing availability of distance education programs.
First, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS 2022) projects that between 2021 and 2031, several subfields of engineering will swell as fast, or faster, than the average growth projected for all occupations in the country (5 percent). These include information security (35 percent), computer and information research (21 percent), chemical engineering (14 percent), industrial engineering (10 percent), bioengineering and biomedical engineering (10 percent), civil engineering (7 percent), materials engineer
Second, the opportunities for online learning continue to flourish with the development of distance-based tools such as web simulations, software, e-books, streaming video, and widespread wifi connectivity. And the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly accelerated the move to online, effectively forcing institutions to adopt the distance-based model of instructional delivery in order to survive, at least in the short term.
Jeff Gill – Distinguished Professor, Department of Government, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Founding Director, Center
Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory |
Di Ma
Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory |
Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory |