THE WORLD NEEDS ENGINEERS ON WALL STREET

• Published in: ASEE prism Vol. 29; no. 8; p. 56
• Main Author: Adriaens, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION 01-07-2020
• Subjects: Algorithms; Automation; Bank technology; Change management; Data acquisition; Decision making; Design specifications; Engineering education; Engineering schools; Engineers; Finance; Infrastructure; Internet of Things; Inventions; Investment; Microeconomics; Mortgage companies; Optimization; Private Sector; Productivity; Skills; Society; STEM professions; Sustainability; Water
• ISSN: 1056-8077; 1930-6148

A recent New York finance conference on sustainable infrastructure and the Internet of Things (IoT) revealed that 28 percent of incoming employees hired by the big brokerage houses were engineers and data scientists. Data is upending traditional disciplines and opening doors for new engineering careers as finance becomes "a technology," driven by algorithms and insights gleaned from data. At the same time, the role of engineering has grown beyond a narrow technical focus. Engineers are increasingly expected to manage change, and place their skills and inventions in a socioeconomic context. In today's data-driven society, where technological innovations impact the way business is conducted and how people communicate, the digitization of finance is fundamentally transforming and leveraging the value of engineering education. It connects technology, data acquisition, processing, optimization, prediction, automation, and risk-based decision-making, all core engineering skills. Knowledge of finance will help engineers contribute their ingenuity toward building a more equitable and sustainable future.