Charles C. Nguyen: Pope Francis Has Spoken to the Engineering Profession in His Encyclical

In the last three years, I attended the annual meetings of the Engineering Deans of Catholic Colleges and Universities (EDCU) in the U.S. and had the honor to serve as organizing co-chair of the last meeting that took place at Villanova University in April 2015. These meetings provided valuable opportunities for deans to exchange experiences and to discuss issues, challenges, and trends unique to engineering education at Catholic institutions.

Charles C. Nguyen

Meeting agendas usually included a session on Catholic mission in which the deans presented and discussed their school activities aimed at serving the mission of the Church. The deans debated among themselves that engineering by the nature of its profession in aiding humankind and protecting the common good naturally serves the Catholic mission. Supporting examples could include efforts in drinking-water treatment, development of alternative energy sources, and building efficient automobiles with minimum pollution.

During the meeting at Villanova, the deans discussed Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Sí, particularly as it pertains to the Pope’s concerns on climate change. We believed that in his encyclical, the Pope talked directly to the engineering profession and provided engineers and engineering educators with ideas to improve the engineering discipline structure and teaching methodologies to deal with climate change. After the meeting, the deans continued the dialog on the encyclical, and explored inter-school collaborations to respond to the Pope’s call on climate change. As a start, we decided to work together to publish an op-ed in the U.S. News & World Report to express our view on the Pope’s encyclical. All deans commented on and contributed to the initial draft and after several revisions, endorsed the final version of the article. The op-ed was titled “How Can Engineers Heed Pope Francis’ Challenge on Climate Change?”

The op-ed pointed out that while Catholic engineering schools have focused on producing ethical and competent engineers inspired to provide service to others and capable of employing technologies to solve issues, they still “must learn to see problems from an interdependent perspective that goes beyond ‘helping others’ to consider what he (Pope Francis) has coined our ‘integral ecology’.” It further noted that over-specialization of engineering disciplines makes it difficult to see the world as an interconnected and interdependent entity. The op-ed concluded with a call for action from Pope Francis’s encyclical for all engineering educators to produce a new generation of engineers who do not only possess the relevant skills but also have the sense of duty to protect the earth.

We at the School of Engineering at The Catholic University of America are very proud that our research and educational programs are involved in tackling issues that Pope Francis emphasized in his encyclical. Our research programs in environmental engineering aim at preserving the earth and providing clean drinking water. Our degree track in alternative and renewable energy helps to reduce waste and minimize pollution. Our world-renowned research program in robotic rehabilitation provides assistance to patients with brain injury. Our active Engineers Without Borders chapter has organized humanitarian missions for our students to go to developing countries to help improve their quality of life.

For me personally, after being with CUA for 33 years, I feel very fortunate to witness two papal visits to our campus.  During the last papal visit by Pope Benedict in 2008, after it was announced that the Pope would enter his lecture room through one of the three doors (for security reasons, I guess), I decided to go to the third far right door hoping to greet him.  Luckily I was able to touch the hand of Pope Benedict after he entered that same door. Lucky me! This time, the visit of Pope Francis is not only a great honor to CUA, but for me personally, I will be very happy and honored to see our Holy Father who is able to speak to the heart of my profession, the engineering profession. I look forward to the visit of Pope Francis and want to see how lucky I will be this time.

– Charles C. Nguyen is a Professor and Dean of The Catholic University of America School of Engineering