Letter from the Guest Editor:

By Dr. Angela S. Lindner, Associate Professor, Environmental Engineering Sciences

Engineering at the University of Florida:  An Opportunity to Embrace the “Second Mile”

In 1941, Dr. William E. Wickenden, then President of the Case School of Applied Science (Case Institute of Technology), gave a speech, entitled “The Second Mile,” to the Engineering Institute of Canada.  He entreated engineers to commit to travel not only what he termed as “the first mile,” composed of our tasks and duties that ensure our survival, but also “the second mile” of “voluntary effort,” where “people strive for special excellence, seek self-expression more than material gain, and give that unrequited margin of service to the common good which alone can invest work with a wide and enduring significance.”  Dr. Wickenden recognized the essential bridging of technology and culture and the vital role that engineers must play in ensuring a smooth juncture between the two.  Engineers, he said, must “know the meaning of literary and art forms,” while those in the arts and humanities must understand the “fundamental meanings of technology.”  One of the most important cultural contributions of engineers, Dr. Wickenden stated, is the interpretation of technology in terms that all citizens may understand.

Today, the face of engineering is reflected in the rapidly increasing changes and complexity of technology that, in turn, is rapidly altering the habits of society. 

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