GCSP Importance & History
The Importance of Grand Challenges
Awards and recognition for hard work at Viterbi are important. Our curriculum is notably rigorous as a means of preparing the next generation of engineers prepared and willing to tackle the biggest issues our global community face. "Engineering a Better World" is not just a saying at Viterbi- it is a part of our mission. The Grand Challenges Scholars Program and its international network of engineering schools (the GCSP Network), was founded by three engineering Deans who all at one point were prominent members of the Viterbi Family. One of those founders, Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, has remained with us at Viterbi and leads the charge in the continual effort to develop Viterbi to be best positioned to train students to address Grand Challenges.
GCSP was created to address the 14 Grand Challenges that the National Academy of Engineering identified in 2008. Though our societal challenges have morphed and multiplied since 2008, the mission is still the same: develop well-rounded engineers who, using engineering, knowledge, and technical abilities, can work across discipline and cultures to leverage phenomenon for useful purposes. So while accolades are important for developing careers and getting to the next level of the academic journey should a student choose to pursue an advanced degree, we truly want students to engage in GCSP to find purpose and help move society forward by tackling the tough issues head on. We do not expect every student to solve the worlds problems in just four years at Viterbi- but you can make a meaningful start for yourself and others!
GCSP was founded in 2009 by engineering Deans Yannis C. Yortsos (USC), Thomas Katsouleas (Duke), and Richard K. Miller (Olin College) in response to the National Academy of Engineering’s 14 Grand Challenges. The three Deans came together to envision an udergraduate program that encouraged and prepared the next generation of engineers to tackle societies most pressing challenges.
Since its conception at the 2009 Engineering Deans summit in Durham, South Carolina, GCSP has grown to include 100+ engineering schools across the globe, graduating the next generation of engineers prepared to tackle societies most pressing challenges. Each year, GCSP institutions come together to celebrate successes, challenges, ideas, practices, and research at the GCSP Annual Meeting.
As the home for GCSP, USC Viterbi has engineered its undergraduate experience to provide students meaningful opportuntites to develop the skills necessary to approach solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. The Viterbi curriculum being based on the concept of Engineering+ is by no accident and places the Grand Challenges, along with the expereinces necessary to meet the Five Mindsets right at the students' fingertips. A student at Viterbi should be confident that they will be on the path to engineering change and have the opportunity to become Designated a Grand Challenges Scholar.
The Student Responsibility in Pursuing Grand Challenges
It is no secret that our world continually faces many challenges. Technology, ethics, health, natural disasters, security, wellbeing- these things and more are topics that the engineer of tomorrow must be increasingly more prepared to address in multifaceted, collaborative ways. What's more is that the challenges of yesterday have morphed into the challenges of today, with different dimensions and complexities. This will again be true when we consider the challenges of tomorrow.
Viterbi students receive a world-class education to become technical subject experts with the tools to shape the world; but engineering alone is not capable of solving all we are faced with in the modern world. To be true change agents, our students must use engineering as the foundation for their interactions with the rest of of the world. Engineering acts as the toolset that allows for creation and innovation using the many perspectives one gains along their journey. We ask students looking to be considered Grand Challenges Scholars to engage in the five Mindsets needed to solve for Grand Challenges not as a passive activity, but with the intention of connecting domains of knowledge to one day develop the solutions we all need.
Not everyone is fortunate to call themselves and engineer, and even fewer have the priviledge to say they are a Viterbi trained engineer. Viterbi GCSP students have earned this unique responsibility. We asked that you remember this on your journey through the five Mindsts and look to create deep meaning in your experiences not just for the sake of receiving Designation, but for being a leader capable of engineering a better world. That is the true spirit of the Grand Challenges Scholars Program.