Training for the Next Wave

This article focuses on various aspects of an ecosystem that can accelerate the training, which the engineering workforce needs to realize and sustain complex systems. Several science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) improvement and pilot academic engineering programs have been proposed to address some of the needs and challenges of the high-tech workforce. Companies have launched their own educational programs to address some of the reskilling and large-scale system integration needs of complex systems. A step towards the implementation of the comprehensive strategy is the development of Intelligent Cyber-Physical Engineering Ecosystems to advance collaboration among engineering and research institutions, industry, professional societies, and other stakeholders working on complex systems. The ecosystems will consist of large numbers of distributed interacting components that are continually updated and expanded. The ecosystems are expected to grow and to reach unanticipated levels of complexity because of the relations among the continually expanding individual components. The ecosystems are expected to provide knowledge-rich, immersive environments for integrating engineering practice with learning, training, and workforce development needed for complex systems.