I met today with my dissertation adviser and I think we made some progress. I’ve been struggling a lot with the topic I want to pursue, not because I don’t have any ideas but because I don’t want my dissertation to turn into a decades-long project. It looks like I am going to focus using engineering education and the EC 2000 criteria from ABET to evaluate organizational change. I’m interested in why some organizations change quickly, others do not, and some never do. What factors are involved?

Engineering education will provide the database for the study but it should have applications to many other areas. For example, how has military education changed as a result of the resurgence of counterinsurgency warfare? How will business practices change as a result of the current economic problems?