Does Engineering Education Make Students Cynical?

Engineering students become less interested in the public welfare during the course of their time in college, according to a study by a Erin Cech, an assistant professor at Rice University who has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. Her study will appear soon in the journal Science, Technology and Human Values. Cech's research was based on surveys tracking attitudes of engineering students at four colleges. She sees a "culture of disengagement" that grows during college.