Structural design education for the 21st century

The paper discusses the future of the structural design education. It provi des a brief description of the present situation and of factors shaping it, including information technology. Next, a vision of a future structural en gineer is presented and his/her major desired abilities are identified Stru ctural design education is divided into teaching conceptual and detailed de sign. In the first area, design and inventive engineering arc briefly discu ssed, including the initial teaching experience. In the area of teaching de tailed design, three network-oriented computer tools, Dr. Structure. OleSte el, and Engineering Mechanics Digital Library, are overviewed. The first on e it-as developed at George Mason University, while the remaining two at th e Catholic University of America. Also, the initial experience with using a ll three tools is discussed.