ISTEP’s Engineering Communication Program (ECP) has earned the Alfred N. Goldsmith Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Communication.

The award is the flagship honour of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Professional Communication Society. It recognizes an outstanding commitment to innovation, advancement and sustained contributions to the field of engineering communication.

This is only the third time the Goldsmith Award has gone to an entire group, as opposed to an individual, in the award’s nearly 50-year history. This places the ECP on an international level alongside past recipients such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Engineers Without Borders U.S.A.

“I have had the pleasure of engaging in several collaborations with different members of the ECP team and observed not only each member’s individual strengths, but also their collective wisdom in building meaningful learning experiences for students,” says Professor Lisa Romkey, Associate Director of Graduate Studies, ISTEP.

“They help students use communication not only as representation, but as a mechanism of advancing the products and processes of engineering,” she adds.

The ECP team includes full-time faculty members, as well as sessional lecturers, writing instructors and teaching assistants who work closely with students to provide:

• core engineering communication courses, customized for each of the nine undergraduate engineering departments
• additional elective courses for students who want to pursue further mastery
• one-on-one tutoring sessions
• additional supports for graduate students

Professor Alan Chong, current Director of the ECP and Associate Director, Undergraduate of ISTEP, elaborates on the team’s unique approach.

“ECP’s work is informed by the belief that strong and clear communication underlies successful engineering and technological practices, and that communication instruction must be deeply embedded within engineering curricula in a way that accurately reflects the unique context of each discipline,” he says.

The ECP’s commitment to advancing communication as a foundational engineering skill extends beyond the classroom, encompassing weekend workshops, support with job-search documents and materials tailored for English Language Learning students.

“It is important that we are flexible to meet the needs of our students in whatever way best serves them, and that we are able to adapt our services as those needs shift over time,” says Chong.

“Initially, when the ECP was formed, there was some work to be done convincing students of the importance of strong communication skills. While that work is now largely complete, the emergence of new technologies, such as GenAI, presents new challenges and opportunities.

“It raises the floor for expectations around engineering communication skills, giving us opportunities to teach students even more advanced strategies for critically assessing and producing communication artifacts.”

For over 25 years, the ECP has impacted the experiences of countless engineering students, helping them acquire the fundamental skills and confidence needed to thrive in their professional lives.

“The Goldsmith Award acknowledges our pioneering work in integrating communication instruction with engineering curricula,” says Chong.

“It is a huge honour, and it leaves us more excited and energized than ever to face an incredibly dynamic landscape for engineering communication.”