After yet another packed day, there is much to reflect on. We visited the Central Bohemian Innovation Centre in the morning, then participated in Czech classes at the Charles University, ending the day with a scavenger hunt which sent us all around Prague. We are fortunate enough to attend classes at the world renowned Charles University while we are here in Prague. The Charles University is known for its studies in humanities and social sciences, and we are engineers, so how is this valuable to us?
Well, often times these lectures will give us clarity and reason for all the technical studies that we do back in Pittsburgh. Both the language and culture classes we have been immersed in have given us a background to understand why the Czech people build and engineer the things that they do, and oftentimes it is only in these sorts of classes were you can tie together the technical designs with the true meaning for the citizens. As an engineer, it is important to be conscious of the social, political, and cultural meanings behind the things we design, both to serve those which we design for, but also to design ethically. Through experiences like the ones we are having in Prague, we are able to get a look into the important human aspect of the technical designs we create.
Swanson School of Engineering 