Focusing on the overlaps between engineering and science fiction, it is important to consider the multiple crossovers between these two fields of study: both contain a sustained focus on technology and its application to real-world problems; both consider the impact of new technologies on humans, animals, and the surrounding environment; and, perhaps most importantly, both imagine future worlds in order to build infrastructures, social structures, industry, and cultural practices capable of addressing current and future technological, political, social, and environmental crises.

The curriculum will showcase how creative writing connects to, and enhances, critical thinking in engineering. We will cover major concepts in science fiction (e.g., biomedical breakthroughs, artificial intelligence, terraforming planets) to study the ways its stories have explored, questioned, predicted, and even inspired elements from various engineering disciplines. We will seek to gain an understanding of how science fiction allows us to reflect on engineering practice and ethics, projecting the societal and environmental impacts of untested technologies. We will develop critical reading and academic writing skills to explain the importance of imagining what we intend to build as a prerequisite to building.