Those working in Engineering for Global Development seek to improve the conditions in under-served regions. A common metric for understanding the development state of a given country is the Human Development Index (HDI), which focuses on three dimensions: health, education, and income. An engineers' expertise do not always align with any of those dimensions directly, while they still hope to perform impactful work for human development. To discover other areas of expertise that are highly associated with the HDI, correlations and variable selection were performed between all World Development Indicators and the HDI. The resultant associations are presented according to industry sector for a straightforward connection to engineering expertise, such that they can be used during opportunity development where associated areas of expertise act as surrogates for focusing on the HDI dimensions themselves. The data analysis shows that work related to \`\`Natural Resources and Mining", such as agriculture or access to clean water, and \`\`Trade, Transportation, and Utilities", such as electricity distribution or basic sanitation services, are most commonly associated with improvements in the HDI in developing countries. Also, because the associations were discovered at country-level, they geographically direct where particular areas of expertise have been historically associated with improving HDI.


Identifying High-Potential Work Areas in Engineering for Global Development: Linking Industry Sectors to the Human Development Index

Division / Sponsors: 
Design Engineering Division and Computers & Information In Engineering Division


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2020/volume/83907

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