A refractory engineering program for the 21 st century

Open Ceramics, vol. 15, pp. 100387

Abstract

The Federation for International Refractory Research and Education (FIRE) has been conceptualized twenty years ago. At the time, its purpose was to maintain the training of graduated engineers to enroll and to adapt to the new business plans in the refractory industry. It was the blooming of the Information Age, of the knowledge workers. This paper is about the need to adjust to a new era, knowing that the benefit of education prime value is its long-term value. To have an outer and an inner vision about innovation, the first part of the paper is concerned about how do we learn and how our brain rules. In the second part we try to anticipate the customers’ needs trying to surf with them on the Ecology wave, including the Environment, Energy, Economy, and Ethics other waves. Accepting that this is already brewing at an accelerated rate, the conclusion is that FIRE and the other educators need to continue mimicking the CDIO (Conceive Design Implement Operate) approach which has inspired us for the last 20 years, for another 20 years, to adjust to the Conceptual Age in order to educate the creators and the empathizers who will direct the flow, in the refractory industry.

Authors 5

1. Michel Rigaud

   Polytechnique Montréal · Université de Montréal

   Affiliation as printed

   École Polytechnique, Campus UdeM, Montréal, H3C 4A7, Qc, Canada

2. Jacques Poirier corresponding

   Conditions Extrêmes et Matériaux Haute Température et Irradiation

   Affiliation as printed

   CEMHTI, ID avenue de la Recherche Scientifique, 45071, Orléans, Cedex 2, France

3. Marc Huger

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Institut de Recherche sur les Céramiques · Université de Limoges

   Affiliation as printed

   IRCER, UMR CNRS 7315, Université de Limoges, CEC, 12 rue Atlantis, 87068, Limoges, France

4. Thorsten Tonnesen Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH, Aachen University, Aachen, D-52064, Germany

5. V. C. Pandolfelli

   Universidade Federal de São Carlos

   Affiliation as printed

   GEMM, University Federal of Sao Carlos, CP 676, Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil