Lead through engineering
At Michigan, leadership isn’t a track. It’s integrated into the degree.
Today’s engineers need to both solve problems and lead the work to create solutions that are useful and real. Employers want engineers who can lead their organizations through an evolving, technology-driven world. University of Michigan Engineering graduates are ready to do both from day one. Because at Michigan, leadership development is integrated directly into the engineering curriculum.
“Graduates with strong leadership preparation tend to make an immediate impact. They take initiative, contribute more effectively within teams, and help drive innovation.”
— Nicole Van Paepeghem, Bosch Sr. Pipeline Marketing Specialist
Engineering leadership defined:
Combining technical knowledge with leadership capabilities to define problems, guide teams, make decisions and deliver optimal solutions
Become an engineering leader
University of Michigan Engineering builds leadership capabilities into the experience of every engineering student, not just those who opt in. Our students learn to communicate solutions clearly, lead teams through ambiguity, bring creative thinking to hard constraints and make decisions grounded in ethics.
At Michigan, you graduate ready to lead through your technical work, because great engineering demands leadership.
Members of the Michigan Baja team practiced leadership through teamwork, creative problem solving, persistence and learning from failure during a bumpy 2024-25 racing season.
“Learning how to extract value from failure and gain the grit required to solve tough problems is an important skill for an engineer.”
Jeff Walker (BS ME ‘10), General Motors engineering manager
Aerospace Engineering’s x88 class series gives students real-world leadership experience using Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to think holistically about complex products, requirements, tradeoffs and downstream decisions
“MBSE really forces you to think differently, more holistically, about the product you’re helping engineer. This program really gives the University of Michigan graduates a big advantage.”
David Taylor, Vice President for Industrial Strategy, Marketing and Global Execution at Siemens Digital Industries Software
The Center for Entrepreneurship helps aspiring entrepreneurs turn technical ideas into opportunities through community, mentorship, funding and practice making decisions under uncertainty.
“I like to tell people that my job as the CEO of Wave boils down to making two things: decisions and relationships.”
Jack Woods (electrical engineering student entrepreneur), WaveRF co-founder and CEO
Engineered for the future
As AI changes engineering practice, University of Michigan engineers differentiate themselves through the judgment they exercise.
University of Michigan Engineering prepares students to use emerging technologies while applying the critical thinking, judgment and ethics necessary to work in and shape an Al future. They will need to decide which problems are worth solving, evaluate AI-generated outputs, understand tradeoffs, communicate decisions and take responsibility for outcomes.
By design, Michigan Engineering’s six leadership practices equip students with the ability to:
- Start with real-world purpose, people and impact, accounting for the people engineering work serves and the ways it shapes our world
- See the big picture and define real problems before designing solutions
- Make plans, make decisions and set direction for projects, teams and technical work
- Communicate, collaborate with empathy and learn from all stakeholders, including peers, faculty, employers, communities and clients
- Exercise engineering judgment to weigh evidence, compare options, make tradeoffs and manage risk
- Own the outcomes of their engineering decisions by delivering results, taking responsibility through reflection and acting with integrity
Engineering is leadership work
At University of Michigan Engineering, students learn that engineering leadership does not happen by accident; it develops through repeated practice in real engineering work. By making the leadership dimensions of excellent engineering work visible through our six engineering leadership practices, we give students and faculty a shared framework for practicing, teaching and recognizing engineering leadership.
| Capability | Engineering activity | Leadership appears when… |
|---|---|---|
| Real-world purpose, people and impact | Solving a specified technical problem and meeting stated requirements. | Students ask what the right problem is, who counts as a stakeholder, who benefits or bears risk and what success should mean beyond meeting the specifications. |
| Big picture and real problem | Applying analysis, design methods or disciplinary tools to a given problem. | Students slow the rush to solutions, surface assumptions, set defensible boundaries, and help a team understand the larger system before acting. |
| Plans, decisions and direction | Completing assigned tasks and contributing to project progress. | Students convert ambiguity into shared goals, roles, priorities, milestones, decision criteria and next steps so they and others can act with clarity. |
| Communication, collaboration, empathy and stakeholder learning | Sharing technical information, dividing work and cooperating with teammates. | Students create the listening, trust, critique, inclusion and feedback conditions that allow technical work to become useful and trusted. |
| Engineering judgment, innovation and risk | Using technical expertise to analyze options, produce designs or evaluate results. | Students make defensible choices under uncertainty, explain tradeoffs, manage risk, innovate appropriately, and guide the team toward credible results. |
| Results, responsibility, reflection and adaptation | Finishing the assignment, build, test or deliverable. | Students own consequences, revisit assumptions, raise concerns, learn from evidence and feedback and adapt responsibly when the original plan no longer fits evidence, context or stakeholder needs. |
Frequently asked questions
How is engineering at the University of Michigan different from what other engineering schools offer?
Many engineering programs approach leadership development through optional courses or co-curricular programs. University of Michigan Engineering takes a broader approach, making leadership development an integral part of curricular and co-curricular experiences. Our six engineering leadership practices describe how leadership shows up in engineering work, and together, they form the foundation of what every Michigan Engineer learns to do.
Engineering core courses
Students work on engineering problems in real-world contexts, discuss tradeoffs and consequences, justify the models and boundaries they choose and explain why the analysis matters to the people it serves.
Labs & Hands-on learning
Students design experiments with purpose, generate high-integrity data, manage safety and quality, interpret results honestly and adapt when evidence does not match expectations.
Design & project experiences
Students work through ambiguity, generate ideas, weigh tradeoffs, test solutions and consider how deployment choices create consequences across a technology’s life cycle.
Research & advanced study
Students identify problems that need solving or further study, navigate ambiguity, defend claims, learn from critique and consider how new knowledge or technology might be used.
How is leadership development built into the University of Michigan engineering program?
University of Michigan Engineering students develop individual leadership roadmaps to explore the many ways they build leadership capabilities, including:
- Helping a project team define goals, manage ambiguity, weigh tradeoffs and make decisions under real constraints.
- Working with a company or community partner on a real engineering challenge.
- Joining a competition team.
- Participating in undergraduate research.
- Stepping up for a role in a student organization.
- Building communication and project management skills through experiential learning.
Students practice leadership capabilities across courses, labs, design, research, and experiential learning. A competency-based learning platform called Spire supports students’ leadership growth by providing a means to discover opportunities, reflect on experiences, document growth and earn credentials. Spire supports experiential learning and credentialing, while the leadership capabilities provide the shared language for engineering leadership development.
Do I have to participate in a specific program or class?
No. Leadership development at Michigan Engineering is not limited to one program or class. Whether it’s threaded into a learning module in your thermodynamics course, or you participate in one of our immersive programs outside the classroom, the options allow you to build a pathway that reflects your interests and goals
What are some of the ways outside the classroom that I can develop my leadership skills?
With dozens of programs and nearly 200 active student organizations, University of Michigan Engineering gives students many ways to practice leadership outside the classroom. Whether you want to join a competition team, travel abroad, work with a company or connect within your discipline, Immersed helps you find experiential learning opportunities that fit your goals.
Looking for ways to build leadership skills outside of class?
Why are leadership competencies important for an engineer?
Engineering is leadership work. University of Michigan engineering graduates will tackle complex problems that require attention to technical considerations alongside relevant social and contextual dimensions. According to employer data like the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report, employers across every sector — technology, energy, healthcare, research, entrepreneurship — consistently say the engineers they most want to hire and promote are the ones who combine technical excellence with the ability to lead, communicate and collaborate.
Do I still need leadership skills if I don’t want to be a manager or CEO?
Yes. The most successful engineers haven’t only mastered technical concepts. They know how to identify problems, make decisions in uncertainty, think with a systems perspective, bring creativity to constraints, and stay resilient and accountable to outcomes. At the University of Michigan College of Engineering you’ll learn to see your engineering work through a leadership lens.
Will I be able to talk about my leadership skills when I’m interviewing or applying to graduate programs?
Yes, and that’s a deliberate part of the experience. University of Michigan Engineering doesn’t just help you develop these capabilities; it helps you understand and articulate them. You’ll be able to speak concretely about how you’ve grown as a communicator, collaborator and leader, and connect that directly to your work as an engineer. That’s a meaningful advantage in any interview.
Does leadership training at University of Michigan Engineering make it take longer to get my degree?
No! Because leadership capability development is woven into courses and experiential opportunities, you can build your leadership roadmap without adding time to the degree.
How are leadership skills relevant for engineers in an AI-driven world?
As AI transforms engineering practice and takes on some technical tasks, graduates can differentiate themselves through engineering judgment: deciding which problems matter, evaluating AI-generated work and taking responsibility for outcomes. Future-ready engineers will not just use AI tools; they will decide which problems are worth solving, judge the quality of AI-generated work and take responsibility for what those tools help create. By bringing critical thinking, ethical reasoning and communication to decisions about what problems are worth solving, how AI outputs should be evaluated and who is responsible for outcomes, University of Michigan Engineers will be prepared to work in and shape an AI future.