Frontiers in education—have we made a difference? If so, what?

The IEEE Education Society started the Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) in 1971, a time of concern for its survival for financial and membership reasons, a time of unrest in the engineering education community around the world, and as is so common, a time of great challenge and opportunities. FIE began with about 100 attendees in Atlanta, led by Demetrius Paris. It expanded by adding the Educational Research and Methods (ERM) Division of ASEE in 1973, and the IEEE Computer Society (CS) in 1995. FIE ventured outside the USA in 1974, and continued taking on new challenges, and by giving young scholars in engineering education research a venue for interaction and evaluation of their work. These scholars are asking good questions-important questions, questions that challenge us all, and are getting answers that are improving our education. In turn, these answers lead to new and more challenging questions. This is a journey, not a destination. While not the only contributor, this conference has made a difference-it is small enough for much interaction, big enough for bringing together new scholars with “old-timers.” Both authors have complete files of all FIE Proceedings. Some of this history will be traced, but the emphasis will be on results and a look at the future.