[luddaite]

I did my graduate school in engineering and saw many of the same problems. Projects were often done simply because the matched the "brand" of the lab, meaning that they used some technology that had been developed in the lab. The experiments were almost always done haphazardly with only good results being published. Additionally, any barriers that were encountered were overcome by de-scoping the paper (removing claims that require breaking through the barrier). At the end of the day, at least basic science contributes some amount of information (however small) to the body of knowledge. Engineering research can just produce waste because it doesn't even bother to search for a fundamental truth.

Edit: I think there is still a role for engineering academics. The most successful ones that I have seen are those that are motivated by chasing down specific scientific questions and developing technology that will enable them to find answers.

[antpls]

In an ideal world, any well formed experiment is a source of new information. You are supposed to have valided or rejected an hypothesis, and by sharing it, other people can build on that knowledge. We don't live in an ideal world, and people well-being, including rewards, feelings and hopes, must be placed before the ideal goal.

Of course, the usual solution to that issue is to formalize and robotize the process of research, which is probably what the world is slowing tending to.