Engineering is grounded in reality. If you break the laws then bad things happen. August 29 2007 was the 100th anniversary of when an RPI grad's negligence killed about 75 people.

They were workers on the record-breaking cantilever bridge across the St Lawrence River at Quebec City. Theodore Cooper, an RPI grad a leading American civil engineer, was the chief architect. However, he was 70 years old and was managing the project from New York City.

Therefore when the free ends of the two halves of the incomplete bridge started drooping because of under-design caused by cost cutting, he didn't realize its seriousness. Then, in August 1907, the bridge collapsed. Refs: 1, 2.

Nevertheless, most of our grads are excellent, see Famous Alumni. Roebling's Brooklyn Bridge is still standing. I had to go back 100 years to find this example.