February 16, 2008
The 14 Biggest Engineering Problems Facing the Planet
Engineers (and would-be engineers), are you ready to roll up your sleeves?
At the AAAS annual meeting, the National Academy of Engineering issued a list of 14 “grand challenges” confronting the discipline and the world. These problems must be cracked in order to protect human health and the environment, and, basically, save the planet and civilization as we know it, an academy panel said.
The topics seem ripped from the headlines: developing sources of renewable energy, through solar power or fusion; pulling carbon from the atmosphere; providing clean water for the more than one billion people without it. The list may not contain surprises, but it offers an agenda for anyone interested in developing technology to provide solutions, the academy says.
More than 50 expert reviewers crafted the list, including some big names, like the Nobel laureate and environmental scientist Mario Molina of the University of California at San Diego; Larry Page, a founder of Google; and J. Craig Venter, a pioneer in mapping the human genome. The panel was led by William Perry, a former U.S. secretary of defense and now a professor of engineering at Stanford.
The authors didn’t rank the problems or suggest specific technological fixes to explore. Instead, they are inviting you to weigh in on whether the list is complete, through an online poll.
Two of the themes deal directly with education: expanding the use of virtual reality as an instructional tool and customizing teaching to individuals’ cognitive abilities.
Jeffrey Brainard | Posted on Saturday February 16, 2008 | Permalink
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