NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418
NOTICE: The National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a private nonprofit institution, was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) as a parallel organization of distinguished engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in its selection of members, sharing with the NAS the responsibility of advising the federal government on scientific and technical matters; this mandate is carried out through joint supervision of the National Research Council. The NAE also sponsors an independent study program aimed at meeting national needs, encourages engineering education and research, and recognizes the superior achievement of engineers. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the NAE.
This publication has been reviewed according to procedures approved by a National Academy of Engineering report review process. Publication of signed work signifies that it is judged a competent and useful contribution worthy of public consideration, but it does not imply endorsement of conclusions or recommendations by the NAE. The interpretations and conclusions in such publications are those of the authors and do not purport to represent the views of the council, officers, or staff of the National Academy of Engineering.
Funding for the activity that led to this publication was provided by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, and National Academy of Engineering Fund.
International Standard Book Number 0-309-06287-X
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 99-60544
Copyright 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
ROBERT H. WAGONER (Chair), Professor,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ohio State University
FRANCES H. ARNOLD, Professor,
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
SUSAN CORWIN, Director,
Computing Enhancement Architecture Lab, Intel Corporation
KENNETH Y. GOLDBERG, Associate Professor,
Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of California, Berkeley
CONNIE L. GUTOWSKI, Windstar Chassis Manager,
Ford Motor Company
ROBERT D. HOWE, Associate Professor,
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
PARVIZ MOIN, Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
JUN NI, Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Director, Wu Manufacturing Research Center, and Director, NSF-I/UCR Center
RICHARD S. PARNAS, Group Leader,
Polymer Composites, National Institute of Standards and Technology
ELSA REICHMANIS, Head,
Polymer and Organic Materials Research Department, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
JAMES G. SCHROTH, Staff Research Engineer,
General Motors R&D Center
EVA M. SEVICK-MURACA, Associate Professor,
School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University
Staff
JANET R. HUNZIKER, Program Officer
MARY W. L. KUTRUFF, Administrative Assistant
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PREFACE
In 1995 the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) initiated the Frontiers of Engineering Symposium program, which brings together 100 of the nation's future engineering leaders to learn about cutting-edge research and technical work in different engineering fields. On September 17-19, 1998, the NAE hosted its fourth Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. This book contains summary papers of the presentations given at that meeting. The intent of this book, and of the three that precede it in the series, is to describe the content and underpinning philosophy of this unique meeting and to highlight the kinds of pioneering research and technical work being done today.
Goals of Frontiers of Engineering
The practice of engineering is changing. Not only must engineers be able to thrive in an environment of rapid technological change and globalization, but engineering is becoming more interdisciplinary. The frontiers of engineering are frequently occurring at the intersections of engineering disciplines, which compels researchers and practitioners alike to be aware of developments and challenges in areas other than their own.
At the three-day Frontiers of Engineering symposium, 100 of this country's best and brightest engineers, ages 30 to 45, learn from their peers about what is happening at the leading edge of engineering. This has great value for the participants in a couple of ways. First, it broadens their knowledge of current developments in other fields of engineering, leading to insights that may be applicable to the furthering of their own work. Second, because the engineers come from a variety of institutions in academia, industry, and government and
from many different engineering disciplines, it allows them to make contacts with and learn from individuals whom they would not ordinarily meet in their usual round of professional meetings. This networking, it is hoped, will lead to collaborative work, facilitating the transfer of new techniques and approaches across fields.
The number of participants at each meeting is kept at 100 to maximize the opportunities for interaction and exchange among the attendees, who are invited to attend after a competitive nomination and selection process. The choice of topics and speakers for each year's meeting is carried out by an organizing committee composed of engineers in the same 30- to 45-year-old cohort as the participants. Each year different topics are covered and, with few exceptions, different individuals participate.
The speakers at the Frontiers of Engineering symposium have a unique challenge—to make the excitement of their field accessible to a technically sophisticated but nonspecialist audience. To achieve the objectives of the meeting, speakers are asked to provide a brief overview of their fields and to address such questions as: What are the frontiers in your field? What experiments, prototypes, and design studies are completed and in progress? What new tools and methodologies are being used? What are the current limitations on advances? What are the controversies? What is the theoretical, commercial, societal, and long-term significance of the work? Many elements of these topics are captured in the papers as well.
Content of the Fourth Annual Symposium
Biomimetic robotic locomotion, tissue engineering, computational materials science, and simulation in manufacturing aluminum parts were just a few of the topics covered at the 1998 symposium. The four broad areas covered were biomaterials and optical engineering for biomedicine, advanced materials, simulation in manufacturing, and robotics. Presenters in the bio session talked about the challenges of creating living multidimensional tissues and organs, such as a liver; engineering macromolecular materials that combine the different virtues of natural and synthetic polymers; the benefits of optical coherence tomography, a type of optical biopsy that provides images of tissue in situ and in real time; and development of a confocal scanning laser microscope for the diagnosis of skin cancer without biopsy. The advanced materials session began with a presentation on current computational techniques being used to investigate the structure, dynamics, and properties of materials. This was followed by presentations on developments in advanced materials for applications in the integrated circuit and steel industries. Speakers in the session on simulation in manufacturing covered techniques used in the design of next generation engines for military aircraft, for analyzing surface roughness in formed aluminum parts, and for monitoring machine performance at remote sites in order to provide better service. In the
robotics session, robot algorithms were discussed as well as applications such as snake-like robots that could assist in urban search-and-rescue operations following earthquakes, Mars rovers, and cobots—collaborative robots that interact with a human operator in a shared workspace. (See Appendixes for complete program.)
As in past years, there were lively discussions both during the question-and-answer sessions that followed each presentation and at breaks and mealtimes. The topics covered during these times ranged from technical questions to broader public policy issues related to engineering. For the second year in a row, the program included a tour of the Beckman Laser Institute.
William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense and Berberian Professor of Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research at Stanford University, provided an insightful after-dinner address on the first evening of the symposium. His presentation, which is included in this volume, addressed the topic of technology innovation and American leadership. In it he cited examples of how innovations have played a critical role in the U.S. economy and national security and also described how technology is used not just for making weapons but also in national security decisionmaking. In conclusion, Dr. Perry quoted C. P. Snow, who wrote: "Technology is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other." Dr. Perry noted that it is the emerging role of systems engineers to ensure that technology fulfills the former and guards against the latter.
As part of the ongoing process of seeking ways to make these meetings even more useful to participants, the attendees were asked to evaluate the Frontiers symposium. This feedback once again confirmed the value of the event. Attendees found that being informed about engineering areas they were not as familiar with was very useful and had the potential to affect their research and technical work. Others noted that the opportunity to interact with engineers from other sectors and disciplines was broadening and inspiring. It is clear that the symposium assessments by participants are very positive, and a survey is planned to solicit information on longer-term impacts of attending the meeting (e.g., collaborative work that has resulted from a contact there).
Funding for the Fourth Annual Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and NAE funds. The National Academy of Engineering would like to express its appreciation to NSF and DOD for supporting the symposium as well as to the members of the Symposium Organizing Committee (see p. iii) for their work in planning and organizing the event.
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CONTENTS
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Role of Simulation in the Design of Next-Generation Engines for Military Aircraft |
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Role of Simulation in Understanding Surface Roughness in Formed Aluminum Parts |
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Machine Performance Assessment Methodology and Advanced Service Technologies |
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A Brief History of Robotics |
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Algorithms in Robotics: The Motion Planning Perspective |
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Mechanics, Control, and Applications of Biomimetic Robotic Locomotion |
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Robotic Perception for Autonomous Navigation of Mars Rovers |
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Cobots |
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Technology Innovation and American Leadership |
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