A steering committee for the project was established in December 2001 by the NAE president to guide the work. The committee met four times over the course of the following year and developed a plan for a three-day workshop on the future of engineering that was held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in fall 2002. Thirty-five participants took part in the workshop representing a range of different disciplines, age groups, and points of view (see Appendix B). Keynote addresses were given by Phil Condit, Bran Ferren, and Shirley Ann Jackson.

At the outset it was agreed that predicting the future with any exactitude is not possible. Hence, scenario-based strategic planning was used to help the participants think broadly about events and issues that could shape the future. Peter Schwartz, a well-known author and strategic planning consultant, served as moderator and facilitator. During the course of the workshop, four scenarios were considered, each of which was thought to capture trends that could dramatically affect the way the future would unfold. All of the scenarios recognized that pending breakthroughs in technology from fields like nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials, computing, and logistics would be factors engendering change regardless of other conditions. It was understood that 2020 might reflect any one of the scenarios, some combination of them, or none of them. Their purpose was primarily realized through the process, which helped expand our appreciation of possibilities for the future and assisted in thinking about the future of engineering in these terms. The scenarios examine transformational changes that could derive from life-altering developments across several technological fronts, dramatic breakthroughs in biotechnology, a major natural disaster, and world division driven by growth in religious fundamentalism.

After the workshop, members of the steering committee were assigned the task of writing the report. A final meeting of the committee was held in December 2002 to critique the work of the writing groups. The final draft report was informed using the workshop keynote presentations, discussions, and scenarios as well as a steering committee consensus about new technologies that are likely to significantly influence the future course of engineering. Following the last meeting, a smaller group of the steering committee took on the task of editing the report for publication.

It is notable that this report posits a statement of aspirations for the engineer of 2020 and closes with a statement of attributes thought suitable for the engineer of 2020 that match the aspirations. The final two