National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

FRONTIERS OF ENGINEERING

REPORTS ON LEADING-EDGE ENGINEERING FROM THE 2007 SYMPOSIUM

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: 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 Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense–DDR&E-Research, National Science Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, Cummins, Inc., and Dr. John A. Armstrong.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-11253-6

International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-11253-2

Additional copies of this report are available from

The National Academies Press,

500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright © 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine


The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.


The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.


The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.


The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.


www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

JULIA M. PHILLIPS (Chair), Director,

Physical, Chemical, and Nano Sciences Center, Sandia National Laboratories

ANA I. ANTÓN, Associate Professor,

Department of Computer Science, North Carolina State University

JOHN DUNAGAN, Researcher,

Distributed Systems and Security Group, Microsoft Research

RICHARD T. ELANDER, Advanced Pretreatment Team Leader,

BioProcess Engineering Group, National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

CHRISTIAN LEBIERE, Research Scientist,

Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

DONALD J. LEO, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies,

College of Engineering, Virginia Tech

CAROL R. REGO, Vice President,

CDM

VIJAY SINGH, Associate Professor,

Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PAUL K. WESTERHOFF, Professor,

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University

ROBERT WRAY, Chief Scientist,

Soar Technology

Staff

JANET R. HUNZIKER, Senior Program Officer

VIRGINIA R. BACON, Senior Program Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

Preface

This volume highlights the papers presented at the National Academy of Engineering’s 2007 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. Every year, the symposium brings together 100 outstanding young leaders in engineering to share their cutting-edge research and technical work. The 2007 symposium was held September 24-26, and was hosted by Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington. Speakers were asked to prepare extended summaries of their presentations, which are reprinted here. The intent of this volume, and of the volumes that preceded it in the series, is to convey the excitement of this unique meeting and to highlight cutting-edge developments in engineering research and technical work.

GOALS OF THE FRONTIERS OF ENGINEERING PROGRAM

The practice of engineering is continually changing. Engineers today must be able not only to thrive in an environment of rapid technological change and globalization, but also to work on interdisciplinary teams. Cutting-edge research is being done at the intersections of engineering disciplines, and successful researchers and practitioners must be aware of developments and challenges in areas other than their own.

At the 2-1/2–day U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, 100 of this country’s best and brightest engineers, ages 30 to 45, have an opportunity to learn from their peers about pioneering work being done in many areas of engineering. The

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

symposium gives engineers from a variety of institutions in academia, industry, and government, and from many different engineering disciplines, an opportunity to make contacts with and learn from individuals whom they would not meet in the usual round of professional meetings. This networking may lead to collaborative work and facilitate the transfer of new techniques and approaches. It is hoped that the exchange of information on current developments in many fields of engineering will lead to insights that may be applicable in specific disciplines.

The number of participants at each meeting is limited to 100 to maximize opportunities for interactions and exchanges among the attendees, who are chosen through a competitive nomination and selection process. The choice of topics and speakers for each meeting is made 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 a few exceptions, different individuals participate.

Speakers describe the challenges they face and communicate the excitement of their work to a technically sophisticated, but non-specialized audience. Each speaker provides a brief overview of his/her field of inquiry; defines the frontiers of that field; describes experiments, prototypes, and design studies that have been completed or are in progress, as well as new tools and methodologies, and limitations and controversies; and summarizes the long-term significance of his/her work.

THE 2007 SYMPOSIUM

The five general topics covered at the 2007 meeting were: engineering trustworthy computer systems, control of protein conformations, biotechnology for fuels and chemicals, modeling and simulating human behavior, and safe water technologies. The Engineering Trustworthy Computer Systems session focused on the security challenges of current computing infrastructure. Speakers described new software engineering tools and technologies to improve computer security and the public policy issue of whether owners of devices have the right to tinker with them, which might lead to the discovery of system vulnerabilities and, ultimately, to more trustworthy systems.

Control of protein conformations has been made possible by advances in imaging technologies and techniques using mechanical, optical, and magnetic forces to manipulate proteins directly in order to control protein function. These advances are important because understanding cell signaling and protein-protein interactions is central to understanding the properties of biological systems. The presentations described these techniques and their impact on applications in drug discovery, vaccine development, and new methods for tunable biosensors and bioassays.

There is growing concern about the United States’ dependence on imported petroleum for its energy and chemical feedstock supply, particularly in terms of availability and security of future petroleum supplies and impacts of a

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

petrochemical-based economy on the climate. Talks in the session on biotechnology for fuels and chemicals covered the development and commercial deployment of renewable, sustainable, and cost-effective technologies to meet transportation fuel and chemical feedstock needs. Presenters covered applications of corn products in the polymer and pharmaceutical industries, cosmetics, and drug delivery; biochemical processes, operations, and trends in converting biomass to ethanol; and sustainable biorefineries.

The Modeling and Simulating Human Behavior presentations described how advances in functional brain imaging techniques, computational cognitive architectures, and artificial intelligence have led to a better understanding of brain organization and human performance. With the convergence of disciplines in this field, researchers are contributing to the building of an empirical and computational framework for understanding, modeling, and simulating human behavior. Speakers described the current state and future outlook for research in this area and applications for military training and serious games.

The final session was on safe water technologies. In the United States, approximately 40 billion gallons of water are treated to drinking water standards every day. As safe water resources become scarcer globally and in the United States, it has become increasingly important to create inexpensive, high-volume, and dependable water treatment technologies. Three of the talks featured the latest advances in three technologies for producing high-quality water—ultraviolet irradiation, membrane processes, and biological water treatment. In the final talk, the speaker described challenges in managing the water distribution system, the final frontier in providing safe water to consumers.

In addition to these plenary sessions, there were many opportunities for more informal interactions, including breakout sessions on the first afternoon where participants discussed such issues as, What does sustainability mean for the engineering community? How does one balance family life with a demanding engineering career? What is the role of the social sciences in engineering? How does one balance rigor and creativity in information technology, science, engineering, and design? How can we better prepare Ph.D. engineers for the competitive global marketplace? What are the responsibilities of engineers as members of society, and how are those responsibilities carried out? A summary of the discussions from the breakout groups is included in the Appendixes. On the second afternoon, Microsoft Research engineers and scientists set up a number of displays and demos about research they are doing in surface computing, web security, tablet PCs, and visualization of data in graphs and charts. Participants circulated among the displays and asked questions about the various technologies.

Every year, a distinguished engineer addresses the participants at dinner on the first evening of the symposium. The speaker this year, Henrique (Rico) Malvar, managing director of Microsoft Research, gave the talk. His description of Microsoft Research’s operational underpinnings—an open academic model, long-term focus, informal atmosphere of exchange between researchers and

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

product-development groups, and recruitment of world-class researchers with diverse backgrounds—provided valuable insight into how one corporate research entity organizes itself to achieve its goals.

NAE is deeply grateful to the following organizations for their support of the 2007 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium: Microsoft Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense–DDR&E-Research, National Science Foundation, Cummins Inc., and Dr. John A. Armstrong. NAE would also like to thank the members of the Symposium Organizing Committee (p. iv), chaired by Dr. Julia M. Phillips, for planning and organizing the event.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

Contents

ENGINEERING TRUSTWORTHY COMPUTER SYSTEMS

 

 

 

 

Introduction
Ana I. Antón and John Dunagan

 

3

 

 

Privacy in a Networked World
Rebecca N. Wright

 

5

 

 

Unifying Disparate Tools in Software Security
Greg Morrisett

 

13

 

 

Usable Security: Oxymoron or Challenge?
Diana K. Smetters

 

21

CONTROL OF PROTEIN CONFORMATIONS

 

 

 

 

Introduction
Donald J. Leo

 

31

 

 

The Evolutionary Design of Proteins
Rama Ranganathan

 

33

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

 

 

Lighting Up the Mechanome
Matthew J. Lang

 

39

BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR FUELS AND CHEMICALS

 

 

 

 

Introduction
Richard T. Elander and Vijay Singh

 

51

 

 

Corn-Based Materials
Sanjay V. Malhotra, Vineet Kumar, Anthony East, and Michael Jaffe

 

53

 

 

Process Review of Lignocellulose Biochemical Conversion to Fuel Ethanol
Bruce S. Dien

 

65

 

 

Sustainable Biorefineries
Carina Maria Alles and Robin Jenkins

 

75

MODELING AND SIMULATING HUMAN BEHAVIOR

 

 

 

 

Introduction
Christian Lebiere and Robert Wray

 

85

 

 

Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and Its Applications
Laurent Itti

 

87

 

 

Barriers, Bridges, and Progress in Cognitive Modeling for Military Applications
Kevin A. Gluck

 

99

 

 

Modeling of Culturally Affected Human Behavior
Michael van Lent, Mark Core, Steve Solomon, Milton Rosenberg, Ryan McAlinden, and Paul Carpenter

 

105

SAFE WATER TECHNOLOGIES

 

 

 

 

Introduction
Carol R. Rego and Paul K. Westerhoff

 

115

 

 

Ultraviolet Irradiation: An Age-Old Emerging Technology for Water Treatment
Karl G. Linden

 

117

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×

This page intentionally left blank.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R10
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R11
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12027.
×
Page R12
Next: Engineering Trustworthy Computer Systems »
Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2007 Symposium Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $63.00
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

U.S. Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) symposia bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2007 symposium covered engineering trustworthy computer systems, control of protein conformations, biotechnology for fuels and chemicals, modulating and simulating human behavior, and safe water technologies. Papers in this volume describe leading-edge research on disparate tools in software security, decoding the "mechanome," corn-based materials, modeling human cultural behavior, water treatment by UV irradiation, and many other topics. A speech by dinner speaker Dr. Henrique (Rico) Malvar, managing director of Microsoft Research, is also included. Appendixes provide information about contributors, the symposium program, summaries of break-out sessions, and a list of participants. This is the thirteenth volume in the USFOE series.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!