Engineering Research and America's Future Meeting the Challenges of a Global Economy (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Engineering Research: The Engine of Innovation
Engineering Research: The Engine of Innovation
Pages 9-34
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So many complex engineering achievements have become part of everyday life that engineering and engineering research are often taken for granted. We give little thought, for example, to the vast worldwide system that brings oil from the ground to our fuel tanks.
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Future breakthroughs dependent on engineering research will have equally powerful impacts. Sustainable energy technologies for power generation and transportation could 10
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. Technological innovations already under development can make all of these things possible .
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To meet the demands of global competition, other countries are investing heavily in the foundations of modern innovation systems, including research facilities and infra structure and strong technical workforces (NSB, 2003)
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dollars 20,000 1996 Math and computer sciences 15,000 Environmental sciences constant Physical sciences of 10,000 Engineering 5,000 Life sciences Millions 0 Source: NSF, 2003, 2004a. 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 The National Academies have long urged the federal government to adopt a more strategic approach to prioritizing federal funding for R&D.
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RECOMMENDATION 1. The committee strongly recommends that the federal R&D portfolio be rebalanced by increasing funding for research in engineering and physical science to levels sufficient to support the nation's most urgent priorities, such as national defense, homeland security, health care, energy security, and economic competitiveness.
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NSF is especially important for linking basic engineering research and education to fundamental scientific discoveries in physical, natural, and social sciences. The committee believes that restoring long-term engineering research in industry to a substantial level would enhance the nation's long-term economic health.
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Only a few research universities have facilities adequate for advanced engineering research that can support increasingly systems-ori ented, interdisciplinary technological innovation. Many engineering schools operate in old facilities, with laboratory equipment dating from before the invention of the transistor, let alone the personal computer.
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In addition to solid grounding in fundamental engineering concepts, these engineers must have the ability to address complex systems in multidisciplinary research environments. However, like the engineering research infrastructure, the engineering professoriate is aging rapidly.
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To this end, the committee endorses the findings and recommendations of the 2005 National Academy of Engineering report, Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century, which calls for system-wide efforts by professional societies, industry, federal agencies, and educators at the higher education and K12 levels to align the engineering curriculum and engineering profession with the needs of a global, knowledge-driven economy with the goal of increasing student interest in engineering careers. Engineering education requires innovations, not only in the con tent of engineering curricula, but also in teaching methods that emphasize the creative aspects of engineering to excite and motivate students.
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Although this is likely to require a very significant increase in investment from both public and private 100 FIGURE 2 Ethnic makeup of engineering 90 students at various educational levels. 80 70 60 Hispanic Americans African Americans 50 Asian Americans Percentage White women 40 White men 30 Foreign nationals 20 10 0 Source: Engineering Workforce Freshmen Bachelor's Master's Doctoral Commission, 2004.
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. At the same time, the national security research establishment, which will be looking for a large technical workforce for the foreseeable future and is currently populated by a rapidly aging engineering workforce, has introduced strict security requirements that often preclude the hiring of foreign-born engineers and scientists (DOE, 1995; Sega, 2004)
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. The second Morrill Act of 1890, which created 17 originally black land-grant colleges, provided opportunities for minority students to participate in knowledge-based BOX 2 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS Created by the Hatch Act of 1887, agricultural experiment stations are the agricultural research arm of land-grant universities.
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The influx of dollars and creativity would make research more exciting and diverse. Today, most federal investment in engineering research and education is provided by a handful of mission agencies -- DOD, DHS, U.S.
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To ensure that the research is directed toward meeting real-world needs, the research priorities for ERCs are agreed upon by industry and the university. Other university-based research centers involving engineering include NSF science and technology centers and materials research science and engineering centers; DOE materials research centers; DOT transportation research centers; and the nanotechnology research centers sponsored by NSF, NASA, and DOE (DOE, 2004; DOT, 2004; NNI, 2004; NSF, 2004b,c)
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RECOMMENDATION 9. Multidisciplinary discovery-innovation institutes should be established on the campuses of research universities to link fundamental scientific discoveries with technological innovations to create products, processes, and services to meet the needs of society.
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In scope and transformational power, discovery-innovation institutes would be analogous to the agricultural experiment stations created by the Hatch Act of 1887 and the complementary creation of cooperative extension programs authorized by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Operationally, discovery-innovation institutes would be comparable to academic medical centers, which combine research, education, and practice in state-of-the-art facilities and address significant national priorities rather than applications-driven research and technology centers, such as engineering experiment stations and federally funded R&D centers (e.g., MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute)
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FIGURE 3 Discovery-innovation institutes. CAMPUS LINKAGES DISCOVERY-INNOVATION NATIONAL PRIORITIES Sciences INSTITUTES Economic competitiveness Professional schools National and homeland security Link scientific discovery with Public health and social well-being PRIVATE-SECTOR LINKAGES societal applications Industry partnerships GLOBAL CHALLENGES Entrepreneur participation Educate and train innovators, Global sustainability entrepreneurs, and engineers Geopolitical conflict PUBLIC-SECTOR LINKAGES Federal agencies Build infrastructure OPPORTUNITIES National laboratories (laboratories, cybersystems, etc.)
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Research Priorities This initiative would stimulate and support a very wide range of discovery-innovation institutes, depending on the capacity and regional characteristics of a university or consortium and on national priorities. Some institutes would enter into partnerships directly with particular federal agencies or national laboratories to address fairly specific technical challenges, but most would address broad national priorities that would require relationships with several federal agencies.
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: Institutes linking engineering with the physical sciences, social sciences, environ mental sciences, and business programs to address the urgent national challenge of developing sustainable energy sources, including, for instance, the production, storage, distribution, and uses of hydrogen-based fuels for transportation. Institutes linking engineering with the creative arts (visual and performing arts, architecture, and design)
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Institutes linking engineering with social sciences and professional schools to con duct research on communication networks to determine capacity, identify bottle necks, estimate extendibility, and define performance characteristics of complex systems that comprise terrestrial, wired, wireless, and satellite subnets, as well as the legal, ethical, political, and social issues raised by the universal accessibility of information. Institutes linking engineering, business, and public policy programs with biomedical sciences programs to develop drugs, medical procedures, protocols, and policies to address the health care needs and complex societal choices for an aging population.
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Others involve critical national needs, such as sustainable energy sources and homeland security. Still others involve the restructuring of engineering education to ensure that engineering graduates have the skills, understanding, and imagination to design and manage complex systems.
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Final Report of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Task Force on Alternative Futures for the Department of Energy National Laboratories. Washington, D.C.: U.S.
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. Available online at: http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.
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Available online at: http://www.erc-assoc.org/factsheets/start.htm.
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Available online at: http://www.ostp.gov/ PCAST/FINALPCASTSECAPABILITIESPACKAGE.pdf.
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