To recruit and inspire the people who will invent the future, we have to raise the public's perception of engineering.
by Guruprasad Madhavan, Barbara Oakley, and Luis Kun
When you go to the grocery store, you carry a list so you can concentrate on the important things you really need.
Rice? Check.
Onions? Check.
Chocolate ice cream? If you're a chocoholic, you might check that one twice.
People—and organizations, for that matter—just love to make lists. For instance, nine years ago the United Nations put together a list of the Millennium Development Goals to combat major issues such as poverty, illiteracy, infectious diseases, and environmental sustainability. And, in 2003, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation came up with a list of 14 Grand Challenges in Global Health that was soon modified and expanded by the Oxford Health Alliance. Similarly, in February this year, an expert panel of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering put forth a list containing 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century.
The challenges on all these lists sweep across broad themes of sustainability, vulnerability, health, and quality of life. Some of the world's most brilliant minds have helped weave together these self-improvement shopping lists for civilization. It will take all our efforts to meet the formidable challenges they describe.
But what if the lists are missing a challenge? Indeed, what if the missing challenge is like the beef in beef stew—a defining ingredient?
Our civilization—all its comforts, benefits, and prosperity—is based on technology. But the record also shows a curious gap: We have not been very impressive in communicating the broad impact of the engineering profession to other disciplines—and to society as a whole. Therefore, we believe that the omitted grand challenge is one of the most important. We must have recognition of the importance of science and engineering to society as a whole.
In other words, it is incumbent upon us, as a technology-based civilization, to help train individuals who can serve as envoys, and apply, translate, and communicate science and engineering to a broader audience. Although ultimately we all need to be messengers of our profession, one crucial way to stimulate the creation of such ambassadors is to encourage the younger generation to use their training in science and engineering to move beyond the classical career mold, where scientists and engineers are in some sense sidetracked into civilization's supporting scientist and technologist roles. Instead, ambassadors of science and technology should use their unique background and expertise to move into the landscape of non-traditional careers. In that fashion, science and engineering can fuel other professions, and also allow more feedback and creativity to be brought back to the technological fold.
Taking non-traditional career pathways has many other benefits. The most notable among them is an opportunity to capitalize on newer resources and unforeseen prospects outside of science and engineering. The noted scientific ambassador, president emeritus of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and co-chair of the InterAcademy Council, Bruce Alberts, in his introduction to our recent book, Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, echoes our belief:
"…we must work on moving young people with scientific and technical expertise into a range of careers throughout general society. Scientific thinking provides clear benefits at all levels of society, and it promotes common understanding where other modes of communication might fail. Whether in Washington or Africa, it is not enough…to produce timely reports with sound recommendations-it is also crucial that there be people in the government, the media, and other positions in society with the scientific and technological background needed to interpret and adapt the advice for nation[s]. My conclusion: to effectively spread science and technology throughout our societies, we must also spread scientists and technologists. By this I mean that we will need to mount an intensive effort to make it possible for scientifically and technically trained people to move into a broad range of relevant professions, not only those that we normally define as 'science' or 'engineering.' "
He adds force to this message in his recent editorials for Science:
"Scientists [and engineers] in non-traditional careers are invaluable as two-way interpreters: people who can readily bring the benefits of scientific analysis to their institution or profession, as well as help traditional scientists better understand how their science might contribute in new ways. Even a single such individual can make a huge difference." (p. 289, April 18, 2008)
"[These people] will form the bridges needed for science to affect a wider society. We should therefore be generating new programs to support such career transitions, while cheering [those] who pursue them." (p. 155, April 11, 2008)
Coming up with solutions to the grand challenges is supremely difficult. But one, perhaps surprising way to approach the challenges is to use less obvious strategies to address them. And one of those less obvious strategies is to generate unforeseen collaborations by encouraging efforts and individuals in regard to career development beyond the usual paths in science and engineering.
Sometimes it can help to step back and see if the most important item has been included in a list. We believe that most important item is this: encourage scientists and engineers to explore hidden career territories, and thus help serve as ambassadors for civilization's future.
Authors
Guruprasad Madhavan is a Predoctoral Fellow in Biomedical Engineering at State University of New York, Binghamton, N.Y.; Barbara Oakley is an Associate Professor of Systems Engineering at Oakland University, Rochester, Mich., and Luis Kun is a Senior Research Professor of Homeland Security at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. The authors are co-editors of Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Springer, 2008.
| The Millennium Development Goals |
| The following eight Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved by 2015 in response to the world's main development challenges. The goals are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration, which was adopted by 189 nations and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000. They break down into:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development.
Source: The UN Millennium Development Goals
URL: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ |
| Grand Challenges in Global Health |
|
Goal 1: Improve childhood vaccines
Grand Challenge 1: Create effective single-dose vaccines.
Grand Challenge 2: Prepare vaccines that do not require refrigeration.
Grand Challenge 3: Develop needle-free vaccine delivery systems.
Goal 2: Create new vaccines
Grand Challenge 4: Devise testing systems for new vaccines.
Grand Challenge 5: Design antigens for protective immunity.
Grand Challenge 6: Learn about immunological responses.
Goal 3: Control insects that transmit agents of disease
Grand Challenge 7: Develop genetic strategy to control insects.
Grand Challenge 8: Develop chemical strategy to control insects.
Goal 4: Improve nutrition to promote health
Grand Challenge 9: Create a nutrient-rich staple plant species.
Goal 5: Improve drug treatment of infectious diseases
Grand Challenge 10: Find drugs and delivery systems to limit drug resistance.
Goal 6: Cure latent and chronic infection
Grand Challenge 11: Create therapies that can cure latent infection.
Grand Challenge 12: Create immunological methods to cure latent infection.
Goal 7: Measure health status accurately and economically in developing countries
Grand Challenge 13: Develop technologies to assess population health.
Grand Challenge 14: Develop versatile diagnostic tools.
Source: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
URL: http://www.gcgh.org/ |
| Grand Challenges in Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases |
|
Goal 1: Raise public and political awareness
Grand Challenge 1: Raise the political priority of non-communicable disease.
Grand Challenge 2: Promote healthy lifestyle and consumption choices through effective education and public engagement.
Grand Challenge 3: Package compelling and valid information to foster widespread, sustained, and accurate media coverage and thereby improve awareness of economic, social, and public health impacts.
Goal 2: Enhance economic, legal and environmental policies
Grand Challenge 4: Study and address the impact of government spending and taxation on health.
Grand Challenge 5: Develop and implement local, national, and international policies and trade agreements, including regulatory restraints, to discourage the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy foods
Grand Challenge 6: Study and address the impacts of poor health on economic output and productivity.
Goal 3: Modify risk factors
Grand Challenge 7: Universally deploy measures proven to reduce tobacco use and boost resources to implement the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Grand Challenge 8: Increase the availability and consumption of healthy food.
Grand Challenge 9: Promote lifelong physical activity.
Grand Challenge 10: Better understand environmental and cultural factors that change behavior.
Goal 4: Engage businesses and community
Grand Challenge 11: Make business a key partner in promoting health and preventing disease.
Grand Challenge 12: Develop and monitor codes of responsible conduct with the food, beverage and restaurant industries.
Grand Challenge 13: Empower community resources such as voluntary and faith-based organizations.
Goal 5: Mitigate health impacts of poverty and urbanization
Grand Challenge 14: Study and address how poverty increases risk factors.
Grand Challenge 15: Study and address the links between the built environment, urbanization and chronic non-communicable disease.
Goal 6: Reorient health systems
Grand Challenge 16: Allocate resources within health systems based on burden of disease.
Grand Challenge 17: Move health professional training and practice toward prevention.
Grand Challenge 18: Increase number and skills of professionals who prevent, treat, and manage chronic non-communicable diseases, especially in developing countries.
Grand Challenge 19: Build health systems that integrate screening and prevention within health delivery.
Grand Challenge 20: Increase access to medications to prevent complications of chronic non-communicable disease.
Source: The Oxford Health Alliance
URL: http://www.oxha.org/initiatives/grand_challenges |
| The Grand Challenges for Engineering |
|
Grand Challenge 1: Make solar energy economical.
Grand Challenge 2: Provide energy from fusion.
Grand Challenge 3: Develop carbon sequestration methods.
Grand Challenge 4: Manage the nitrogen cycle.
Grand Challenge 5: Provide access to clean water.
Grand Challenge 6: Restore and improve urban infrastructure.
Grand Challenge 7: Advance health informatics.
Grand Challenge 8: Engineer better medicines.
Grand Challenge 9: Reverse-engineer the brain.
Grand Challenge 10: Prevent nuclear terror.
Grand Challenge 11: Secure cyberspace.
Grand Challenge 12: Enhance virtual reality.
Grand Challenge 13: Advance personalized learning.
Grand Challenge 14: Engineer the tools of scientific discovery.
Source: National Academy of Engineering of the U.S. National Academies
URL: http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/ |
| Opportunities for Career Development in Science and Engineering |
|
1. Academia — University, Teaching Colleges, and Schools.
2. Industry — Research, Development, and Management.
3. Independent Research Firms and Think Tanks.
4. Research and Development in the Public Sector.
5. Medicine and Public Health.
6. Law — Regulatory Affairs, Intellectual Property, and Expert Witness Litigation.
7. Technology Transfer.
8. Entrepreneurship — Commercial and Social.
9. Finance and Investment Banking.
10. Science, Technology, and Educational Policy.
11. Forensic Sciences.
12. Technology and Management Consulting.
13. Energy.
14. Politics and Legislation.
15. Public Relations.
16. Marketing and Sales.
17. Economics.
18. Sports Engineering.
19. Creative Writing — Books, Journalism, Communication, and Outreach.
20. Informatics and Information Technology.
21. Defense Sector.
22. Environmental Sector.
23. Food and Agricultural Sector.
24. Social Sciences.
25. Imagineering® and Entertainment.
26. Fashion Design.
Adapted from Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, edited by G. Madhavan, B. Oakley, and L. Kun, Springer, June 2008. |
Editor's note: Improving the public perception of engineering and technology is a goal set by ASME's Global Summit on the Future of Mechanical Engineering, which met in Washinton, D.C., in April. Articles on the Global Summit appear in the May edition of ASME News and in the June issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine.
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