As civilization grew, engineering was nourished. In the modern era, engineering get closer and closer to people’s everyday life. In the century just ended, engineering recorded its grandest accomplishments. (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9221.aspx Oct, 9th,2008,ND) However, as the population grows and its needs and desires expand, old and new threats to personal and public health, such as pandemic diseases, terrorist violence, and natural disasters, demand more effective and more readily available treatments. Thus, the world’s cadre of engineers will seek ways to put knowledge into practice to meet these grand challenges. Actually, there are totally 14 great challenges to overcome:
1. To find source of environmentally friendly power
2. To use nuclear fusion to solve the power problems
3. To explore methods of capturing the carbon dioxide
4. To design countermeasures for nitrogen cycle problems
5. Quality and quantity of water
6. Reverse-engineering” the brain
7. To computerize catalogs of health information
8. To develop new medicines
9. To counter the violence of terrorists
10. To sustain the aging infrastructures of cities and services
11. To reduce vulnerability to assaults on cyberspace
12. To develop computer-created virtual realities
13. To enhance exploration
14. To improve methods of instruction and learning
From them, we can see sustainable supplies of food, water, and energy; protection from human violence, natural disaster, and disease; full access to the joys of learning, exploration, communication, and entertainment — these are goals for all of the world’s people.
In sum, governmental and institutional, political and economic, and personal and social barriers will repeatedly arise to impede the pursuit of solutions to problems. The challenges facing engineering today are not those of isolated locales, but of the planet as a whole and all the planet’s people. (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9221.aspx, Oct, 9th,2008,ND)
Reference: http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9221.aspx, Oct, 9th,2008,ND
没有评论:
发表评论