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Posted On: 03/06/2008

NSPE asks for your vote on engineering's grand challenges

PlantServices.com

The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) is asking you to vote on 14 challenges for engineering in the 21st century that were recently selected by a committee of leading technical thinkers. The challenges fall into four themes that are essential for humanity to flourish: sustainability, health, reducing vulnerability and joy of living. The group, formed by the National Academy of Engineering at the request of the National Science Foundation, was established in 2006 and the selections were reviewed by more than 50 subject matter experts.

The grand challenges are:

• Make solar energy affordable
• Provide energy from fusion
• Develop carbon sequestration methods
• Manage the nitrogen cycle
• Provide access to clean water
• Restore and improve urban infrastructure
• Advance health informatics
• Engineer better medicines
• Reverse-engineer the brain
• Prevent nuclear terror
• Secure cyberspace
• Enhance virtual reality
• Advance personalized learning
• Engineer the tools for scientific discovery

To vote on the challenges you think are most important or to provide comments, go to www.engineeringchallenges.org.