1 / 8

Engineering Sustainable Solutions for Future Generations

Discover the significance of engineering grand challenges in today's world and the future, focusing on issues like sanitation, clean water access, and urban infrastructure improvement.

floydh
Download Presentation

Engineering Sustainable Solutions for Future Generations

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. National Academy of EngineeringGrand Challengesfor Engineers and Engineering

  2. Grand challenges (in engineering) are significant issues impacting today’s world and the future.Directed to all engineering disciplines.

  3. Imagine that you live in an area where there is little to no sanitation – NO TOLIETS.Imagine the germs, the water quality…the smell.

  4. Example: Gates Toilet ProjectThe Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program initiated the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge to bring sustainable sanitation solutions to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who don’t have access to safe, affordable sanitation.~700,000 children (younger than 5yrs) die each year from diseases attributed to unsafe drinking water, lack of water for hygiene, and poor sanitation systems.

  5. ● How do the grand challenges differ from other “challenges”? - Long term (5 decades) problemswhere there is no single clearsolution. - Challenges are interdisciplinary

  6. Make Solar Energy Economical • Provide Energy from Fusion • Manage the Nitrogen Cycle • Provide Access to Clean Water • Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods • Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure • Advance Health Informatics

  7. Engineer Better Medicines • Reverse-Engineer the Brain • Prevent Nuclear Terror • Secure Cyberspace • Enhance Virtual Reality • Advance Personalized Learning • Engineer the Tools of Scientific Discovery

  8. Restore and improve urban infrastructure • In 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued a report card, grading various categories of U.S. infrastructure. The average grade was D+. • Infrastructure is the combination of fundamental systems that support a community, region, or country • Roads, rails, power/gas grids, alternative energy, water/sewer systems, etc. • Urban areas pose an acute problem due to population growth, natural disasters, and possible terrorist attacks. • Solutions must be designed for sustainability, environmental considerations, cost, access and quality of life. • Note: Major urban centers take up a small percentage of the earth’s surface, but use/exhaust a disproportionate share of natural and other resources.

More Related