BRIDGE Linking Engin Ee Ring and Soci E T Y

Winter 2009 Frontiers of Engineering

The BRIDGE Linking Engin ee ring and Soci e t y

Computational Sustainability: Computational Methods for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society Carla P. Gomes Optical Antennas: A New Technology That Can Enhance Light-Matter Interactions Lukas Novotny Managing and Coordinating Health Care: Creating Collaborative, Proactive Systems David A. Dorr Why Health Information Technology Doesn’t Work Elmer V. Bernstam and Todd R. Johnson Infrastructure Resilience to Disasters Stephanie E. Chang

Promoting the technological welfare of the nation by marshalling the knowledge and insights of eminent members of the engineering profession. The BRIDGE

National Academy of Engineering

Irwin M. Jacobs, Chair Charles M. Vest, President Maxine L. Savitz, Vice President Thomas F. Budinger, Home Secretary George Bugliarello, Foreign Secretary C.D. (Dan) Mote Jr., Treasurer

Editor in Chief (interim): George Bugliarello Managing Editor: Carol R. Arenberg Production Assistant: Penelope Gibbs The Bridge (ISSN 0737-6278) is published quarterly by the National Aca demy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC

20418. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC. Vol. 39, No. 4, Winter 2009 Postmaster: Send address changes to The Bridge, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418. Papers are presented in The Bridge on the basis of general interest and time- liness. They reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the position of the National Academy of Engineering. The Bridge is printed on recycled paper. © 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

A complete copy of The Bridge is available in PDF format at http://www.nae.edu/TheBridge. Some of the articles in this issue are also available as HTML documents and may contain links to related sources of information, multimedia files, or other content. The Volume 39, Number 4 • Winter 2009 BRIDGE Linking Engin ee ring and Soci e t y

Editor’s Note 3 Crossing New Frontiers: Papers from the 2009 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium Andrew M. Weiner

Features 5 Computational Sustainability: Computational Methods for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society Carla P. Gomes Researchers in computing, information science, and many other disciplines are working together to support sustainable development. 14 Optical Antennas: A New Technology That Can Enhance Light-Matter Interactions Lukas Novotny Antennas in the optical range will improve the efficiency of light-emitting devices. 21 Managing and Coordinating Health Care: Creating Collaborative, Proactive Systems David A. Dorr Health care managers can greatly improve communication and the coordination of care for elders. 30 Why Health Information Technology Doesn’t Work Elmer V. Bernstam and Todd R. Johnson Health information technologies, and health informatics in general, may be headed for a bust. 36 Infrastructure Resilience to Disasters Stephanie E. Chang Designing resilient infrastructure systems will require collaborative efforts by engineers and social scientists.

42 What Is Engineering Leadership? A Personal Essay Bernard M. Gordon

NAE News and Notes 47 NAE Members Receive National Medals of Technology and Innovation and National Medal of Science 48 NAE Newsmakers 49 Highlights of the 2009 NAE Annual Meeting

(continued on next page)

The BRIDGE

51 The Importance of Engineering Innovation: Remarks by NAE Chair Irwin M. Jacobs 53 A Time for Fundamental Change: Remarks by NAE President Charles M. Vest 58 2009 Founders Award Acceptance Remarks by John R. Casani 61 2009 Arthur M. Bueche Award Acceptance Remarks by Sheila E. Widnall 63 2009 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium 64 First China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium 66 Mirzayan Technology and Policy Fellows 67 17th News and Terrorism Workshop 67 The Irwin M. Jacobs NAE Matching Gift Challenge 68 NAE Calendar of Events 68 In Memoriam

70 Publications of Interest

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self- The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific Acadmy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the author- to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility ity of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional char- has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on ter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, The National Research Council was organized by the National under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its adminis- science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering tration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal gov- accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the ernment. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engi- Council has become the principal operating agency of both the neering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages edu- National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engi- cation and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of neering in providing services to the government, the public, and the engineers. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered of Engineering. jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org Fall 2006 Editor’s Note

studying self-assembly mechanisms in nanotechnology) to the very large (instruments for monitoring the behavior of whales and dolphins and instruments for space exploration). Carla Gomes, whose paper is included in this issue (p. 5), described a new interdisciplinary field, computational sustainability, that uses computational and mathematical models, methods, and tools to manage and balance environmental, economic, and societal needs. She provided examples of applications in biodiversity and species conservation, natural resource Andrew M. Weiner management, and energy efficiency. The session on “Nano/Micro Photonics and New Crossing New Frontiers Applications,” chaired by Michal Lipson of Cornell Papers from the 2009 U.S. Frontiers of University and Nelson Tansu of Lehigh University, featured four talks on innovative photonic effects Engineering Symposium and device concepts and their engineering applica- Every year the NAE U.S. Frontiers of Engineering tions. An article based on one of these presentations (US FOE) Symposium brings together approximately is included in this issue. In a paper beginning on p. 14, 100 outstanding young engineers, aged 30 to 45, to share Lukas Novotny discusses optical antennas, devices ideas and learn about cutting-edge research on a variety that convert energy between freely propagating elec- of engineering topics. A unique characteristic of FOE tromagnetic fields and fields localized at the nanoscale. symposia is that participants are competitively selected Although antennas at radio frequencies have a long from the full spectrum of engineering disciplines, with history, the behavior of metals in the optical range is the intent of identifying individuals who are emerging unique, and the concept of optical antennas has only as (or are already) engineering leaders in academia, recently emerged. Optical antennas have the potential industry, and government. FOE offers them a unique to increase the efficiency of light-matter interactions at opportunity to learn about significant, up-to-date devel- spatial scales below the usual optical wavelength limit, opments in engineering areas other than their own and with applications that include light emitters, photo to meet and network with promising young engineers in voltaics, and spectroscopic sensing. other fields and from a variety of institutions. The session on “Engineering the Health Care Deliv- The fifteenth US FOE Symposium was held Septem- ery System,” chaired by Stephanie Guerlain of the ber 10–12, 2009, at the National Academies Beckman University of Virginia and Eva K. Lee of Georgia Tech, Center in Irvine, California. The meeting was organized included presentations on information technology in into independent sessions with the following themes: the medical and health care sectors, sometimes called engineering tools for scientific discovery; nano/micro health information technology (HIT). Two papers from photonics and new applications; engineering the health this session are published here. In an article (beginning care delivery system; and resilient and sustainable infra- on p. 21), David Dorr introduces a care-management structures. Five papers based on this year’s presentations model for coordinating the health care of older adults are included in this issue of The Bridge. who have chronic illnesses. In this model, care manag- The first session, “Engineering Tools for Scien- ers, assisted by targeted use of HIT, facilitate commu- tific Discovery,” was chaired by Louise Hamlin of the nication, coordination, and implementation of flexible Jet Propulsion Laboratory, J. Christopher Love of the protocols in the context of a comprehensive care plan. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Naren In the second paper from this session, provocatively Ramakrishnan of Virginia Tech. The four talks cov- entitled “Why Health Information Technology Doesn’t ered spatial scales ranging from the very small (tools for Work,” Elmer Bernstam and Todd Johnson review the The BRIDGE current status of HIT, which has been touted as a solu- of FOE programs, was Bradford Parkinson, Edward C. tion to some of the critical problems plaguing U.S. Wells Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Emer- health care delivery. The paper (beginning on p. 30) itus, at Stanford University. Dr. Parkinson delivered an focuses on social and administrative barriers to the engaging account of the development of the global posi- adoption of HIT and research challenges that must be tioning system (GPS), in which he played a key role. addressed for it to be accepted and used effectively. It was my great privilege to serve as chair of the Orga- The final session, “Resilient and Sustainable Infra- nizing Committee for this year’s US FOE Symposium. structure,” was chaired by Seth Guikema of Johns Hop- I want to close by expressing my gratitude to Janet kins University and Patrick O’Mara of STV. One paper Hunziker, NAE Program Officer, and Lance Davis, from this session, by Stephanie Chang (p. 36), describes NAE Executive Officer, for their contributions to the a new research area that encompasses the complexities planning and implementation of this unique meet- of infrastructure systems impacted by disasters. The ing and to thank the sponsors: The Grainger Founda- multidisciplinary approach she describes spans engi- tion, Arnold O. and Mabel Beckman Foundation, Air neering, economics, and social science to identify and Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced address interactions among failures in infrastructure Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense systems and the effects of multiple hazards. The infor- (Office of the Director, Defense Research and Engi- mation can then be used as a basis for designing more neering), National Science Foundation, Microsoft resilient infrastructure systems for the future. Research, and Cummins Inc. In addition to the presentations, FOE symposia provide lively Q&A sessions, panel discussions, and other activities that promote personal interactions and networking. The dinner speaker, a traditional highlight Researchers in computing, information science, and many other disciplines are working together to support sustainable development.

Computational Sustainability Computational Methods for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society

Carla P. Gomes

The dramatic depletion of natural resources in the last century now threatens our planet and the livelihood of future generations. Our Common Future, a report by the World Commission on Environment and Develop- ment published in 1987, introduced for the first time the notion of “sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” Carla P. Gomes is associate pro (UNEP, 1987). The concerns raised in that report were reiterated by the fessor, Faculty of Computing and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007). In the fourth Information Science, Department of Global Environmental Outlook report published later that same year the authors concluded, “there are no major issues raised in Our Common Future Computer Science and Department for which the foreseeable trends are favorable” (UNEP, 2007). of Applied Economics and Manage Key issues in the development of policies for sustainable development ment, Cornell University. will entail complex decisions about the management of natural resources and more generally about balancing environmental, economic, and societal needs. Making such decisions optimally, or nearly optimally, presents significant computational challenges that will require the efforts of researchers in computing, information science, and related disciplines, even though environmental, economic, and societal issues are not usually studied in those disciplines. In this author’s opinion, it is imperative that computer scientists, information scientists, and experts in operations research, applied mathematics, The BRIDGE statistics, and related fields pool their talents and problem, and the objective is to create connected corri- knowledge to help find efficient and effective ways of dors made up of parcels of land that will yield the highest managing and allocating natural resources. To that possible level of environmental benefit (“utility”) (Onal end, we must develop critical mass in a new field, and Briers, 2005; Williams et al., 2005). computational sustainability, to develop new compu- At the Institute for Computational Sustainability tational models, methods, and tools to help balance (ICS) at Cornell University, we recently formulated environmental, economic, and societal needs for a sus- this problem mathematically as a so-called “connec- tainable future. tion sub-graph problem” (Conrad et al., 2007; Dilkina Examples of computational sustainability problems and Gomes, 2009; Gomes et al., 2008). The goal was presented in this short paper range from wildlife pres- to design wildlife corridors for grizzly bears in the U.S. ervation and biodiversity to balancing socio-economic northern Rockies to enable movement between three needs and the environment to the large-scale deploy- core ecosystems—Yellowstone, Salmon-Selway, and ment and management of renewable energy sources. Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems—that span 64 counties in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. This large-scale optimization problem places significant demands on current computational methods. Computational sustainability To scale up solutions, we needed a deeper under- will give us the tools to standing of the underlying structure of the problem. To that end, we developed a budget-constrained, utility- balance environmental, optimization approach using hybrid constraint-based mixed-integer programming that exploits problem economic, and societal needs. structure. Our results showed that we can dramatically reduce the cost of large-scale conservation corridors by provably finding corridors with minimum cost. If more Biodiversity and Species Conservation than minimum funding for a corridor is available, this The reduction and fragmentation of natural habitats approach guarantees optimal utility. For example, for as a result of deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, the grizzly bear problem our solutions are guaranteed to and land development is a leading cause of species be within 1 percent of the optimal solution for budget decline and extinction. One strategy for improving the levels above the minimum cost. chances of species viability is to protect habitats by cre- Complexity in site-selection and corridor-design ating biologically valuable sites or reserves. Examples problems increases when different models for land include the National Wildlife Refuge System, man- acquisition over different time periods (e.g., purchase, aged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, national conservation easements, auctions), dynamic and sto- parks, and conservation reserves established by private chastic environments, and multiple species must be groups, such as the Nature Conservancy and the Con- considered. For example, preserving bird habitats and servation Fund. designing bird corridors requires a good understanding Given the limited resources available for conservation, of hemispheric-scale bird migrations with complex pop- these sites must be carefully chosen. From a mathemati- ulation dynamics across different climate and weather cal point of view, the site-selection or reserve-design systems and geographic topologies. problem involves optimizing certain criteria, such as Thus modeling complex species distributions and habitat suitability for species, while simultaneously sat- developing conservation strategies requires new large- isfying one or more constraints, such as limited budgets scale stochastic-optimization methods. Moreover, to (e.g., Ando et al., 1998; Moilanen et al., 2009; Polasky obtain the right model parameters and determine cur- et al., 2008). rent species distribution, machine learning and statisti- In recent years biologists attempting to combat habi- cal techniques must be used to analyze large amounts of tat fragmentation have promoted so-called “conserva- raw data (Dietterich, 2009; Elith et al., 2006; Kelling et tion corridors,” continuous areas of protected land that al., 2009; Phillips et al., 2004). link biologically significant zones. The design of conser- Gathering biological, ecological, and climatic data vation corridors is a special aspect of the site-selection is essential to studying complex systems, and the Winter 2009

deployment of large-scale sensor networks is becoming (Clark, 2006; Costello et al., 2008). Therefore, we must a key tool for environmental monitoring (e.g., Polastre find sustainable ways of managing fisheries. et al., 2009; Werner-Allen et al., 2006). The National One approach that has been shown to be effective Science Foundation (NSF) supports several cyber- for counterbalancing the overharvesting of fisheries infrastructure initiatives for massive data collection involves both placing limitations on total allowable and data analysis based on large-scale autonomous sen- catches per species and requiring permits for harvesting sor networks, such as the National Ecological Observa- specific quantities of fish (individual transferable quo- tory Network (NEON) and the Long-Term Ecological tas) (Costello et al., 2008; Heal and Schlenker, 2008; Research Network (LTER). Worm et al., 2009). Complex dynamical models, origi- Designing a large-scale sensor network also presents nally developed as part of dynamical systems theory, can computational challenges (e.g., network architecture, be used to identify the optimal amount of fish that can operating system and programming environments, be harvested annually in a certain fishery, taking into data collection, analysis, synthesis, and inference) consideration re-generation rates, carrying capacity of (Akyildiz et al., 2007). For example, when using sen- the habitat, discount rates, and other parameters. sor networks to monitor spatial phenomena, selecting Dynamical systems theory, which provides tools for the best placement of sensors to maximize information characterizing the dynamics and long-term behavior of gain while minimizing communication costs is a com- systems as a function of the system parameters, provides plex problem that requires new techniques (Krause insights into nonlinear system dynamics and identi- and Guestrin, 2009). fies patterns and laws, particularly bifurcations (Ellner Citizen observation networks have several benefits. and Guckenheimer, 2006; Strogatz, 1994). A bifurca- They help in collecting data and, at the same time, tion occurs when small changes in the parameter val- enable the general public to engage in scientific inves- ues of a system (e.g., the rate of harvesting fish) lead tigation and develop problem-solving skills. Galaxy to an abrupt qualitative change (e.g., the collapse of a Zoo,1 for example, provides access to a large collection fishery). Decisions (e.g., the amount of fish to be har- of images and engages the general public in classifying vested) are often based on combinations of continuous galaxy shapes to improve our understanding of their for- and discrete variables. This leads to hybrid dynamical mation. eBird,2 a joint initiative of the Cornell Labora- optimization models, which, in principle, provide infor- tory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, mation on optimal harvesting strategies (Clark, 1976; engages citizen-scientists in observing birds using stan- Conrad, 1999). However, finding such strategies is dardized protocols. Since eBird was released in 2002, computationally difficult, especially when considering it has been visited by more than 500,000 users and has multiple species. collected more than 21 million bird records from more than 35,000 unique users in more than 180,000 locations across the Western Hemisphere and New Zealand (Sullivan et al., 2009). The biomass of top marine predators is about one-tenth Management of Natural Resources This example concerns the state of marine fisher- of what it was 50 years ago. ies. The biomass of top marine predators is estimated to be one-tenth of what it was half a century ago and is still declining (Worm et al., 2006). As a result of Balancing Socioeconomic and overfishing, pollution, and other environmental fac- Environmental Needs tors, many important marine species are extinct, with Chris Barrett of ICS has studied the socioeconomic dramatic consequences for the filtration of nutrients interrelationship between poverty, food security, and by the ocean. Researchers believe that the collapse of environmental stress in Africa, particularly links major fisheries is primarily the result of mismanagement between resource dynamics and the poverty trap in small-holder agrarian systems (Barrett et al., 2007).

1 Available online at http://www.galaxyzoo.org/. Barrett’s focus has been on pastoral systems in East 2 Available online at http://ebird.org/content/ebird. Africa that involve herds of cattle, camels, sheep, and The BRIDGE goats (Luseno et al., 2003). Due to high variability in electronic equipment for data processing, storage, and rainfall, pastoralists must migrate with their herds look- communications networking) are especially inefficient ing for water and forage, sometimes traveling as much users of energy. as 500 kilometers. In recent years the shift to digital services has led to The purpose of our studies is to develop a predictive a major increase in demand for data centers. The Envi- model of the migratory patterns and decision models ronmental Protection Agency estimates that in the next of these pastoralists. To do that, we use machine- decade the demand for data-center capacity will grow learning methods to determine the structure and esti- at a 10 percent compounded annual growth rate (EPA, mate the parameters of the models, based on field data 2007). In addition, the costs of data centers in the infor- about households, water sources, and climate patterns. mation technology (IT) sector are estimated to increase Ultimately, these models will help policy makers pre- at an annual rate of 20 percent, compared to an overall dict the effects of potential policy interventions and increase in IT of 6 percent (Kaplan et al., 2008). environmental changes, with the goal of improving the Data centers also have negative environmental livelihoods of thousands of pastoralists. The project impacts. According to a recent report, the amount involves new technical approaches to large, structural- of carbon dioxide emissions produced by data cen- dynamic, discrete-choice problems that will lead to the ters worldwide exceeds the total emissions of both development of computational models to support both Argentina and the Netherlands (Kaplan et al., 2008). descriptive studies and predictive policy analyses (Toth Thus the IT industry is looking to advanced power- et al., 2009). management hardware, smart cooling systems, virtual- Other computational sustainability topics in this ization tools, and dense server configurations to reduce context include automated decision-support tools energy consumption (Katz, 2009). for providing humanitarian aid in response to catas- These new approaches rely heavily on large amounts trophes, famines, and natural disasters in developing of data provided by large-scale sensor networks (e.g., countries. The design of such systems will require the Bodik et al., 2008; Hoke et al., 2006; Patnaik et al., development of intuitive, user-friendly interfaces for 2009; Shah et al., 2008). Some companies are using use by aid workers. containers that integrate computing, power, and cooling systems in one module for data centers, instead of raised-floor rooms. Several IT companies are commit- Data centers emit more ted to using alternative energy sources, such as hydro- power, solar power, and wind power, to bring the carbon CO2 than Argentina and footprint of data centers to zero. On a larger scale, data centers can contribute to the Netherlands. reductions in energy use and carbon emissions by facilitating e-commerce and telecommuting, for example, which can eliminate some of the need for paper printing Energy-Efficient Data Centers and for freight and passenger transportation. The implications of climate change for environ mental, economic, and social systems have led to The Smart Grid major changes in energy policy in many industrial Under the Energy Independence and Security Act countries, including incentives for increasing energy (EISA) of 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy was efficiency. These incentives present tremendous charged with modernizing the nation’s electricity grid to computational opportunities for helping to increase improve its reliability, efficiency, and security, a concept energy efficiency through the design of intelligent or known as the Smart Grid. Ideally, the Smart Grid will “smart” control systems for energy-efficient buildings, radically transform the industry’s business model from a vehicles, and appliances. largely non-digital, electromechanical grid to a network According to the World Business Council for Sus- of digital systems and power infrastructure and from a tainable Development (2008), buildings account for centralized, producer-controlled network to a more as much as 40 percent of energy use in industrialized decentralized system with more interaction between countries. Data centers (i.e., computing facilities with consumers and local producers. Winter 2009

The objectives for the Smart Grid include: enabling The logistics and planning of this large-scale domestic- active participation by consumers; making possible based biofuels production system raise complex sto the easy integration of a variety of generation options chastic optimization problems—variants of the so-called (with a focus on renewable sources) and storage options; “facility-location problem”—that must take into con- enabling new products, services, and markets; providing sideration feedstock and demand and the dynamics of quality power for the digital economy; optimizing assets demand and capacity (Shmoys, 2004). And the stakes and operating efficiently; automatically anticipating are high. Finding good solutions to these problems can and responding to system disturbances; and operating make the difference between economic viability and resiliently in the event of attacks or natural disasters. failure. Overall, we will need complex computational To realize these objectives, the Smart Grid will models to find the best mix of energy generation and include smart sensors and controls throughout the storage technologies. transmission and distribution system and a broad com- A larger project will be the development of computa- munication platform for two-way communications to tional models (Figure 1) that show interactions between move data and electricity between utilities and con- different energy sources and the agents directly or indi- sumers. For example, consumers will have smart meters rectly involved (e.g., households, landowners, farmers, that can track energy consumption, monitor individual ethanol producers, gasoline refiners, food producers) power circuits in the home, control smart appliances, and impacts on the environment (e.g., greenhouse gas and actively manage energy use. emissions, water, soil erosion, biodiversity, etc.). Planning and operating such a large, complex digi- To begin with, the overall impact of biofuels is not tal ecosystem will require technological advances in well understood. Take, for example, their impact on computing and information science related to sensing land use. Traditional life-cycle studies do not take into and measuring technologies, advanced control meth- account emissions from changes in land use, which are ods, monitoring and responding to events, support for difficult to quantify (Seager et al., 2009; Searchinger et dynamic pricing, computational aspects of game-theory al., 2008; Tilman et al., 2009). models and mechanism design, multi-agent based mod- Another example is the impact of wind power, a els, improved interfaces, decision-support and optimiza- promising renewable energy source that has raised tion tools, and security and privacy tools. concerns about damage to bird and bat populations. Research will be necessary to provide guidelines for the Renewable Energy The development of renewable energy can have an even greater environmental impact than increasing energy efficiency. In recent years technological progress has been made (partly in response to government incentives) in renewable energy sources, such as biofuels and biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind power. For example, EISA set fuel economy standards for vehicles that will require the production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels per year by 2022, a fivefold increase over current ethanol production levels. FIGURE 1 Interacting components for biofuel analysis. The 10 BRIDGE location of wind farms, especially because most areas with favorable winds are associated with important migratory pathways. The research challenge is to develop realistic models that capture multiple impacts and interdependencies without imposing strong (unrealistic) assumptions. In traditional approaches, convexity assumptions force unique equilibria, or at the very least, the set of equilibria are themselves convex (Codenotti et al., 2005; Heijungs and Suh, 2002; Ye, 2008). This has made their algorithmic solution possible, but such models do not capture key aspects of systems. Researchers will have to develop more complex decision models through collaboration with resource economists, environmental scientists, and computer scientists. FIGURE 3 Increasing levels of complexity in computational sustainability problems. Individual Interests vs. the Common Good A key issue in environmental policy is balanc- whether a country is motivated to enter an agreement ing individual interests and the common good (e.g., and then abide by it. Hardin, 1968). In this area, game-theory models can Incentive-based policies can also facilitate sustain model the interactions of multiple agents and show the ability challenges on a smaller scale (e.g., the establish- effects of competing interests. In the context of natu- ment of novel markets for land-conservation activities). ral resources or climate change on the international To be useful, multi-agent models will have to explore level, for example, economic incentives may influence mechanisms and policies for the exchange of goods.

The Research Challenges Research in computa tional sustainability involves many different areas in computing, information science, and related disciplines. Fig- ure 2 shows some of the areas that are closely related to examples in this article and to the ICS research agenda (ICS, 2010). Figure 3 shows the levels of complexity in computational sustainability, which often addresses large-scale problems based on large volumes of data in highly dynamic and uncertain environments with many interacting components. Given these complexi- FIGURE 2 Examples of research themes and interactions in computational sustainability that are closely aligned with the research ties, the study of com- agenda of the Institute for Computational Sustainability at Cornell University. putational sustainability Winter 2009 11

problems requires a fundamentally new approach that and the lead principal investigator of an Expedi- is unlike the traditional computer science approach tion in Computing grant on computational sus- (i.e., the science of computation), which is driven tainability from the National Science Foundation mainly by worst-case analyses. From the perspective of (NSF) (Award Number: 0832782). The author thanks computational sustainability, problems are considered NSF for its support and ICS members for their many “natural” phenomena that are amenable to scientific contributions to the development of a vision for com- methodology, rather than purely mathematical abstrac- putational sustainability. tions or artifacts. In other words, to capture the structure and properties of complex real-world sustainability References problems, principled experimentation is as important Akyildiz, I.F., T. Melodia, and K.R. Chowdhury. 2007. A as formal models and analysis (Gomes and Selman, survey on wireless multimedia sensor networks. Computer 2005, 2007). Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking 51(4): 921–960. Summary Ando, A., J. Camm, S. Polasky, and A. Solow. 1998. Special The development of policies for a sustainable future distributions, land values, and efficient conservation. Sci- presents unique computational problems in scale, ence 279(5359): 2126–2128. impact, and richness that will create challenges, but Barrett, C., P. Little, and M. Carter, eds. 2007. Understand- also opportunities, for the advancement of the state ing and Reducing Persistent Poverty in Africa. Florence, of the art of computer science and related disciplines. Ky.: Routledge. The key research challenges are developing realistic Bodik, B., M.P. Armbrust, K. Canini, A. Fox, M. Jordan, and computational models that capture the interests and D.A.. Patterson. 2008. A Case for Adaptive Datacenters interdependencies of multiple agents, often involving to Conserve Energy and Improve Reliability. Technical continuous and discrete variables, in a highly dynamic Report No. UCB/EECS-2008-127. Berkeley, Calif.: EECS and uncertain environment. Department, University of California, Berkeley. Research in this new field is necessarily interdisci- Clark, C. 1976. Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal plinary, requiring that scientists with complementary Management of Renewable Resources. New York: Wiley. skills work together. In fact, collaboration is an essen- Clark, C. 2006. The Worldwide Crisis in Fisheries. New tial aspect of the new science of computational sustain- York: Cambridge University Press. ability, an interdisciplinary field that applies techniques Codenotti, B., S. Pemmaraju, and K. Varadarajan. 2005. On from computer science, information science, operations the polynomial time computation of equilibria for certain research, applied mathematics, statistics, and related exchange economies. Pp. 72–81 in Proceedings of the 16th fields to help balance environmental, economic, and ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms. Phila- societal needs for a sustainable future. delphia: SIAM. The focus is on developing computational and Conrad, J. 1999. Resource Economics. New York: Cam- mathematical models, methods, and tools for mak- bridge University Press. ing decisions and developing policies concerning the Conrad, J., C. Gomes, W.-J. van Hoeve, A. Sabharwal, and management and allocation of resources for sustain- J. Suter. 2007. Connections in Networks: Hardness of able development. The range of problems encompasses Feasibility versus Optimality. Pp. 16–28 in Proceedings of computational challenges in disciplines from ecology, the Fourth International Conference on the Integration of natural resources, economics, and atmospheric science AI and OR Techniques Constraint Programming, Brussels, to biological and environmental engineering. Com- Belgium. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. putational sustainability opens up fundamentally new Costello, C., S.D. Gaines, and J. Lynham. 2008. Can catch intellectual territory with great potential to advance the shares prevent fisheries collapse? Science 321(5896): state of the art of computer science and related disci- 1678–1681. plines and to provide unique societal benefits. Dietterich, T. 2009. Machine Learning in Ecosystem Infor- matics and Sustainability. Pp. 8–13 in Proceedings of the Acknowledgments 21st International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelli- The author is the director of the Institute for Com- gence. Pasadena, Calif.: IJCAI. putational Sustainability (ICS) at Cornell University Dilkina, B., and C. Gomes. 2009. Wildlife Corridor Design: The 12 BRIDGE

Connections to Computer Science. Pp. 3–4 in Proceed- ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_ ings of the Workshop on Constraint Reasoning and Opti- reports.htm#1. mization for Computational Sustainability (CROCS-09). Kaplan, J., W. Forrest, and N. Kindler. 2008. Revolution- Lisbon: CP-09. izing the Data Center Energy Efficiency. Technical report Elith, J., C.H. Graham, R.P. Anderson, M. Dudik, S. Fer- produced by McKinsey & Company. rier, A. Guisan, R.J. Hijmans, F. Huettmann, J.R. Leath- Katz, R.H. 2009. Tech Titans Building Boom. IEEE Spec- wick, A.Lehmann, J. Li, L.G. Lohmann, B.A. Loiselle, G. trum Online. Available online at http://www.spectrum.ieee. Manion, C. Moritz, M. Nakamura, Y. Nakazawa, J.McC. org/feb09/7327. Overton, A.T. Peterson, S.J. Phillips, K. Richardson, R. Kelling, S., W.M. Hochachka, D. Fink, M. Riedewald, R. Scachetti-Pereira, R.E. Schapire, J. Soberón, S. Williams, Caruana, G. Ballard, and G. Hooker. 2009. Data intensive M.S. Wisz, and N.E. Zimmermann. 2006. Novel methods science: a new paradigm for biodiversity studies. BioSci- improve prediction of species’ distributions from occur- ence 59(7): 613–620. rence data. Ecography 29(2): 129–151. Krause, A., and C. Guestrin. 2009. Optimizing sensing from Ellner, S., and J. Guckenheimer. 2006. Dynamic Models in water to the Web. IEEE Computer Magazine 42(8): 38–45. Biology. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Moilanen, A., K. Wilson, and H. Possingham, eds. 2009. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) 2007. Report to Spatial Conservation Prioritization. New York: Oxford Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency. University Press. Washington, D.C: EPA. Available online at: http:// Onal, H., and R. Briers. 2005. Designing a conservation www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=prod_development.server_ reserve network with minimal fragmentation: a linear inte- efficiency_study. ger programming approach. Environmental Modeling and Gomes, C., and B. Selman. 2005. Computation science: can Assessment 10(3): 193–202. get satisfaction. Nature 435(7043): 751–752. Patnaik, P., S.R. Marwah, and N. Ramakrishnan. 2009. Gomes, C., and B. Selman. 2007. Science of constraints. Sustainable Operation and Management of Data Center Constraint Programming Letters 1: 15–20. Chillers using Temporal Data Mining. In Proceedings of Gomes, C., W.-J. van Hoeve, and A. Sabharwal. 2008. Con- Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD’09), June nection in Networks: A Hybrid Approach. Pp. 303–307 in 28–July 1, 2009, Paris. France. New York: Association for Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Computing Machinery. Integration of AI and OR Techniques Constraint Program- Phillips, S., M. Dudik, and R.E. Schapire. 2004. A Maximum ming, Paris, France. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. Entropy Approach to Species Distribution Modeling. P. 83 Hardin, G. 1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science in Proceedings of the Twenty-First International Confer- 162(3859): 1243–1248. ence on Machine Learning, Banff, Alberta, Canada. New Heal, G., and W. Schlenker. 2008. Sustainable fisheries. York: Association for Computing Machinery. Nature 455(7216): 1044–1045. Polasky, S., E. Nelson, J. Camm, B. Csuti, P. Fackler, E. Lons- Heijungs R., and S. Suh. 2002. The Computational Struc- dorf, C. Montgomery, D. White, J. Arthur, B. Garberyonts, ture of Life Cycle Assessment (Eco-Efficiency in Industry R. Haight, J. Kagan, A. Starfield, and C. Tobalske. 2008. and Science). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Where to put things? spatial land management to sustain Hoke, E., J. Sun, and C. Faloutsos. 2006. InteMon: Intelligent biodiversity and economic returns. Biological Conserva- System Monitoring on Large Clusters. Pp. 1239–1242 in tion 141(6): 1505–1524. Proceeding of Very Large Databases (VLDB’06). Available Polastre, J., R. Szewczyk, A. Mainwaring, D. Culler, and J. online at http://www.vldb.org/conf/2006/p1239-hoke.pdf. Anderson. 2009. Analysis of Wireless Sensor Networks Luseno, W.K., J.G. McPeak, C.B. Barrett, P.D. Little, and G. for Habitat Monitoring. Pp. 399–424 in Wireless Sensor Gebru. 2003. Assessing the Value of Climate Forecast Infor- Networks, edited by C.S. Raghavendra. K.M. Sivalingam, mation for Pastoralists: Evidence from Southern Ethiopia and and T. Znati. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Northern Kenya. World Development 31(9): 1477–1494. Seager, T., S.A. Miller, and J. Kohn. 2009. Land Use and ICS (Institute for Computational Sustainability). 2010. Geospatial Aspects in Life Cycle Assessment of Renewable Agenda. Available online at http://www.cis.cornell.edu/ics/. Energy. Pp. 1–6 in Proceedings of IEEE International Sym- IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2007. posium on Sustainable Systems and Technology. Available Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Technical Report, online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnu United Nations IPCC. Available online at http://www. mber=5156724&isnumber=5156678. Winter 2009 13

Searchinger, T., R. Heimlich, R.A. Houghton, F. Dong, A. World Commission on Environment and Development. Elobeid, J. Fabiosa, S. Tokgoz, D. Hayes, and T.-H. Yu. Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP. 2008. Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases green- UNEP. 2007. Global Environment Outlook 4 (GEO4). Tech- house gases through emissions from land-use change. Sci- nical Report. Available online at http://www.unep.org/geo/. ence 319(5867): 1238–1240. WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Develop- Shah, A., V. Carey, C. Bash, and C. Patel. 2008. Energy ment). 2008. Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Facts and analysis of data center thermal management systems. Jour- Trends—Full Report. Available online at http://www. nal of Heat Transfer 130(2): 021401 (10 pages). wbcsd.org/DocRoot/qUjY7w54vY1KncL32OVQ/EEB-Facts- Shmoys, D. 2004. The Design and Analysis of Approxima- and-trends.pdf. tion Algorithms: Facility Location as a Case Study. Pp. Werner-Allen, G., K. Lorincz, M. Welsh, O. Marcillo, J. 85–98 in Trends in Optimization, edited by S. Hosten, J. Johnson, M. Ruiz, and J. Lees. 2006. Deploying a wire- Lee, and R. Thomas. AMS Proceedings of Symposia in less sensor network on an active volcano. IEEE Internet Applied Mathematics, Vol. 61. Providence, R.I.: Ameri- Computing 10(2): 17–25. can Mathematical Society. Williams, J.C., C.S. ReVelle, and S.A. Levin. 2005. Spatial Strogatz, S. 1994. Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With attributes and reserve design models: a review. Environ- Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineer- mental Modeling and Assessment 10(3): 163–181. ing. Jackson, Tenn.: Perseus Books Group. Worm, B., E.B. Barbier, N. Beaumont, J.E. Duffy, C. Folke, Sullivan, B., C. Wood, M. Iliff, R. Bonney, D. Fink, and K. B.S. Halpern, J.B.C. Jackson, H.K. Lotze, F. Micheli, S.R. Kelling. 2009. eBird: a citizen-based bird observation net- Palumbi, E. Sala, K.A. Selkoe, J.J. Stachowicz, and R. Wat- work in the biological sciences. Biological Conservation son. 2006. Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem 142(10): 2282–2292. services. Science 314(5800): 787–790. Tilman, D., R. Socolow, J. Foley, J. Hill, E. Larson, L. Lynd, Worm, B., R. Hilborn, J.K. Baum, T.A. Branch, J.S. Collie, C. S. Pacala, J. Reilly, T. Searchinger, C. Somerville, and R. Costello, M.J. Fogarty, E.A. Fulton, J.A. Hutchings, S. Jen- Williams. 2009. Beneficial biofuels—the food, energy, and nings, O.P. Jensen, H.K. Lotze, P.M. Mace, T.R. McClana- environment trilemma. Science 325(5938): 270–271. han, C. Minto, S.R. Palumbi, A.M. Parma, D. Ricard, A.A. Toth, R., C. Barrett, Y. Guo, and C. Gomes. 2009. Pastoral Rosenberg, R. Watson, and D. Zeller. 2009. Rebuilding Systems in East Africa. Manuscript in preparation. global fisheries. Science 325(5940): 578–585. UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). 1987. Ye, Y. 2008. A path to the Arrow-Debreu competitive mar- Our Common Future. Published as annex to the Gen- ket equilibrium. Mathematical Programming 111(1–2): eral Assembly document A/42/427, Development and 315–348. International Cooperation: Environment. Report of the Antennas in the optical range will improve the efficiency of light-emitting devices.

Optical Antennas A New Technology That Can Enhance Light-Matter Interactions

Lukas Novotny

The purpose of optical antennas is to convert the energy of free propagating radiation to localized energy, and vice versa. Although this is similar to what radio wave and microwave antennas do, optical antennas exploit the unique properties of metal nanostructures, which behave as strongly coupled plasmas at optical frequencies. It is hoped that optical antennas can increase the efficiency of light-matter interactions in important applications, such as Lukas Novotny is professor of light-emitting devices, photovoltaics, and spectroscopy. optics and physics, Institute of Electromagnetic antennas, a key enabling technology for devices such as Optics, University of Rochester. cellular phones and televisions, are mostly used in the radio-wave or microwave regime of the electromagnetic spectrum. At optical frequencies, on the contrary, electromagnetic fields are controlled by re-directing the wave fronts of propagating radiation by means of lenses, mirrors, and diffractive elements. Because this type of manipulation is based on the wave nature of electromagnetic fields, it cannot be used to control fields on the subwavelength scale. In contrast, radio wave and microwave technology predominantly uses antennas to manipulate electromagnetic fields, controlling them on the subwavelength scale and interfacing efficiently between propagating radiation and localized fields. Recent research in nano-optics and plasmonics has generated consider- able interest in optical antennas, and several current studies are exploring ways of translating established radio wave and microwave antenna theories Winter 2009 15

into the optical frequency regime. The introduction invented at the turn of the twentieth century by Richard of the antenna concept into the optical frequency Adolf Zsigmondy, an Austrian chemist (Elsevier, 1966). regime will lead to new technological applications, In 1988, Ulrich Ch. Fischer and Dieter W. Pohl car- such as enhancing absorption cross-sections and quan- ried out an experiment similar to Synge’s proposal, but tum yields in photovoltaics, releasing energy efficiently instead of a solid metal particle, they used a gold-coated from nanoscale light-emitting devices, boosting the polystyrene particle as a local light source (Fischer efficiency of photochemical or photophysical detectors, and Pohl, 1989). They imaged a thin metal film with and improving spatial resolution in optical microscopy. 320 nanometer (nm) holes and demonstrated a spatial resolution of ~50nm. Later, laser-irradiated metal tips Background were proposed as optical antenna probes for near-field The word antenna most likely derives from the prefix microscopy and optical trapping (Novotny et al., 1997, an- (meaning “up”) and the Indo-European root ten- 1998), and since then various other antenna geometries (meaning “to stretch”) (Tucker, 1931; Watkins, 2000). have been studied (e.g., rods and bowties). Therefore, from an etymological perspective, an antenna is that which stretches or extends upward (Klein, 1966). How Optical Antennas Work Today, we refer to an electromagnetic transmitter or Although optical antennas are strongly analogous to receiver as an antenna, but these were originally called their radio-frequency (RF) and microwave counterparts, aerials in English (Simpson and Weiner, 1989). In 1983, there are crucial differences in their physical properties IEEE defined an antenna as a means of radiating or and scaling behavior. Most of these differences arise receiving radio waves (IEEE, 1983). because metals are not perfect conductors at optical fre- Radio antennas were developed as solutions to a com- quencies, but are strongly correlated plasmas described as munication problem, whereas optical antennas were a free electron gas. Optical antennas are also not typically developed for use in microscopy. Analogous to its radio powered by galvanic transmission lines; instead, local- wave and microwave counterparts, we define an optical ized oscillators are brought close to the feed point of the antenna as a device designed to efficiently convert free antennas, and electronic oscillations are driven capaci- propagating optical radiation to localized energy, and tively (Pohl, 2000). Moreover, optical antennas can take vice versa (Bharadwaj et al., 2009). In the context of various unusual forms (e.g., tips or nanoparticles), and microscopy, an optical antenna, which can concentrate their properties may be strongly shape- and material- external laser radiation to dimensions smaller than the dependent due to surface plasmon resonances. diffraction limit, can effectively replace a conventional Typically, an optical antenna interacts with a receiver focusing lens or objective. or transmitter in the form of a discrete quantum sys- In a letter to Albert Einstein dated April 22, 1928, tem, such as an atom, molecule, or ion. Because the Edward Hutchinson Synge describes a microscopic antenna enhances the interaction between the receiver method (Figure 1) in which the field scattered from a tiny particle could be used as a light source (Novotny, 2007b). The particle would convert free propagating optical radiation into a localized field that would interact with a sample surface. If we think of the surface as a receiver, the particle can be viewed as an optical antenna. Synge’s method was probably inspired by the FIGURE 1 (a) Synge’s original proposal of near-field optical microscopy based on using scattered light from a particle as a light development of dark-field source. Source: Adapted from Synge’s letter to Einstein dated April 22, 1928, cited by Novotny, 2007b. (b) 1988 experiment microscopy, a technique in which the near-field probe consists of a gold-coated polystyrene particle. Source: Fischer and Pohl, 1989. The 16 BRIDGE

or transmitter and the radiation field, it may control the where Γexc is the excitation rate and ηrad is the quan- light-matter interaction on the level of a single quantum tum yield. Both Γexc and ηrad depend on the antenna’s system. On the one hand, the presence of the antenna properties and the separation, z, between antenna and modifies the properties of the quantum system, such as its molecule. ηrad corresponds to the radiation efficiency, transition rates and, in the case of a strong interaction, and the rates, Γi, can be expressed in terms of powers as even the energy-level structure. On the other hand, the Pi = Γi hνi, with hνi corresponding to the atomic transi- properties of the antenna depend on the properties of tion energy. the receiver/transmitter. Thus, the two must be regarded Figure 2a shows the experimentally recorded pho- as a coupled system. The efficiency of the interaction ton emission rate of a single dye molecule as a func- can be expressed in terms of established antenna ter- tion of its separation from an 80nm silver nanoparticle. minology, such as antenna gain, efficiency, impedance, The superimposed curve is a theoretical calculation directivity, and aperture (Bharadwaj et al., 2009). based on a simple electromagnetic model in which the molecule is treated as a classical oscillating dipole Radiation Enhancement with (Bharadwaj and Novotny, 2007). The data demonstrate Nanoparticle Antennas that, as the silver particle is brought closer to the mol- A spherical nanoparticle is probably the simplest ecule, the fluorescence emission rate first increases and model antenna (Anger et al., 2006; Bharadwaj and then is suppressed. The initial fluorescence enhance- Novotny, 2007; Bharadwaj et al., 2007; Kühn et al., ment is due to the antenna effect of the silver parti- 2006). Although this simple antenna geometry is not cle. The excitation rate, Γexc, increases because of the very efficient, quantitative comparisons can be made enhanced local fields near the nanoparticle. by simple analytical means (Bharadwaj and Novotny, However, for separations shorter than z = 10nm, 2007). As shown in the inset of Figure 2a, we can con- the radiation efficiency ηrad decreases rapidly as more sider a transmitter in the form of a single fluorescent and more of the energy is absorbed in the silver nano molecule optically pumped by external laser radiation. particle. At a distance of z ~ 3nm, the rapid decrease of For weak excitation intensities, the radiation rate Γrad ηrad wins over the increase of Γexc, and the fluorescence can be expressed as of the molecule is quenched. Hence, there is an optimal separation between molecule and antenna. Γ = Γ η (1) rad exc rad Figure 2b shows a near-field fluorescence image of single dye molecules dispersed on a flat glass surface. The fluorescence emission rate was recorded pixel by pixel, while the dye sample was raster scanned under a laser- irradiated nanoparticle antenna held at a fixed distance of z ~ 5nm above the sample surface by means of a shear-force feedback mechanism (Anger et al., 2006; Höppener et al., 2009; Karrai and Grober, 1995). The resolution achieved in this type of near-field FIGURE 2 Enhancement of the radiation rate of a single molecule with a silver nanoparticle antenna. (a) Normalized fluores imaging is determined by cence rate as a function of antenna-molecule separation. Dots are data, and the curve is the result of a theoretical calculation. the antenna size. With an Inset: scanning electron microscope image of a nanoparticle antenna. The particle is held by a dielectric tip, λ = 488nm. (b) Fluorescence rate image recorded by raster scanning of a sample with dispersed dye molecules in a plane z ≈ 5nm under 80nm silver or gold par- neath a nanoparticle antenna. The different fluorescence patterns are due to different orientations of the molecular transition ticle, we typically achieve dipole axis. Source: Adapted from Bharadwaj and Novotny, 2007. resolutions of ~ 65nm. The Winter 2009 17

different fluorescence patterns in Figure 2b are due to rally to nano-imaging applications. In the context of different orientations of the molecular transition dipole nanoscale imaging, an optical antenna represents a axis (Frey et al., 2004; Novotny et al., 2001). near-field optical probe that can interact locally with The results of similar experiments performed with an unknown sample surface. For a near-field optical other quantum systems, such as quantum dots and car- image, the optical antenna is guided over the sample bon nanotubes, are consistent with the results for single surface in close proximity, and an optical response (e.g., fluorescent molecules. An important finding is that scattering, fluorescence, antenna detuning) is detected for systems with weak intrinsic quantum efficiency (ηi) for each image pixel. the radiation efficiency can be enhanced by the opti- The vibrational spectra provided by Raman scatter- cal antenna. In the example discussed here, in which ing define a unique chemical fingerprint for the material we assumed ηi = 1, the antenna can only decrease the under study. Raman scattering involves the absorption radiation efficiency. However, for poor emitters, such as and emission of photons, almost identical in energy; thus carbon nanotubes, the antenna can increase the radia- a nearby antenna can amplify both the incoming and tion efficiency by more than a factor of 10 (Hartschuh outgoing fields. The total Raman scattering enhance- et al., 2005). In general, the lower the ηi, the more the ment is therefore proportional to the fourth power of antenna increases the overall efficiency, an effect that the field enhancement (Novotny and Hecht, 2006). was first observed by Wokaun et al. in 1983. In tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS), optical This method of increasing the quantum efficiency of antennas (e.g., metal tips) are used for point-by-point weak emitters might be a promising development that Raman spectroscopy (Hartschuh, 2008; Hartschuh et could boost the efficiency of organic light-emitting al., 2003; Stöckle et al., 2000), similar to the original devices (OLEDs), silicon-based lighting, and solid-state idea of Wessel (1985). Raman enhancements achieved lighting (SSL) in the yellow and green spectral region with metal tips are typically in the range of 104 – 108, (Pillai et al., 2007; Wetzel et al., 2004). corresponding to field enhancements of 10 to 100. The nanoparticle antenna is a model antenna, and Our TERS studies are focused on localized states its predictions have been tested in various recent (due to defects and dopants) in carbon nanotubes experiments. However, much higher efficiencies can (Anderson et al., 2005; Maciel et al., 2008). Figure 3 be achieved with optimized antenna designs, such as the shows (a) the simultaneously recorded topography and optical half-wave antenna. (b) near-field Raman image of a single-walled carbon nanotube sample. The image contrast in the near-field Near-Field Raman Scattering Raman image (c) is defined by the intensity of the The hallmark of optical antennas, their ability to G’ line (vibrational frequency of ν = 2615 cm-1) high- influence light on the nanometer scale, leads natu- lighted in the spectrum.

FIGURE 3: Near-field Raman imaging of a single-walled carbon nanotube sample. (a) Topography showing a network of carbon nanotubes covered with small droplets. (b) Raman image of the same sample area recorded by integrating, for each image pixel, the photon counts, which fall into a narrow spectral bandwidth centered around ν = 2615 cm-1 (indicated by shading in 3c). (c) Raman scattering spectrum recorded on top of the nanotube. Source: Adapted from Hartschuh et al., 2003. The 18 BRIDGE

Wavelength Scaling at RF frequencies, L = λ/2 and Rrad ~ 73Ω. However, At optical frequencies, electrons in metals have con- for an optical half-wave antenna, L = λeff/2 and hence 2 2 siderable inertia and cannot respond instantaneously to Rrad = (30/4) π (λeff/λ) . In other words, the radiation 2 the driving fields. Typically, the skin depth is on the resistance at optical frequencies is a factor of (λeff/λ) order of tens of nanometers, comparable to the dimen- smaller than at RF frequencies. For λeff = λ/5 we find sions of the antenna. Traditional design rules that pre- Rrad = 3 Ω. scribe antenna parameters only in terms of an external Figure 4a shows the intensity distribution near a gold wavelength are thus no longer valid. The metal must be half-wave antenna of length L = 110nm and radius rigorously treated as a strongly coupled plasma, which R = 5nm resonantly excited at λ = 1170nm. The effec- leads to the antenna “seeing” a reduced effective wave- tive wavelength is λeff = 220nm. The induced current length (Novotny, 2007a). This effective wavelength, density j = i ω εo [ε(ω) - 1] E evaluated along the axis of the antenna is found to be nearly 180° out of phase λeff, is related to the external (incident) wavelength, λ, by a surprisingly simple relation with respect to the exciting field. The notion of an effective wavelength can be used λeff = n1 + n2 [λ / λp] (2) to extend familiar design ideas and rules into the optical frequency regime. For example, the optical analog where λp is the plasma wavelength of the metal, and n1 of the λ/2 dipole antenna becomes a thin metal rod of and n2 are constants that depend on the geometry and length λ /2. Since λ for a silver rod of radius 5nm is dielectric parameters of the antenna. λeff is shorter, by eff eff a factor of 2 to 6, than the free space, λ, for typical met- roughly λ/5.2 (Figure 4c), this means that the length als (e.g., gold, silver, aluminum) and realistic antenna of a “λ/2” dipole antenna is surprisingly small, about thicknesses (Bryant et al., 2008; Novotny, 2007a). λ/10.4. One can similarly construct antenna arrays like the well established Yagi-Uda antenna developed in The shortening of wavelength from λ to λeff has interesting implications. For example, it implies that the 1920s for the UHF/VHF region (Novotny, 2007a; the radiation resistance of an optical half-wave anten- Taminiau et al., 2008). na is on the order of just a few Ohms (Alu and Eng- Enhanced Light-Matter Interactions heta, 2008; Burke et al., 2006; Novotny, 2007a). To see this, we note that the radiation resistance of a The localized fields near an optical antenna open 2 2 up new interaction mechanisms between light and thin-wire antenna is roughly Rrad = 30 π (L/ λ) , with L being the antenna length. For a half-wave antenna matter, such as higher order multipole transitions

FIGURE 4 Effective wavelength scaling for linear optical antennas. (a) Intensity distribution (E2, factor of 2 between contour lines) for a gold half-wave antenna irradiated with a plane wave (λ = 1150nm). (b) Scanning electron microscope image of a half-wave antenna resonant at λ = 650nm, fabricated by placing a gold nanorod ~65nm long into the opening of a quartz nanopipette. (c) Effective wavelength scaling for silver rods of different radii (5, 10, and 20nm). Source: Novotny, 2007a. Winter 2009 19

and momentum-forbidden transitions. These interac- optimized separately for each application. However, tions, which are inaccessible in free space, have the to achieve the highest level of efficiency, the internal potential to enrich optical spectroscopy and provide energy dissipation of any antenna must be minimized. new strategies for optical sensing and detection. In For a quantum emitter, such as an atom, molecule, or ion, free space, the momentum of a photon with energy, E, a good antenna yields a low nonradiative decay rate. is p = E/c. However, the momentum of an unbound New ideas and developments are emerging at a rapid electron with the same energy is two to three orders of pace, and it is now clear that the optical antenna con- magnitude greater, and the photon momentum can be cept will provide new opportunities for optoelectronic neglected in electronic transitions. architectures and devices. Today, the building blocks Near an optical antenna, the photon momentum for optical antennas are plasmonic nanostructures that is no longer defined by its free space value. Instead, can be fabricated either from the bottom up by colloi- localized optical fields are associated with a photon dal chemistry or from the top down with established momentum defined by the spatial confinement, D, nanofabrication techniques, such as electron-beam which can be as small as 1 to 10nm. Thus in the opti- lithography and focused ion-beam milling. It is also cal near field the photon momentum can be drasti- conceivable that future optical antenna designs will cally increased to a level comparable with the electron draw inspiration from biological systems, such as light- momentum, especially in materials with small effective harvesting proteins in photosynthesis. mass, m*. Hence, localized optical fields can give rise to “diagonal” transitions in an electronic band diagram Acknowledgments thereby increasing overall absorption strength, which This work is supported by the U.S. Department of can be useful for devices such as silicon solar cells. The Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Air increase of photon momentum in optical near fields has Force Office of Scientific Research. I thank all of the been discussed in the context of photoelectron emission students and postdoctoral researchers of the Nano- (Shalaev, 1996) and photoluminescence (Beversluis et Optics Group who have contributed to this work. al., 2003). The strong field confinement near optical antennas References also has implications for selection rules in atomic and Alu, A., and N. Engheta. 2008. Input impedance, nanocir- molecular systems. Usually, the light-matter interaction cuit loading, and radiation tuning of optical nanoantennas. is treated in the dipole approximation where the spatial Physical Review Letters 101(4): 043901. variation of the fields is much weaker than the spatial Anderson, N., A. Hartschuh, S. Cronin, and L. Novotny. variation of quantum wave functions. However, the 2005. Nanoscale vibrational analysis of single-walled car- localized fields near optical antennas give rise to spatial bon nanotubes. Journal of the American Chemical Society field variations of a few nanometers; hence it may no 127(8): 2533 – 2537. longer be legitimate to invoke the dipole approxima- Anger, P., P. Bharadwaj, and L. Novotny. 2006. Enhancement tion. This is the case in semiconductor nanostructures, and quenching of single molecule fluorescence. Physical for example, where the low effective mass gives rise to Review Letters 96(11): 113002. quantum orbitals with large spatial extent. Beversluis, M.R., A. Bouhelier, and L. Novotny. 2003. Con- tinuum generation from single gold nanostructures through Conclusions and Outlook near-field mediated intraband transitions. Physical Review Research in the field of optical antennas is currently B 68(11): 115433. driven by the need for high field enhancement, strong Bharadwaj, P., and L. Novotny. 2007. Spectral dependence field localization, and large absorption cross sections. of single molecule fluorescence enhancement. Optical Antennas for high-resolution microscopy and spectros- Express 15(21): 14266 – 14274. copy, photovoltaics, light emission, and coherent control Bharadwaj, P., P. Anger, and L. Novotny. 2007. Nanoplas- are being investigated. In one way or another, optical monic enhancement of single-molecule fluorescence. antennas make processes more efficient or increase the Nanotechnology 18: 044017. specificity of gathered information. Bharadwaj, P., B. Deutsch, and L. Novotny. 2009. Opti- As in canonical antenna theory, there is no univer- cal antennas. Advances in Optics and Photonics 1(3): sal antenna design, and optical antennas have to be 438 – 483. The 20 BRIDGE

Bryant, G.W., F.J.G. de Abajo, and J. Aizpurua. 2008. Map- Novotny, L. 2007b. The History of Near-Field Optics. Pp. ping the plasmon resonances of metallic nanoantennas. 137 – 180 in Progress in Optics, Vol. 50, edited by E. Wolf. Nano Letters 8(2): 631 – 636. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Co. Burke, P.J., S. Li, and Z. Yu. 2006. Quantitative theory of Novotny, L., and B. Hecht. 2006. Principles of Nano-Optics. nanowire and nanotube antenna performance. IEEE Trans- Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. actions on Nanotechnology 5(4): 314 – 334. Novotny, L., R.X. Bian, and X.S. Xie. 1997. Theory of nano- Elsevier. 1966. Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1922 – 1941. metric optical tweezers. Physical Review Letters 79(4): Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Co. 645 – 648. Fischer, U.C., and D.W. Pohl. 1989. Observation of single- Novotny, L., E.J. Sanchez, and X.S. Xie. 1998. Near-field particle plasmons by near-field optical microscopy. Physi- optical imaging using metal tips illuminated by higher- cal Review Letters 62(4): 458 – 461. order Hermite-Gaussian beams. Ultramicroscopy 71(1): Frey, H.G., S. Witt, K. Felderer, and R. Guckenberger. 2004. 21 – 29. High-resolution imaging of single fluorescent molecules Novotny, L., M.R. Beversluis, K.S. Youngworth, and T.G. with the optical near-field of a metal tip. Physical Review Brown. 2001. Longitudinal field modes probed by single Letters 93(20): 200801. molecules. Physical Review Letters 86(23): 5251. Hartschuh, A. 2008. Tip-enhanced near-field optical micros- Pillai, S., K. Catchpole, T. Trupke, and M. Green. 2007. copy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 47(43): Surface plasmon enhanced silicon solar cells. Journal of 8178 – 8191. Applied Physics 101(9): 093105. Hartschuh, A., E. Sanchez, X. Xie, and L. Novotny. 2003. Pohl, D.W. 2000. Near-field Optics Seen as an Antenna High-resolution near-field Raman microscopy of sin- Problem. Pp. 9 – 21 in Near-field Optics, Principles and gle-walled carbon nanotubes. Physical Review Letters Applications, edited by X. Zhu and M. Ohtsu. Singapore: 90(9): 095503. World Scientific. Hartschuh, A., H. Qian, A.J. Meixner, N. Anderson, and Shalaev, V.M. 1996. Electromagnetic properties of small-par- L. Novotny. 2005. Nanoscale optical imaging of exci- ticle composites. Physics Reports 272(2 – 3): 61 – 137. tons in single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nano Letters Simpson, J.A., and E.S.C. Weiner. 1989. Antennas. P. 506 5(11): 2310. in The Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Oxford Höppener, C., R. Beams, and L. Novotny. 2009. Background University Press. suppression in near-field optical imaging. Nano Letters Stöckle, R.M., Y.D. Suh, V. Deckert, and R. Zenobi. 2000. 9(2): 903908. Nanoscale chemical analysis by tip-enhanced Raman spec- IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.). troscopy. Chemical Physics Letters 318(1 – 3): 131 – 136. 1983. Antenna Standards Committee of the IEEE Anten- Taminiau, T.H., F.D. Stefani, and N.F. van Hulst. 2008. nas and Propagation Society, IEEE Std 145-1983. New Enhanced directional excitation and emission of single York: IEEE. emitters by a nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna. Optics Karrai, K., and R.D. Grober. 1995. Piezoelectric tip-sample Express 16(14): 10858 – 10866. distance control for near field optical microscopes. Applied Tucker, T.G. 1931. Antemna, antenna. P. 19 in A Concise Physics Letters 66(14): 1842 – 1844. Etymological Dictionary of Latin. Halle/Saale, Germany: Klein, E. 1966. Antenna. P. 82 in A Comprehensive Etymo- Max Niemeyer Verlag. logical Dictionary of the English Language. Amsterdam: Watkins, C. 2000. “ten-” P. 90 in The American Heritage Elsevier Publishing Company. Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Boston: Houghton Kühn, S., U. Hakanson, L. Rogobete, and V. Sandoghdar. Mifflin Company. 2006. Enhancement of single molecule fluorescence using Wessel, J. 1985. Surface-enhanced optical microscopy. Jour- a gold nanoparticle as an optical nanoantenna. Physical nal of the Optical Society of America B 2(9): 1538 – 1541. Review Letters 97(1): 017402. Wetzel, C., T. Salagaj, T. Detchprohm, P. Li, and J.S. Maciel, I.O., N. Anderson, M.A. Pimenta, A. Hartschuh, H. Nelson. 2004. GaInN/GaN growth optimization for high Qian, M. Terrones, H. Terrones, J. Campos-Delgado, A.M. power green light emitting diodes. Applied Physics Let- Rao, L. Novotny, and A. Jorio. 2008. Electron and phonon ters 85(6): 866. renormalization at defect/doping sites in carbon nanotubes. Wokaun, A. H.-P. Lutz, A.P. King, U.P. Wild, and R.R. Ernst. Nature Materials 7: 878 – 883. 1983. Energy transfer in surface enhanced luminescence. Novotny, L. 2007a. Effective wavelength scaling for optical Journal of Chemistry and Physics 79(1): 509 – 514. antennas. Physical Review Letters 98(26): 266802. Health care managers can greatly improve communication and the coordination of care for elders.

Managing and Coordinating Health Care Creating Collaborative, Proactive Systems

David A. Dorr

In the last 100 years, huge advances in public health and medical care have resulted in people living longer, healthier lives. These advances have led to a shift from infectious diseases (pneumonia, tuberculosis, and infectious diarrhea) as the top three causes of death to the sequelae of chronic illnesses as the most common causes of death. For instance, heart disease, the most common cause of death in 2000, is hastened by diabetes, hyper- David A. Dorr is assistant professor, tension, and high cholesterol (Anderson and Arias, 2003). In addition, Department of Medical Informatics as people age, loss of functional ability and increasing disability become and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon primary determinants of increased use of medical services, loss of independence, and death. Health and Science University. It has been shown that increasing disability and multiple conditions near the end of life, rather than single conditions or age alone, are the primary causes of increased hospitalizations and costs (e.g., Shugarman et al., 2009). Nevertheless, the health care system in the United States still focuses on treating individual conditions and meeting acute needs, rather than on ongoing care and overall health. Thus fixing this system will require changing health care delivery to anticipate these needs, teaching and encouraging people and their families to seek help, and providing care that consistently matches medical knowledge. One possible “fix” is to add care managers—specially trained nurses and social workers who focus on the broad health picture—into primary care The 22 BRIDGE clinics. Care managers support a different approach to At the start of our hypothetical year, Ms. Viera looks health care characterized by coordination, prioritiza- back on last year, during which she saw 13 providers, tion, and protocols for treatment plans assisted by the 8 of whom she continues to see regularly. Her regu- targeted use of health information technologies (HIT). lar providers include her primary care provider (PCP), With these “fixes,” the health care system would address Dr. Smith, a doctor of internal medicine who provides ongoing changes in a patient’s health as the care man- ongoing care with a team of specialists—a rheumatolo- ager, supported by HIT, focuses on proactive, collabora- gist for arthritis; a cardiologist; a neurologist, whom she tive, coordinated care. saw in consult for memory loss; a nephrologist for kidney problems and high blood pressure; an orthopedist Complexity of Care and the for her knees; a gynecologist; and an endocrinologist Need for Care Coordination for diabetes. She filled 50 different prescriptions for In this article, we will consider gaps and potential 8 chronic medications and 4 short-term medications; solutions in the care of a hypothetical elderly patient, several of these medications were prescribed by special- Ms. Viera. In this example, we consider two alternate ists, and some were prescribed by the PCP. She avoided courses in the life of a this hypothetical patient based the hospital last year, despite having nearly 90 times the on differences in care delivery (Figure 1). Ms. Viera is a risk of a hospitalization for someone her age with no 75-year-old woman with five common chronic condi- chronic illnesses (Wolff et al., 2002). tions: (1) arthritis in her knees and hips; (2) diabetes, As Figure 1 shows, an enormous number of connec- which she has had for the last five years; (3) high blood tions had to be tracked by the patient, the family, and pressure; (4) moderate kidney problems, which have the caregiver—for communication and for changes caused some swelling in her legs; and (5) recent diffi- to medical treatment plans. The coordination of culty remembering things day to day. She lives alone these connections is the primary challenge we address and can manage the usual household tasks. Socially, she in this paper. goes to the senior center once a week, has a part-time Patients like Ms. Viera represent approximately professional caregiver, and has a daughter who lives 5 percent of people over 65, yet they use about 43 percent about an hour away by car. of all health care resources (Wolff et al., 2002). When we consider re-engineering the system to improve Ms. Viera’s care, we must first and foremost consider the benefit of those changes to her. A major hypothesis in care-coordination research is that carefully planning and arranging care can result in higher quality, more efficient care. Society, patients, and insurers will all benefit by avoiding waste from errors and “defects” in the care delivered.

A Crucial Juncture Let us return to the case of Ms. Viera. At the beginning of our year, she is hospitalized briefly for difficulty breathing and dizzi- FIGURE 1 An example of average health care and needs for a patient with complex conditions. ness. After about two days, Winter 2009 23

she is diagnosed with out- of-control blood sugars and some excess fluid on her lungs. The hospital team stabilizes her by adjusting several medications, and she is discharged back to her home. Figure 2 shows one potential course her post-hospital convalescence could take. Based on the hypothetical events listed on the left, in the next year, she goes home, appointments are planned, she attempts to resume her usual activities, sees specialists, has dizzi- ness, chest pain, and some difficulties with control of her chronic conditions. In the usual course of care, “System 1” (on the right), the care-coordination tasks and their method of completion are highlighted. Studies show that upon FIGURE 2 A year in the life of Ms. Viera with the usual system of health care. discharge from the hospital, one-third of patients have care plans that are not primary-care team from controlling her blood pressure, followed or communicated (e.g., instructions to make which leads to a repeat hospitalization for monitoring. an appointment with a physician). In addition, calls Although she does not have a heart attack, the changes from the hospital staff to the PCP, although helpful, fre- in her medications and the unfamiliarity of her sur- quently do not lead to follow-up unless there is further roundings in the hospital may lead to a fall and a further communication—from either the hospital or primary- need for rehabilitation. care team—directly with the patient. By the time the In each of these common scenarios, gaps in coordi- provider reviews the faxed discharge summary, Ms. Viera nation lead to increased use of health care and worse has about a 10 percent chance of being rehospitalized. health for Ms. Viera. Our primary purposes in this paper In the next month, Ms. Viera may increase her activi- are to elaborate on the reasons for our failure to create ties and develop symptoms from her medications. In reliable health systems and to provide suggestions for the usual system, she may call her PCP and, while wait- improvement. ing for the return call, her symptoms may worsen, and she may go to the emergency department. Upon seeing Developing a Health Care System of Systems three of her specialists in follow-up, the lack of informa- One way to change the current system of coordination sharing among settings and caregivers leads to new tion “as usual”—which includes many gaps—is to think medications being prescribed but not remembered by the of health care as a more reliable and effective system patient or family and not reconciled against her old list. of systems. One challenge in creating a reliable sys- Finally, in month six, Ms. Viera may have a seri- tem is that gaps are not uniform; they vary over time ous new problem—worsening chest pain. In the usual and from individual to individual based on a wide range system, all of her other issues may have distracted the of factors, such as social needs, economic conditions, The 24 BRIDGE chronic illnesses, personal preferences, and local system based on both patient input and evidence for effective infrastructure. Multiple disciplines, such as cognitive treatment. engineering, systems science, industrial engineering, Collaboration requires shared decision-making, and informatics, must be combined to begin to mini- a process whereby patients are educated about their mize and then close these gaps. condition, are offered options, and are provided with One way to address these problems is to take a close tools to help them make decisions. For patients with look at the existing health care delivery system and multiple chronic conditions, decisions must be made diagnose the gaps through a structured approach by frequently and must be coordinated across conditions. looking at goals of care, current processes, infrastruc- Goal-setting by patients—which has been shown to ture, and participants. We have completed a series of lead to improved health—is done less than 25 percent studies of the system of primary care, a subset of the of the time, and patients report that they do not feel overall health care system that focuses on ongoing, out- included in decisions more than 50 percent of the time patient care by a PCP and a primary-care team (Dorr et (Bodenheimer and Handley, 2009). al., 2005, 2006a,b, 2007b). The reasons for frequent gaps in communication In this system, as shown in Figure 1, coordination include: (1) the patient’s need for clear communica- of care is crucial to ensure that it is ongoing, compre- tions that focus on goals and outcomes; (2) the need for hensive, and relationship-based. In our studies, we first multiple inputs (e.g., from specialists and the primary- defined the goals of care coordination and then the care team, as well as the patient and family) to complete crucial processes necessary to attain those goals. These a communication, which requires cyclical or iterative processes are usually nonlinear, are initiated through processes; and (3) the mode of communication either comprehensive assessments, and require iterative fol- requires more attention than is available (e.g., in-person low-up on care plans and patient needs. Finally, the conversations with the provider) or is not timely (e.g., structure is developed, in terms of the team’s abilities, faxes) (Westbrook et al., 2007). With limited time and the clinic-based technology that ensures (or at least sup- attention, failures in communication are common, lead- ports) reliability, and defined roles, all relevant to the ing to errors and preventable negative outcomes, such as patient’s needs. emergency department visits resulting from unreturned calls or unclear instructions. Finally, as the severity and risk factors of the patient’s condition increase, the prioritization of needs and next Goal-setting by patients steps is crucial. Systems that remind providers and/or has been shown to improve patients about every potential treatment or step in a care plan individually lead to provider/patient fatigue and health outcomes. distraction and ultimately fail to improve care. In one study, more than 50 percent of patients did not understand directions given to them by their physicians at the Identifying Gaps end of a visit (Bodenheimer and Handley, 2009). Because patients have complex needs and there are many potential connections, we first identified the Components of a Solution major problems by identifying gaps in the provision of To understand the components of the solution, we care. We and others have used observations and semi- now return to our sample patient, Ms. Viera. Given the structured interviews of (1) patients with complex con- same events outlined above over the course of a year, ditions, (2) physicians and nurses, and (3) other health an optimal system, as shown in Figure 3, would address care professionals to identify the most common gaps in a number of the gaps we identified in the usual system care coordination in the primary-care clinic (Boden- of care. heimer, 2008; Dorr et al., 2006b; Wilcox et al., 2007). Principal problems identified in analysis include: (1) a Reorganizing the Care Team lack of collaboration between patient/family and The first category is team reorganization (Boden- health-care team; (2) the absence of reliable, complete heimer et al., 2002). In other disciplines, such as crew- communication; and (3) failure to prioritize care needs resource management (e.g., air crews and other teams Winter 2009 25

FIGURE 3 A proactive, collaborative system of coordinated health care. that work in high-risk, high-attention areas), the cru- primary-care team protocols that include identification cial requirements for reliable, effective performance of common conditions (e.g., elevated blood pressure), include team competencies, thorough training, and well- a treatment plan, and a flow chart. With the proto- defined, well-designed functions (Salas et al., 2006). For col, tasks are disseminated to appropriate team mem- care coordination, specific roles—such as the role of a bers beyond the beleaguered physician by pre-defining, care manager—must be defined to address the need for in sequence, the steps that must be ordered manually reliable, effective communication and smooth, efficient under the current system. For protocols to be reliable, workflow (Dorr et al., 2006b). however, they must include collaboration, prioritiza- Evidence based on studies of care managers or care tion, and the complexity of the patient’s needs. Com- coordinators have increasingly shown that they can be prehensive assessments of preferences and goals that crucial to minimizing the exacerbation of disease (Dorr include multiple conditions and patients’ needs have et al., 2005), reducing the number of hospitalizations been shown to improve the health of older adults and to (Dorr et al., 2008), and improving patient satisfaction facilitate patient decision-making (Boult et al., 1999). with their care (Wilcox et al., 2007). The essential In our sample case, the care manager would facili- competencies of care managers include the ability to tate coordination by receiving the call from the hos- educate patients and motivate them to set and follow pital, making the post-hospitalization follow-up call to goals and care plans, as well as to communicate effec- the patient and family, and following protocols and pro tively with members of the team, the patient, and the actively identifying the patient’s needs. Care managers patient’s family. can help close the communication loop because they Processes tested and implemented for the care of remain focused on the key communication tasks for at- patients with specific conditions have been codified in risk patients, follow up on critical referrals to specialists, The 26 BRIDGE

FIGURE 4 Comprehensive summary sheet. and arrange conferences to consolidate communica- less important, tasks. Research has shown that trained tion. In the usual flow of things, the clinical staff must care managers can accomplish these tasks and hence attend to many urgent needs as they arise and therefore greatly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of have limited time to perform these less urgent, but no health care delivery. Winter 2009 27

Health Information Technology quickly and integrating the patient’s history with The number of patients that can be followed by a care anticipated care needs in one place. Figure 4 shows this manager is limited. Studies have shown that 2 to 5 per- summary mechanism, the patient’s worksheet (which, cent of patients in a usual primary care clinic meet the by itself, has been shown to improve adherence with criteria of Ms. Viera’s case: an at-risk patient diagnosed evidence-based treatments for chronic and preventive with multiple comorbid illnesses in need of ongoing illness by 17 to 30 percent) (Wilcox et al., 2005). care coordination. In a clinic of seven physicians, more than a thousand patients may meet these criteria, which could easily overwhelm care managers. With the help of HIT, care The primary goal of care coordination is to monitor, over time, the active care and treatment plan for managers can follow patients and to take necessary steps to ensure that the plan is completed successfully. For example, health 350 patients at a time. information technology (HIT) can greatly increase the likelihood of success. Key process points can be defined Building a Sustainable Model and programmed to remind care managers about crucial tasks. Whereas electronic health record systems usu- Once a patient’s needs and potential solutions have ally focus on individual clinic visits and work flow and been identified, we work to implement them into a relegate hundreds of items to unstructured to-do lists, model of care. In seven intervention clinics at Inter- in our example, HIT functions can be adapted to help mountain Healthcare, a large, integrated health-delivery prioritize tasks by (1) identifying crucial elements that system, we installed care managers, trained them, and should be shared by members of the primary-care team, adapted HIT over a period of two years to develop the (2) ensuring that relevant information is delivered to protocols and system described above. Over the next the correct team members in the appropriate format, and four years, patients seen by care managers lived longer, (3) reminding clinicians about uncompleted tasks. To had 24 to 40 percent fewer hospitalizations, and had start the process, HIT, using filtering and prioritized data significantly better control of their conditions than flow, must identify all patients under care management similar patients at clinics without care managers (Dorr and the state of their current treatment plans and goals. et al., 2005, 2008). The clinics with care managers In our studies, by using HIT, care managers were able also achieved higher efficiency levels, as measured by to follow an average of 350 patients at a time, approx- clinical output (patients seen and complexity of condi- imately 1,000 per year (Dorr et al., 2007a). Patients tions treated). Lower costs that resulted from greater under care management received prioritized messages efficiency covered the costs of the care managers and the about their hospital stay, were given automatic follow- costs of expanding the program (Dorr et al., 2007b). up after sentinel events that persisted beyond an indi- Unanticipated effects included variations in refer- vidual call or visit, and were moved to the top of the ral patterns and care-management patterns that led to queue for attention when necessary. some variations in outcomes. For instance, patients The HIT system can embed protocols, although they with predominantly social or financial problems did not must be flexible enough to accommodate the needs of have significantly fewer hospitalizations or emergency care managers; for example, care managers only need department visits, despite the care managers’ efforts. A the next step defined and a reminder sent to address a positive unanticipated effect was a result of integrating patient’s rapidly changing status. Even for individual a set of providers and patients. A number of patients patients, care managers must identify the highest priority described the care manager as “a life-saver,” and a num- tasks and should be reminded about these first (Dorr et ber of providers said they “could not imagine practicing al., 2006a). For Ms. Viera, who sees 12 specialists a year, without the care manager.” the care manager would designate which of these referrals Maintenance and Sustainability of the are critical and directly affect the care plan; HIT would Care-Manager Model then remind the caregiver about these elements only. Finally, summaries of the complex care and needs The next step is to determine the maintenance of patients are crucial to addressing emerging issues and sustainability of the care-manager model. In our The 28 BRIDGE qualitative studies, we defined core aspects of successful Bodenheimer, T., and M.A. Handley. 2009. Goal-setting for care management and embedded these in a training- behavior change in primary care: an exploration and status and HIT-enhancement program. The core components report. Patient Education and Counseling 76(2): 174 –180. of the model were defined as: (1) a trained care man- Bodenheimer, T., E.H. Wagner, and K. Grumbach. 2002. ager; (2) a supportive, trained team; and (3) special- Improving primary care for patients with chronic illness. ized HIT. We then created a training and HIT support Journal of the American Medical Association 288(14): program (for details, see caremanagementplus.org). To 1775 –1779. date, more than 75 clinical teams have participated in Boult, C., R.L. Kane, J.T. Pacala, and E.H. Wagner. 1999. the training and have been working on improving their Innovative healthcare for chronically ill older persons: HIT systems. In all, 73 percent of the teams were able results of a national survey. American Journal of Managed to implement the core components of the model. Care 5(9): 1162–1172. Further work is being done on sustainability, which Dorr, D.A., A. Wilcox, S.M. Donnelly, L. Burns, and can be a problem because many care-management tasks P.D. Clayton. 2005. Impact of generalist care manag- are not specifically reimbursed, despite their value. ers on patients with diabetes. Health Services Research Changes in the reimbursement system (e.g., payments for 40(5 Pt 1): 1400 –1421. the “medical home,” a comprehensive model of primary Dorr, D.A., H. Tran, P. Gorman, and A.B. Wilcox. 2006a. care) or direct payments for care coordination may enable Information needs of nurse care managers. Pp. 913 in many more primary care teams to adopt these models. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings. Bethesda, Md.: American Medical Informatics Association. Conclusions Dorr, D.A., A. Wilcox, L. Burns, C.P. Brunker, S.P. Narus, Successful models of coordinated care that meet and P.D. Clayton. 2006b. Implementing a multidisease identified needs and improve patient health can be cre- chronic care model in primary care using people and tech- ated by identifying gaps in current care systems, devel- nology. Disease Management: DM 9(1): 1–15. oping solutions that meet a particular patient’s needs, Dorr, D.A., A. Wilcox, S. Jones, L. Burns, S.M. Donnelly, and and developing change-management processes. We C.P. Brunker. 2007a. Care management dosage. Journal of have shown that one successful model is to use care General Internal Medicine 22(6): 736–741. managers to augment primary-care teams and HIT to Dorr, D.A., A. Wilcox, K.J. McConnell, L. Burns, and C.P. remind care managers and clinicians about prioritized Brunker. 2007b. Productivity enhancement for primary tasks. The next steps will be to explore ways to ensure care providers using multicondition care management. sustainability and to reinforce changes in the current American Journal of Managed Care 13(1): 22–28. health care system. Dorr, D.A., A.B. Wilcox, C.P. Brunker, R.E. Burdon, and S.M. Donnelly. 2008. The effect of technology-supported, Acknowledgments multidisease care management on the mortality and hos- Funding for this research comes from The John A. pitalization of seniors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Hartford Foundation, Agency for Healthcare Research Society 56(12): 2195 –2202. and Quality, and National Library of Medicine. This Salas, E., K.A. Wilson, C.S. Burke, and D.C. Wightman. paper does not reflect the official positions of any of 2006. Does crew resource management training work? An these institutions. Thank you also to the Care Manage- update, an extension, and some critical needs. Human Fac- ment Plus team and collaborators. tors 48(2): 392– 412. Shugarman, L.R., S.L. Decker, and A. Bercovitz. 2009. References Demographic and social characteristics and spending at Anderson, R.N., and E. Arias. 2003. The effect of revised pop- the end of life. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management ulations on mortality statistics for the United States, 2000. 38(1): 15 –26. National Vital Statistics Reports: From the Centers for Dis- Westbrook, J.I., J. Braithwaite, A. Georgiou, A. Ampt, N. ease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Creswick, E. Coiera, and R. Iedema. 2007. Multimethod Statistics, National Vital Statistics System 51(9): 1–24. evaluation of information and communication technolo- Bodenheimer, T. 2008. The future of primary care: transform- gies in health in the context of wicked problems and ing practice. New England Journal of Medicine 359(20): sociotechnical theory. Journal of the American Medical 2086, 2089. Informatics Association 14(6): 746 –755. Winter 2009 29

Wilcox, A.B., S.S. Jones, D.A. Dorr, W. Cannon, L. Burns, K. Bunker. 2007. Physician perspectives of nurse care man- Radican, K. Christensen, C. Brunker, A. Larsen, S.P. Narus, agement located in primary care clinics. Care Manage- S.N. Thornton, and P.D. Clayton. 2005. Use and impact ment Journals: Journal of Case Management; The Journal of a computer-generated patient summary worksheet for of Long Term Home Health Care 8(2): 58–63. primary care. Pp. 824–828 in AMIA Annual Symposium Wolff, J.L., B. Starfield, and G. Anderson. 2002. Preva- Proceedings. Bethesda, Md.: American Medical Informat- lence, expenditures, and complications of multiple chronic ics Association. conditions in the elderly. Archives of Internal Medicine Wilcox, A.B., D.A. Dorr, L. Burns, S. Jones, J. Poll, and C. 162(20): 2269–2276. Health information technologies, and health informatics in general, may be headed for a bust.

Why Health Information Technology Doesn’t Work

Elmer V. Bernstam and Todd R. Johnson

To improve the quality of our health care while lowering its cost, we will make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years all of America’s medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests… it will Elmer V. Bernstam save lives by reducing the deadly but preventable medical errors that pervade our health care system. —Barack Obama George Mason University, January 8, 2009

Widespread dissatisfaction with health care in America and rapid advance- ments in information technology have focused attention on information technology, which has dramatically improved efficiency and safety in other industries, as an obvious part of the solution to our health care woes. How- ever, there is increasing evidence that the adoption of health information technology (HIT) will not guarantee comparable benefits in health care. Todd R. Johnson In fact, unmitigated enthusiasm for HIT may even be dangerous. Similar enthusiasm has repeatedly threatened the field of artificial intelligence (AI),

Elmer V. Bernstam is an associate professor in the School of Health Information Sciences and in the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Todd R. Johnson is associate professor, School of Health Information Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Winter 2009 31

resulting in cycles of excitement and disappointment and there were “…many predictions of fully automatic (referred to as “AI winters”). Motivated by a desire to systems operating within a few years” (Hutchins, 2006). avoid “HIT winters,” we will briefly review the effects Although many promising applications were found of HIT and the “semantic gap,” that is, the difference for the poor-quality automated translations that between “health data” and “health information.” In resulted, the optimistic predictions were not realized. addition, we identify significant social and adminis- To this day, the fundamental problem of context and trative barriers to the adoption of HIT in the context meaning remains unsolved, making disambiguation dif- of the technical issues; because HIT is embedded in a ficult and resulting in some amusing failures. Anecdotal social context, these technical issues must be resolved in examples include: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is a socially and administratively acceptable way. We con- weak” was translated from English  Russian  English clude with research challenges that must be addressed as “The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten,” and “out before the full promise of HIT can be realized. of sight, out of mind” came out as “blind idiot.”

Effects of Health Information Technology HIT is an “easy sell” to an American public increasingly dissatisfied with the U.S. health care system. Based on negative evidence, Indeed, based on some evidence that HIT can improve the quality of health care (Chaudhry et al., 2006), pre- health care organizations vent medical errors (Bates et al., 2001), and increase should be cautious about efficiency (Chaudhry et al., 2006), there seem to be some good reasons for optimism. how they use HIT. Unfortunately, many, perhaps most, HIT projects have failed (Littlejohns et al., 2003), and evidence shows that HIT can worsen health care quality in some In 1966, the influential Automatic Language Pro- ways by increasing errors (Koppel et al., 2005; Leven- cessing Advisory Committee (ALPAC) concluded that son and Turner, 1993), decreasing efficiency, and per- “there is no immediate or predictable prospect of use- haps even increasing mortality (Han et al., 2005). The ful machine translation” (NRC, 1966). As a result, term “e-iatrogenesis” has been coined to describe the research funding was stopped, and little research was unintended deleterious consequences of HIT (Weiner done on automated translation in the United States from et al., 2007). 1967 to 1976, when it was revived and supported until Enough negative evidence has accumulated to prompt 1989 (Hutchins, 2006). Interestingly, disappointment the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commis- in automated translation in the 1960s was not an iso- sion on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) to lated event. Similar “AI winters” occurred with respect issue a “Sentinel Event Alert” (defined as “unexpected to connectionism (1970s), expert systems (1990s), and occurrence[s] involving death or serious physical or psy- other AI topics. chological injury, or the risk thereof”) cautioning health So, although there is tremendous interest in HIT, and care organizations about potential hazards associated even good evidence that it can be useful, some will cer- with the implementation and use of HIT (Joint Com- tainly be disappointed with the results. A recent report mission, 2008). by the National Research Council concluded that “. . . current efforts aimed at the nationwide deployment We’ve Been There Before: AI Winters of health care IT will not be sufficient to achieve the During the 1950s, we were faced with a different vision of 21st century health care, and may even set back problem—the cold war. At that time, the government the cause if these efforts continue wholly without change considered IT a promising solution (at least a partial from their present course” (NRC, 2009). Thus, there is solution) to the problem of tracking Russian communi- also good reason for concern that HIT (and the field of cations. It was thought that if researchers could develop biomedical informatics, in general) may be headed for a automated translation, we would be able to monitor bust. However, an “HIT winter” would be unfortunate, Russian communications and scientific reports in “real because there are real benefits to pursuing research and time.” There was a great deal of optimism about this, implementation of HIT. The 32 BRIDGE

The Semantic Gap other factors. Two clinicians who are asked to describe Loosely speaking, philosophers who study information the same “sick” individual may legitimately focus on dif- draw a distinction between data (syntax) and informa- ferent facts or data. tion, defined as meaningful data (i.e., data + meaning or, In contrast, the balance in a bank account (e.g., alternatively syntax + semantics) (Floridi, 2005). The $1,058.93) is relatively objective and is captured by fundamental problem is that existing technology can the symbols. If we assume that all transactions (credits store, manipulate, and transmit data but not informa- and debits) to the account are in the same units (dollars tion. Thus the utility of HIT is limited to the extent to and not pounds or Euros), we need only the numbers and which data approximates meaning, and, unfortunately, the mathematical operations of addition and subtraction there is a large gap between health care data and health to compute and report the balance. Even though these care information. Because the difference between data symbols abstract away the rich semantic complexity of and information is meaning (semantics), we call this the balance, such as its current purchasing power or that the “semantic gap.” the money can be used to purchase goods and services, Interestingly, Claude Shannon hinted at this issue in this is of no consequence to the successful automation of 1948 in a seminal paper, “A Mathematical Theory of bank accounts. Thus data-manipulating machines (IT) Communication.” This “mathematical theory of com- are much better suited to manipulating bank accounts munication” came to be known as information theory. than they are to manipulating clinical descriptors. Shannon wrote that “[f]requently, the messages have Twenty-five years ago, S. Marsden Blois (1984) meaning; that is they refer to or are correlated according argued that the difficulty of using computers in med- to some system with certain physical or conceptual enti- icine was due to the nature of medical concepts and ties. These semantic aspects of communication are irrel- medical descriptions. Most medical concepts do not evant to the engineering problem.” Thus, Shannon’s TABLE 1 Comparison of Health “Data” and Banking Data “information theory” explic- Banking Data Health Data itly refers to data rather than information in the Concepts and Precise General, subjective descriptions philosophical sense. Example Example Account 123 balance = $15.98 Sick patient Consider the differences between banking data Actions Usually (not always) reversible Often not easily reversible and health care data, an Example Example account at a bank versus a Move money A  B Give a medication patient’s record (Table 1). Perform a procedure One difference is that con- Context Precise, constant, or irrelevant to Vague, variable cepts relevant to health are the task Example vague compared to bank- Example Normal lab values differ by ing concepts. The proper US $ lab. No two cells, organs, tumors, or patients are interpretation of the sym- identical. bols relevant to health care requires significant User autonomy Well-defined and constrained Variable and dependent on background knowledge. Example circumstance For example, a patient can What I can do with my checking Example account = what you can do with Clinical privileges depend on be “sick” in many ways, yours training, changes over time, including derangements in and circumstances vital signs (e.g., extremely Users Clerical staff, account holder Varied, including highly trained high or low blood pressure), professionals prognosis associated with a diagnosis (e.g., any patient Workflow Well-defined, documented, and Highly variable, implicit with with myocardial infarction explicit many undocumented tasks and exceptions [heart attack] is sick), and Winter 2009 33

have explicit definitions in terms of necessary and suf- sense) that have proven very difficult to solve. HIT can ficient conditions. Thus they are difficult to describe in manipulate form, but not meaning—hence the term “for- the formal languages required by computer systems. For mal methods.” Until we have true information technol- instance, a 2000 definition of a myocardial infarction ogy, rather than data technology, the benefits of HIT will (heart attack) is nine pages long and contains many be limited to applications in which formal methods (i.e., imprecise terms, such as: “prolonged,” “usually,” and methods that manipulate form) suffice. “experienced observer.” Other medical concepts, such A second research challenge is to define appropri- as “sharp pain,” may be even more difficult to map to ate applications for HIT, as well as policies, procedures, formal representations. and methods of implementation. Clearly, HIT can be helpful in many ways. For example, computerized Social and Administrative Barriers to the alerts and reminders can improve compliance with Adoption of Health Information Technology preventive-care guidelines (Shea et al., 1996) and may Manipulating data instead of information has many be cost effective when used in this way (Bernstam et al., consequences for HIT. The problem for American clin- 2000). Similarly, examples of reductions in the number ics and hospitals is not usually a shortage of comput- of medication errors and other benefits have been pub- ers. Most hospitals and even small private practices use lished (e.g., Bates et al., 2001). Therefore, in spite of computers to manage financial and administrative data, its limitations, current HIT can be useful when applied and many hospitals have functioning e-mail systems and to suitable problems. maintain a Web presence. In addition, many clinicians use personal digital assistants (McLeod et al., 2003), and some communicate with patients via e-mail. In contrast, however, most clinical records are kept on paper. Reasoning by analogy across There are many barriers to the adoption of HIT. Hos- domains is natural for humans pitals that have not implemented electronic medical records most frequently cite financial concerns, includ- but difficult for computers. ing the lack of adequate capital for purchasing equipment (74 percent), maintenance costs (44 percent), and unclear return on investment (32 percent) (Jha et al., A third research challenge is to evaluate HIT as a 2009). Additional barriers include a mismatch between clinical intervention. An instructive example is that costs and benefits, cultural resistance to change, lack of a commercial electronic health record was associated an appropriately trained workforce to implement HIT, with increased mortality at one institution (Han et al., and many others (Hersh, 2004). 2005), but no such association was found at another To some, clinicians’ resistance to computerization institution that implemented the same system in a appears to be irrational. However, given the mixed similar care setting (Del Beccaro et al., 2006). Thus evidence regarding the benefits of HIT, caution seems outcomes depend on the interplay among HIT, its increasingly reasonable. Thus many clinical enterprises implementation at a particular institution, and the are not computerized because of rational skepticism nature of the institution (e.g., workflow, patient mix, about the costs and benefits of current HIT, not because policies, availability of specialists, etc.). of an irrational resistance to technological progress. A computer system cannot be considered in isolation. Its effects must be evaluated in the context of a specific Research Challenges organization. Any system that can affect clinical deci- Significant research will be necessary to address seri- sions has the potential to worsen as well as to improve ous problems before HIT becomes more attractive to outcomes. Therefore, these systems should be evaluated clinicians. Many of these problems are outlined in a as clinical interventions, just as drugs, medical devices, recent National Research Council report (NRC, 2009). and procedures are evaluated. First, there is a mismatch between what HIT can repre- Fourth, HIT must augment human cognition and sent (data) and concepts relevant to health care (data abilities. This has been elegantly expressed as the “fun- + meaning). This very difficult, fundamental challenge damental theorem of informatics”: human + computer subsumes multiple AI problems (e.g., context or common > human (Friedman, 2009). In other words, there must The 34 BRIDGE be a clear and demonstrable benefit from HIT. Clearly, identify subjects across clinical trials or patients who it can be beneficial in some situations, and in some ways move between hospitals and other care settings. In human cognition and computer technology are comple- contrast, unique patient identifiers in other countries mentary. Computers excel at precise, efficient manipu- have greatly facilitated clinical research. lation of data, whereas we excel at discovering, storing, Similarly, the high cost of health care in the United and processing meaning. Thus there are tremendous States encourages “medical tourism.” Many Americans opportunities for effective human-machine collabo- travel abroad for care that is too expensive for them ration. For example, monitoring (e.g., waveforms) is to obtain in the United States (Wapner, 2008). Some much easier for computers than for humans. In con- foreign hospitals actually specialize in providing care to trast, reasoning by analogy across domains is natural for Americans who come for a high-cost procedure, such as humans but difficult for computers. coronary artery bypass surgery. Defining scenarios, with all relevant parameters, in True HIT can help address both of these problems. If which HIT is beneficial and demonstrating that using we can collect clinical information (meaningful data) HIT is reliably beneficial in these scenarios remains a as a byproduct of routine care, we can then learn from research challenge. In its present form, HIT will not experience, rather than relying solely on clinical trials. transform health care the same way that IT has trans- In parallel, we can leverage this information to improve formed other industries, partly because of the large care processes. Thus we would fulfill the promise of semantic gap between health data and health informa- HIT described by President Obama. tion (concepts). In addition, it is worth noting that many problems with health care will only be solved by Conclusions changes in health care policy, financing, and so forth. Clearly we must improve health care in fundamental To address the research challenges described above ways, and HIT will be important in transforming the will require unprecedented collaboration among dis- health care system. However, disappointment seems ciplines that have traditionally worked independently inevitable, because the promises made on behalf of and have fundamentally different methods, values, HIT are not likely to be fully realized in the near future. and domains of study. Nevertheless, many promising Historical precedents for such cycles of enthusiasm and interdisciplinary approaches have been developed. disappointment with technology include AI, for which For example, seemingly simple safety devices, such as boom and bust cycles appear to be the rule rather than checklists, which were pioneered in aviation, have been the exception. applied to health care with dramatic results (Pronovost Realizing the promise of HIT to improve health care et al., 2006). Statistical process control, simulation, will require an unprecedented level of collaboration and other engineering methods have also been success- among communities that have traditionally had little fully applied to certain aspects of health care (NAE and in common, speak different languages, and have very IOM, 2005). different world views. Thus we are faced with both challenges and opportunities to find fresh perspectives Health Information Technology and on fundamental problems in the health care domain. U.S. Competitiveness In the process, we may also solve some fundamental True HIT (i.e., health information technology, not information (i.e., computer science) problems related health data technology) is critical for U.S. competi- to context and meaning. tiveness in biomedicine—both for biomedical research and for clinical care. Clinical trials are increasingly References being conducted in countries with large populations Bates, D.W., M. Cohen, L.L. Leape, J.M. Overhage, M.M. (i.e., large subject pools) and lower regulatory barriers Shabot, and T. Sheridan. 2001. Reducing the frequency (compared to those in the United States), such as India of errors in medicine using information technology. Jour- (Glickman et al., 2009). Barring substantial changes nal of the American Medical Informatics Association 8(4): in our values, privacy concerns, and expectations, 299 –308. we simply cannot compete. For example, because of Bernstam, E.V., H.R. Strasberg, and D.L. Rubin. 2000. Cost- privacy concerns, the United States has no universal Benefit Analysis of Computer-based Patient Records with patient identifier. As a result, it is very difficult to Regard to their Use in Colon-Cancer Screening. Presented Winter 2009 35

at the Asia Pacific Medical Informatics Conference, Hong Koppel, R., J.P. Metlay, A. Cohen, B. Abaluck, A.R. Localio, Kong, China. Available online at http://bmir.stanford.edu/ S.E. Kimmel, and B.L. Strom. 2005. Role of computerized file_asset/index.php/145/BMIR-2000-0847.pdf. physician order entry systems in facilitating medication Blois, M.S. 1984. Information and Medicine: The Nature of errors. JAMA 293(10): 1197–1203. Medical Descriptions. Berkeley, Calif.: University of Cali- Levenson, N.G., and C.S. Turner. 1993. An investigation of fornia Press. the Therac-25 accidents. IEEE Computer 26(7): 18 – 41. Chaudhry, B., J. Wang, S. Wu, M. Maglione, W. Mojica, E. Littlejohns, P., J.C. Wyatt, and L. Garvican. 2003. Evaluat- Roth, S.C. Morton, and P.G. Shekelle. 2006. Systematic ing computerised health information systems: hard lessons review: impact of health information technology on qual- still to be learnt. BMJ 326(7394): 860 – 863. ity, efficiency, and costs of medical care. Annals of Internal McLeod, T.G., J.O. Ebbert, and J.F. Lymp. 2003. Survey Medicine 144(10): 742–752. assessment of personal digital assistant use among trainees Del Beccaro, M.A., H.E. Jeffries, M.A. Eisenberg, and E.D. and attending physicians. Journal of the American Medi- Harry. 2006. Computerized provider order entry imple- cal Informatics Association 10(6): 605 – 607. mentation: no association with increased mortality rates in NAE and IOM (National Academy of Engineering and Insti- an intensive care unit. Pediatrics 118(1): 290 –295. tute of Medicine). 2005. Building a Better Delivery Sys- Floridi, L. 2005. Semantic conceptions of information. In tem: A New Engineering/Health Care Partnership, edited Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available online at by P.P. Reid, W.D. Compton, J.H. Grossman, and G. Fanji- http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/information-semantic/. ang.. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Friedman, C.P. 2009. A “fundamental theorem” of biomedi- NRC (National Research Council). 1966. ALPAC, Lan- cal informatics. Journal of the American Medical Infor- guage and Machines: Computers in Translation and Lin- matics Association 16(2): 169 –170. guistics. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Glickman, S.W., J.G. McHutchison, E.D. Peterson, C.B. NRC. 2009. Computational Technology for Effective Health Cairns, R.A. Harrington, R.M. Califf, and K.A. Schulman. Care: Immediate Steps and Strategic Directions, edited by 2009. Ethical and scientific implications of the globaliza- W.W. Stead and H.S. Lin. Washington, D.C.: National tion of clinical research. New England Journal of Medicine Academies Press. 360(8): 816 – 823. Pronovost, P., D. Needham, S. Berenholtz, D. Sinopoli, H. Han, Y.Y., J.A. Carcillo, S.T. Venkataraman, R.S. Clark, Chu, S. Cosgrove, B. Sexton, R. Hyzy, R. Welsh, G. Roth, R.S. Watson, T.C. Nguyen, H. Bayir, and R.A. Orr. 2005. J. Bander, J. Kepros, and C. Goeschel. 2006. An interven- Unexpected increased mortality after implementation of a tion to decrease catheter-related bloodstream infections commercially sold computerized physician order entry sys- in the ICU. New England Journal of Medicine 355(26): tem. Pediatrics 116(6): 1506 –1512. 2725 –2732. Hersh, W. 2004. Health care information technology: prog- Shannon, C.E. 1948. A mathematical theory of commu- ress and barriers. Journal of the American Medical Asso- nication. Bell System Technical Journal 27(2): 379 – 423, ciation 292(18): 2273 –2274. 623 – 656. Hutchins, J. 2006. Machine Translation: History. Pp. 375– Shea, S., W. DuMouchel, and L. Bahamonde. 1996. A meta- 383 in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, second analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials to evaluate com- edition, edited by K. Brown. Burlington, Mass.: Elsevier. puter-based clinical reminder systems for preventive care in Jha, A.K., C.M. DesRoches, E.G. Campbell, K. Donelan, the ambulatory setting. Journal of the American Medical S.R. Rao, T.G. Ferris, A. Shields, S. Rosenbaum, and D. Informatics Association 3(6): 399– 409. Blumenthal. 2009. Use of electronic health records in Wapner, J. 2008. American Medical Association provides U.S. hospitals. New England Journal of Medicine 360(16): guidance on medical tourism. BMJ 337: a575. 1628 –1638. Weiner, J.P., T. Kfuri, K. Chan, and J.B. Fowles. 2007. Joint Commission. 2008. Safely Implementing Health “e-Iatrogenesis”: the most critical unintended consequence Information and Converging Technologies. Available of CPOE and other HIT. Journal of the American Medical online at http://www.jointcommission.org/SentinelEvents/ Informatics Association 14(3): 387–388; discussion 389. SentinelEventAlert/sea_42.htm. Designing resilient infrastructure systems will require collaborative efforts by engineers and social scientists.

Infrastructure Resilience to Disasters

Stephanie E. Chang

Urban societies depend heavily on the proper functioning of infrastructure systems such as electric power, potable water, and transportation networks. Normally invisible, this reliance becomes painfully evident when infrastructure systems fail during disasters. Moreover, because of the network properties of infrastructure, damage in one location can disrupt service in an extensive geographic area. The societal disruption caused by infra- Stephanie E. Chang is professor structure failures is therefore disproportionately high in relation to actual and Canadian Research Chair physical damage. in Disaster Management and Engineers have long tried to design infrastructure to withstand extreme forces, but recently they have begun to address the need for urban infrastruc- Urban Sustainability, School of ture systems that are resilient to disasters (e.g., NIST, 2008). Conceptually, Community and Regional Planning, resilience entails three interrelated dimensions: lower probabilities of failure; University of British Columbia. less-severe negative consequences when failures do occur; and faster recovery from failures (Bruneau et al., 2003). The emphasis on consequences and recovery suggests that improving the resilience of infrastructure systems is not only a technical problem, but it also has societal dimensions. The consequences of recent disasters have demonstrated that urban infrastructure systems in the United States and other developed countries (not to mention in developing regions of the world) remain highly vulnerable. More- over, infrastructure failure is often a primary cause of economic and human losses in disasters. Consider, for example, the consequences of infrastructure Winter 2009 37

failures caused by wind, storm surges, and levee failures or conditions. This basic understanding was then in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Table 1 pro- extended to the performance of component assemblages vides a few other examples to illustrate the frequency (e.g., bridges, pipeline networks, substations). Studies and range of infrastructure failures in disasters. ranged from field work to laboratory simulations with Because infrastructure failures are clearly a primary scale models and computer-based analyses. cause of disruptions in disasters, strategies for improv- As a result of these studies, new engineering designs, ing the disaster resilience of communities must focus on materials, and retrofitting strategies were developed to improving infrastructure resilience. Yet few standards or improve the ability of infrastructure elements to with- guidelines have been developed for this, partly because stand natural hazards. New technologies were also devel- of the complexity of the problem (American Lifelines oped, such as sensors for monitoring structural health Alliance, 2006). and detecting damage and real-time system controls. While these remain active areas of inquiry, new Research on Infrastructure in Disasters research themes have emerged to address some of the Much of the early work on infrastructure in disasters complexities of infrastructures, which include soci- was on understanding the mechanics of how compo- etal as well as technical issues. How, for instance, will nents of infrastructure systems (e.g., bridge piers, buried the failure of one bridge affect businesses throughout pipes, electric power transformers, and other substation the urban area that rely on the transportation sys- equipment) perform when subjected to extreme forces tem? How will the failure of one infrastructure system

TABLE 1 Examples of Infrastructure Failures and Consequences in Disasters

Event Location Infrastructure Failure and Consequences Source

1993 Great Des Moines, Iowa Businesses suffered greater economic losses from infrastructure Webb et al., 2000 Midwest floods outages (water, electric power, and wastewater services) than from physical flooding of their facilities.

1994 Los Angeles, Damage to bridges, which closed portions of four major Gordon et al., Northridge California freeway routes, accounted for $1.5 billion in losses from 1998 earthquake business interruption (a quarter of the total). (Mw = 6.7)

1995 Great Kobe, Japan Extensive infrastructure failures, including outages of electric Chang (in press); Hanshin -Awaji power and telecommunications (1 week), water and natural Chang and Nojima, earthquake gas (2–3 months), commuter railway (up to 7 months), and 2001 (Mw = 6.9) highway systems and port infrastructure (approx. 2 years). It took 10 years for the city population to recover. Economic activity, especially at the port, has still not fully recovered.

September 11, New York City Widespread disruption in lower Manhattan to emergency O’Rourke et al., 2001 World service facilities, transportation (including subways), 2003 Trade Center telecommunications, electric power, and water. terrorist attack

August 14, Portions of U.S. Power outages began in northern Ohio and cascaded McDaniels et al., 2003 blackout Midwest, Northeast, through the electric power grid to cause the largest blackout 2007; U.S.- Canada and southern in North American history (affecting 50 million people). Power System Ontario Losses amounted to an estimated $10 billion. Water supply, Outage Task Force, telecommunications, transportation, hospitals, and other 2006 dependent infrastructures were disrupted.

2004 Central Florida Port closures disrupted delivery of fuel and emergency American Lifelines Hurricanes materials. Electric power outages lasted for more than a Alliance, 2006 Charley, week. The supply of emergency generators was not large Frances, and enough to meet demand. Jeanne

The 38 BRIDGE disrupt other infrastructure systems? How can repairs Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineer- following a disaster be planned so they minimize social ing Research (MCEER), a research center funded by and economic losses? Such questions have prompted the National Science Foundation, have been studying research that is, by necessity, interdisciplinary. the potential consequences of major earthquakes on the LADWP water system. Highlights of three of these stud- Challenges of Interdisciplinary Research ies1 illustrate some key challenges and breakthroughs. Interdisciplinary inquiry is inherently difficult for many reasons, ranging from intellectual issues, such as Modeling Potential Physical Damage differences in communication and attitudes, to organiza- The first study, conducted by geotechnical engineers, tional issues, such as funding mechanisms and academic developed a model of potential physical damage to the structures. Interdisciplinary research at the intersection LADWP network (Romero et al., 2009). Geographic of engineering and the social sciences is especially chal- information system (GIS) technology was used to visu- lenging (NRC, 2006). alize the spatial dimensions of seismic ground waves, One basic hurdle has been different disciplinary peak ground deformation, fault rupture, soil liquefac- concepts of the term “infrastructure.” To structural tion, and landslides, as well as the network itself. The engineers, for example, infrastructure comprises con- model, the Graphical Iterative Response Analysis for structed elements, such as pipes and bridges, described Flow Following Earthquake (GIRAFFE), assesses dam- in terms of materials and design properties that condi- age to network components (pipes, tanks, reservoirs, tion their responses to physical forces. To economists, etc.) and performs hydraulic modeling of water flows infrastructure—often referred to as “public capital”— through the damaged network. GIRAFFE also estimates comprises an input to economic production measured serviceability—defined as the ratio of post-earthquake in dollars (e.g., Munnell, 1992) and often quantified to pre-earthquake water flow—for each service area. at the state or national level. These fundamental dif- In 2008, results for one hypothetical event, a Mw 7.8 ferences reflect different ways of conceptualizing and earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault, were measuring infrastructure. used as part of the largest emergency preparedness exercise in U.S. history. In that scenario, overall water serviceability 24 hours after the earthquake was estimated to be as low as 34 percent (after reserves in storage The complexities of tanks had been depleted). LADWP has now adopted infrastructure include societal GIRAFFE, trained its personnel to use it, and is applying the results in its system decision making. as well as technical issues. Modeling the Post-Earthquake Damage-Repair Process In a related study, systems engineers modeled the Overcoming these challenges has required more col- damage-repair process to estimate the duration of laborative, interdisciplinary research than in past engi- water outages (Brink et al., 2009). A discrete-event neering studies. It has also required researchers to pay simulation model was developed that mimics the greater attention to issues of time, space, and context. actual post-earthquake restoration process, including These trends are illustrated below in an example from the movements of repair crews over time and their the field of earthquake engineering. activities, which are subject to personnel and material constraints. Data were derived from extensive consul- Water Systems in a Los Angeles-Area tations with LADWP engineering staff. Earthquake The restoration model was then run in tandem with The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power the GIRAFFE damage and water-flow model to simu- (LADWP), the largest municipal utility in the United late serviceability in 12-hour increments as repairs were States, provides potable water to 3.9 million people through 11,700 kilometers of infrastructure in one of 1 The MCEER-LADWP research program also involved other studies the most seismically active regions of the country. Over (not described here) that analyzed regional seismicity, modeled performance of the electric power transmission system, and investigated the last several years, researchers affiliated with the forms of business resilience and resilient behaviors. Winter 2009 39

made over time and space; uncertainties were handled This coordination is necessary to identifying critical through multiple discrete simulations. The results gaps in knowledge, involving appropriate researchers, showed substantial variations in how restoration might and overcoming disciplinary barriers. proceed, and LADWP concluded the restoration model • Collaboration with the end user, that is, with would be helpful in planning for resource allocations LADWP, the infrastructure organization itself, is following a disaster. essential. LADWP engineers contributed in impor- Modeling the Effects of Water Outages on Businesses tant ways to framing questions, developing data, and ultimately, to applying outcomes to decision-making. Urban planners used the models described above and other MCEER engineering studies to investigate Without all of these factors in place, this interdisciplinary the consequences of water outages, including impacts research could not have been conceived or conducted. on the economy (Chang et al., 2008). For example, an agent-based simulation model accounts for how different types of businesses would be affected by water outages. A major challenge Inputs include water serviceability ratios and restoration times based on the studies described above, as well as is understanding characteristics of businesses per se. Data were derived from surveys of impacts on businesses in previous disas- interdependecies, how failures ters. Impacts from water outages were estimated in the in one infrastructure system context of other types of earthquake-related disruptions, specifically damage to buildings and power outages. lead to failures in another. Results for a Mw 6.9 Verdugo Fault scenario indicated that water outages could account for an estimated $467 million in direct business losses, or about 1.5 per- Challenges on the Horizon cent of the estimated total economic losses. Where is the current frontier in research on infrastructure resilience to disasters? In this author’s opinion, Critical Factors in Interdisciplinary Studies much remains to be understood and addressed about the The studies described above have demonstrated the performance of engineered elements and systems. In feasibility and promise of interdisciplinary research on addition, the nexus between engineering and social sci- infrastructure resilience for developing the capability of ences has just begun to be explored through interdisci- modeling post-disaster losses and recoveries over time. plinary research, and many important questions remain Based on the experience of developing GIRAFFE, the to be answered. In this context, three new challenges restoration model, and other models, we have identi- have been gaining attention. fied factors that promote interdisciplinary research in this area: Interdependencies The first challenge is interdependencies —under- • GIS technology helps bridge disparate datasets and standing and addressing how failures in one infrastruc- models by providing a common platform for informa- ture system lead to failures in another. Loss of electric tion sharing and data integration. power, for example, commonly leads to disruptions in • The concept of infrastructure “services” is critical water, transportation, and health care systems, among for linking physical damage to societal impacts. This others (McDaniels et al., 2007). There are several types concept, which differs from both the traditional engi- of interdependencies: physical linkages (e.g., pump sta- neering concept of infrastructure and the traditional tions in water delivery systems that require electric- economic concept of infrastructure, reflects an inter- ity); cyber linkages (e.g., computerized system controls mediate representation that connects them. that rely on telecommunications); geographic linkages (e.g., pipelines located on transportation bridges); and • A research center approach makes it possible to “logical” linkages (e.g., infrastructure elements related address the entire scope of a complex problem through economic markets driven by human decision- through the coordinated efforts of a multidisciplinary making) (Rinaldi et al., 2001). team, convened and sustained over several years. The 40 BRIDGE

The technical understanding of these interdependen- building flood-control levees, paradoxically, encour- cies is still in its early stages, and many infrastructure ages development in hazardous floodplains. Thus the organizations have been reluctant to share informa- vulnerability of New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina was tion about their vulnerabilities for security reasons. partly attributable to decisions, such as levee construc- Nevertheless, an understanding of infrastructure inter- tion, that were made over a period of many decades dependencies is critical for cities deciding on strategic to protect against relatively frequent storms, but that investments in infrastructure improvements that will increased the city’s vulnerability to very large, albeit have the greatest payoff in terms of resilience. rare, catastrophic storms (Kates et al., 2006). In addition, the capacity of Louisiana’s coastal Multi-hazards wetlands to help buffer wind and storm surges was The second new challenge is multi-hazards. Because substantially degraded over decades by the construc- infrastructure systems are vulnerable to multiple stress- tion of levees, shipping channels, oil and gas industry ors (e.g., wind, ice, flood, earthquake, terrorism, dete- facilities, and other infrastructures (e.g., Kousky and rioration), it is important to find solutions and support Zeckhauser, 2006). Some have suggested that flood pro- decisions that consider them in that context. Synergies tection should not only comprise building levees, but in risk-reduction technologies may reduce the costs of should also be designed to encourage marsh restoration pre-disaster retrofitting and post-disaster repairs. Meth- (Guikema, 2009). Others have proposed the decommis- ods are also needed to assess how the deterioration of sioning of existing infrastructures—such as the selective infrastructure over time affects disaster risk. dismantling of dams and levees—along with ecosystem restoration as an approach to addressing the problems Sustainability of aging infrastructure and the ecological degradation it The third challenge, sustainability, is the consid- has caused (Doyle et al., 2008). eration of infrastructure resilience in a long-term Still others have pointed out that compact city environmental context. It can be argued that disaster designs intended to promote sustainability (e.g., to pro- resilience is an inherent characteristic of sustainability. mote energy efficiency and reduce emissions of green- On one level, designing and building infrastructure that house gases) may actually undermine disaster resilience is able to withstand disasters will reduce their negative by putting more people in high-density developments environmental impact, such as debris from damaged located in floodplains and other hazardous locations structures, spills of hazardous materials and other con- (Berke et al., 2009). taminants, and the carbon footprint of reconstruction activities. Infrastructure designers should, therefore, Unanswered Questions include such life-cycle environmental impacts in their How can infrastructure systems be designed to decision-making (Guikema, 2009). both reduce risk and support more sustainable cities? On another level, because infrastructures are long- How can infrastructure systems be designed for disaster lived, infrastructure resilience will require the capacity resilience—for today, as well as for the future? These to meet demands that may change drastically over their questions may be the most difficult, and the most life cycles. Such changes may include urban growth and important, to answer. Addressing them will require increases in populations. Climate change will also be interdisciplinary research that spans the distances important, for example, through rising sea levels that between engineering fields and between engineering redefine coastlines and through changes in the occur- and the social sciences. rence probabilities of hazardous events, including hurricanes, extreme rainfalls, droughts, temperature extremes, References landslides, and floods. Climate change will not only put American Lifelines Alliance. 2006. Power Systems, Water, coastal infrastructure, such as port and harbor facilities, Transportation and Communications Lifelines Interdepen- at risk. In many cities, climate change will also stress dencies. March. Available online at http://www.cimap. water supplies, wastewater treatment facilities, and vt.edu/2DOC/ALA%20Lifeline%20Report%20Final%20Dr transportation systems (Infrastructure Canada, 2006). aft%20030606.pdf. In addition, infrastructure systems themselves have Berke, P.R., Y. Song, and M. Stevens. 2009. Integrating substantial effects on the environment. For example, hazard mitigation into new urban and conventional Winter 2009 41

developments. Journal of Planning Education and Kousky, C., and R. Zeckhauser. 2006. JARring Actions that Research 28(4): 441– 455. Fuel the Floods. Pp. 59 –76 in On Risk and Disaster: Les- Brink, S., R.A. Davidson, and T.H.P. Tabucchi. 2009. Esti- sons from Hurricane Katrina, edited by R.J. Daniels, D.F. mated Durations of Post-Earthquake Water Service Inter- Kettl, and H. Kunreuther. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of ruptions in Los Angeles. Pp. 539 –550 in Proceedings of Pennsylvania Press. TCLEE 2009: Lifeline Earthquake Engineering in a Mul- McDaniels, T., S. Chang, K. Peterson, J. Mikawoz, and D. tihazard environment. Reston, Va.: American Society of Reed. 2007. Empirical framework for characterizing infra- Civil Engineers. structure failure interdependencies. Journal of Infrastruc- Bruneau, M., S.E. Chang, R.T. Eguchi, G.C. Lee, T.D. ture Systems 13(3): 175 –184. O’Rourke, A.M. Reinhorn, M. Shinozuka, K. Tierney, W.A. Munnell, A.H. 1992. Infrastructure investment and eco- Wallace, and D. von Winterfeldt. 2003. A framework to nomic growth. Journal of Economic Perspectives 6(4): quantitatively assess and enhance the seismic resilience of 189 –198. communities. Earthquake Spectra 19(4): 733 –752. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Chang, S.E. In press. Urban disaster recovery: a measurement 2008. Strategic Plan for the National Earthquake Hazards framework with application to the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Reduction Program: Fiscal Years 2009 –2013. Gaithers- Disasters (in press). burg, Md.: NIST. Chang, S.E., and N. Nojima. 2001. Measuring post-disaster NRC (National Research Council). 2006. Facing Hazards transportation system performance: the 1995 Kobe earth- and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Wash- quake in comparative perspective. Transportation Research ington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Part A: Policy and Practice 35(6): 475 – 494. O’Rourke, T.D., A.J. Lembo, and L.K. Nozick. 2003. Lessons Chang, S.E., C. Pasion, K. Tatebe, and R. Ahmad. 2008. Learned from the World Trade Center Disaster about Criti- Linking Lifeline Infrastructure Performance and Commu- cal Utility Systems. Pp. 269 –290 in Beyond September nity Disaster Resilience: Models and Multi-Stakeholder 11th: An Account of Post-Disaster Research, edited by J.L. Processes. Technical Report MCEER-08-0004. Buffalo, Monday. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Hazards Research and NY: Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Applications Information Center. Research. Rinaldi, S.M., J.P. Peerenboom, and T.K. Kelly. 2001. Iden- Doyle, M.W., E.H. Stanley, D.G. Havlick, M.J. Kaiser, G. tifying, understanding, and analyzing critical infrastructure Steinbach, W.L. Graf, G.E. Galloway, and J.A. Riggsbee. interdependencies. IEEE Control Systems Magazine 21(6): 2008. Aging Infrastructure and Ecosystem Restoration. 11–25. Science 319(5861): 286 –287. Romero, N., T.D. O’Rourke, L.K. Nozick, and C.A. Davis.

Gordon, P., H.W. Richardson, and B. Davis. 1998. Transport- 2009. Los Angeles Water Supply Response to 7.8 Mw related impacts of the Northridge earthquake. Journal of Earthquake. Pp. 1256–1267 in Proceedings of TCLEE Transportation and Statistics 1(2): 21–36. 2009: Lifeline Earthquake Engineering in a Multihazard Guikema, S. 2009. Infrastructure design issues in disaster- Environment. Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil prone regions. Science 323(5919): 1302–1303. Engineers. Infrastructure Canada, Research and Analysis Division. 2006. U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force. 2006. Final Adapting Infrastructure to Climate Change in Canada’s Report on the Implementation of the Task Force Recom- Cities and Communities. December. Available online at mendations. September. Available online at http://www. http://www.infc.gc.ca/research-recherche/results-resultats/rs- ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/blackout/09-06-final- rr/rs-rr-2006-12_02-eng.html. report.pdf. Kates, R.W., C.E. Colten, S. Laska, and S.P. Leatherman. Webb, G.R., K.J. Tierney, and J.M. Dahlhamer. 2000. Busi- 2006. Reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane nesses and disasters: empirical patterns and unanswered Katrina: a research perspective. Proceedings of the Nation- questions. Natural Hazards Review 1(2): 83 –90. al Academy of Sciences 103(40): 14653 –14660. What Is Engineering Leadership? A Personal Essay

Bernard M. Gordon

The quality or capability of leadership is much misunderstood these days. Sometimes equated with mere process management, leadership is in reality much more. In fact, leadership is a positive, recognizable human trait, and those who possess it are able to influence others to accomplish goals they might not otherwise accomplish. Leaders make the difference between mun- dane performance and genuinely creative, competitive accomplishment. Bernard M. Gordon is chairman of They are the ones who break barriers and initiate real change. And they are NeuroLogica Corporation and an the ones who unleash the creative potential of the group. NAE member. According to the dictionary, leadership requires “charisma, dominance, forcefulness, and verbal primacy.” According to the thesaurus, leader is syn- onymous with “chief, commander, superior, or chieftain,” the antithesis of a “follower, myrmidon, acolyte, or adherent.” Although the ability to lead is subject to development and improvement, leadership is ultimately a mani- festation of an individual’s personal characteristics, motivation, and will. Unfortunately, in a society that places perhaps too much value on consensus and is working obsessively to impose an egalitarian outlook on a world of inherently unique individuals, leadership is often perceived either as the same as structured management or as an alien imposition characterized by stridency and egotism. Thus, the idea of leadership is either devalued or feared, and those who would be leaders are suspect. As a consequence, schools hesitate to anoint young people as leaders; instead Winter 2009 43

they stress shared accomplishment. Most employers Characteristics of Engineering Leadership provide defined roles for their employees in a hierarchy An engineering leader must have all of the character- or process matrix that rarely has a place for a unique, istics of other leaders—a degree of guile, didacticism, catalytic, sometimes revolutionary leader. Schemes that and energy coupled with patience, perseverance, and have no acknowledged leaders also have no “losers.” determination. In addition, he or she must have a qual- Unfortunately, they also have fewer winners in the long ity unique to the engineering profession—technical run, because leaders are the ones who get things done. knowledge and vision that enables him or her to grasp And leaders do get things done! How? That’s the the central requirements of even the largest tasks and magical, hard-to-specify capability. Real leaders may adapt (and shape the organization he or she leads) to on occasion appear to be dictatorial, but they are not meet the probable challenges that may emerge. Even and should not be dictators. A real leader succeeds not though a leader rarely has sufficient knowledge to mas- by ordering others to do his or her will but by inspiring ter every aspect of a project, he or she must be prepared them—through example and through a pervasive influ- to delve into any portion of the task at any time without ence over the social fabric of a group or organization. losing sight of the whole. In short, engineering leaders Historically, a leader in an engineering environment must be alert for possible problems and missteps, able has been an individual with the vision to conceive and to grasp challenges and assess solutions, and, above all, build a new or better product (i.e., a radar system, bridge, capable of adapting to evolving circumstances. computer, or automobile) and who actually leads engi- To this complex mix, one must add a bit of magic— neers to carry out the necessary, detailed work (Gordon, the creativity described by Professor William Gordon 1984). Often given a title, such as project engineer or (no relation to the author) under the term synectics. chief engineer, a leader is usually the one who had the Sounding almost like a Buddhist philosopher, Gordon idea for the central improvements that would make the (1961) suggests that successful, creative leaders must radar system, bridge, computer, or automobile a supe- be able to fully identify with their product or inven- rior device. Moreover, the leader is the one who can tion and almost embody the product or vision they seek inspire others to carry out his or her vision. A leader to create. At this visceral level, the entire spectrum understands how to break a project into pieces that of talents and creativity required of engineering lead- can be accomplished by individuals. Thus, he or she is ers comes into focus. The leader is the linchpin in responsible for sequentially supervising individual team the creative efforts of his or her team, the seed crystal members to ensure that they have proper direction to do around which everything else coalesces, the helmsman what needs to be done . . . and on time. who steers the project. This determined creativity—a In current practice, creativity and leadership are often continuum of impulses—is at the heart of engineering separate. Companies hire researchers or designers to leadership. It may not be the dominant trait of a leader, develop breakthroughs, but they then try to take those but it must be present. breakthroughs to market using a matrix model in which specialized functionaries—some of whom are engineers—try to translate the vision into practical reality. Unfortunately, this often results in missteps, and some- A leader is the times disaster. For instance, a company in the business seed crystal around which of making a complex product that includes technologies A, B, and C, might subdivide the work amongst people everything else coalesces. with skills matching those three technical areas. How- ever, without a highly competent project engineer to coordinate their efforts and reconcile competing claims The Road to Leadership and interests, the respective groups are unlikely to pro- Becoming an engineering leader is an evolutionary duce an end result that meets the original goals. Some- process. To paraphrase an old navy adage, “To learn where in the process there must be a dynamic agent of to lead, one must first learn to follow.” Thus, it is vital change—a leader—who either creates or adopts the that would-be engineering leaders grow as engineers idea and drives it to completion, mastering problems by successfully completing increasingly significant and and people along the way. demanding tasks. The 44 BRIDGE

In my case, I first learned to “follow” at the Eckert- connect the electronic drive and the piezoelectric crys- Mauchly Computer Corporation, which built the Uni- tal. He told me to go home and figure out the optimal vac I, the world’s first commercial computer. With a coupling ratio. So, I developed a set of simultaneous master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Mas- equations, setting the derivatives equal to zero to opti- sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I was assigned mize everything, and I came back on Monday morn- to design the standard circuits of the Univac, as well as ing with a few pages of figures and announced proudly, circuits for the acoustic memory (this was long before “Here is the optimum.” the development of solid-state memory and even mag- He didn’t even read my derivations. Instead, he netic core memory). My assigned tasks were important turned to the last page, read the result, and said, “This and challenging for an engineer with only a few years is bull****,” and pushed it back in my direction. of experience. Somewhat flustered, I replied, “How can you say that?” I was an intermediate-level person in the Univac He said, “Of course, it’s bull****! You are getting out project. I didn’t conceive or “architecturalize” the Uni- more power than you put in!” He was right, of course, vac. I didn’t lay out the logic. I merely designed the and, chastened, I “went back to the drawing board.” circuits, a task appropriate to my capabilities—chal- From my early work on the Univac, my work for a sub- lenging but not impossible. In point of fact, I designed sequent employer, and then in my own business, the tasks the circuits assigned to me better than my bosses could I undertook became increasingly complex, and I gradu- have because I had some previous related experience, ally learned to lead others. My technical experience was and at MIT I had acquired a broad background in pulse important, but learning about the needs of others—cus- circuitry, mathematics, and polynomial transfer (pole- tomers and the people who worked with me—was also zero) functions that enabled me to invent a scheme that important. As an engineering leader bringing complex avoided some of the problems that had arisen in acous- products to market, I have consciously emulated my ear- tic delay lines. ly bosses who were talented and learned taskmasters as Still, I was far from being able to comprehend the well as determined and ambitious visionaries. whole. The bosses of the project, the conceptual experts—in this case Presper Eckert, John Mauchly, Engineering Leadership Defined and James Wiener, the chief engineer—were clearly and Since I have deliberately associated the word “magic” absolutely in charge. They had the vision, and they with the way engineering leaders get things done, I must fully understood the challenges we faced, both technical admit that a completely airtight “specification” for an and financial—and I learned a lot from them. engineering leader cannot be created. Leadership, a fundamentally human attribute, will always elude an absolute definition. Nevertheless, I believe that most or all of the attributes or characteristics spelled out below Leadership, a fundamental are necessary for anyone who is or hopes to become an human attribute, will always engineering leader (Gordon and Levy, 1985). • Vision–the ability to foresee results and to be imagi- elude an absolute definition. native in conceiving and developing products. • Knowledge –a breadth and depth of understanding James Wiener was a hard-driving taskmaster who and a facility in mathematics, engineering, physical expected and got superior results from his subordinates. sciences, history, and philosophy. Presper Eckert taught me that with a broad theoreti- • Courage –a willingness to risk one’s professional repu- cal background and the right attitude you could design tation and possibly incur financial, social, and psy- anything. He regularly inspired me, and I grew from chological penalties. the experience. John Mauchly set me straight when I thought I had • Intelligence –knowing how to apply the results of achieved something important. Prior to my work on experience and training to solve new problems. the design of the entire acoustic memory, Mauchly had • Economic sense –an understanding and “feel” for the given me the task of designing a coupling network to financial consequences of every aspect of a project. Winter 2009 45

• Responsibility– accountability for results, both good between academia and engineering practice, this will and bad, and attentiveness to even minute details. require a dramatic change of attitude that will take time. In discussions about leadership with academics, I • Self-esteem– a high self-regard and a sense of personal frequently find that they initially do not have the foggi- worth. est notion of what I am talking about. • Talent–the ability to make the most of inherited and developed gifts. • Discipline –the exercise of self-control and orderli- Without leadership, even very ness and the quality of being self-motivated, a self- starter, even under adverse conditions. bright people may achieve • Empathy–the ability to be sympathetic, tactful, and mediocre results. diplomatic with colleagues in times of stress as well as times of ease. For example, when I describe how a chief or leader • Persuasiveness–the ability to communicate directive must force someone to do what needs to be done, they and expository messages effectively and fluently both completely misunderstand what force means and show orally and in writing. signs of discomfort and distaste with the idea of com- • Forcefulness–the ability to motivate and stimu- pulsion. In fact, ideally, the individual does not feel he late others, assume a take-charge attitude, and take or she is being forced. (On rare occasions, one might command. have to say, “Get this done by 4 p.m.— or else.”) One can force others to do something they would not have • Integrity–honesty with oneself and with others and done without your influence in numerous ways, such as the maintenance of high ethical standards. setting an example, inspiring them, challenging their • Loyalty–the quality of remaining loyal to the people egos (perhaps even saying you have doubts that they’ll being supervised, as well as to the supervisors. be able to come up with a solution). In other words, the real compulsion must eventually come from the indi- • Competitiveness–the determination to win and not vidual being supervised. to accept defeat. Many people in academia misunderstand why lead- • Commitment–total dedication to the successful com- ers are important. At some engineering schools, they pletion of a project and the drive to overcome any believe that if you put 10 smart people in a room, they obstacles, even if this requires personal sacrifice. will naturally and cooperatively end up producing something of value. In my experience, that is possible, but • Resourcefulness–the ability to make do with avail- not likely. A human version of entropy is always at work, able resources, to innovate, and to invent. and without the right kind of input and the addition of • Perseverance –the determination to complete a proj- energy or force, even very bright people often achieve ect, to overcome delays and obstacles. mediocre results. Some people in the academic environment do not understand the difference between the kind • Pride –a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment of person who has a brilliant idea and the kind of person for contributing to the success of others and in com- who actually decides to act on that brilliant idea and pleting the task. make sure it is realized. Similarly, they do not under- • Judgment–the ability to learn from successful and stand the gulf between a great idea or brilliant invention unsuccessful experiences. and a practical, economically viable end product. An engineering leader is the kind of person who takes Creating Engineering Leaders the brilliant idea or invention, determines its worth, and Some engineering leaders may develop on their own carries it forward. I do not mean a “manager” who may while working in industry, but their development can be assigned to “take charge” of a brilliant idea. Man- and should be nurtured by academic programs. How- agement skills are rarely sufficient to capitalize on bril- ever, with the present disconnect in many institutions liant ideas because management, by its nature, is process The 46 BRIDGE oriented—managers often try to make every activity fit renaissance in engineering education and have initi- into a known, repeatable, reliable process. Thus, man- ated programs that incorporate more practice, team- agers are often suspicious of inventive or new ideas. work, mentorship, and character development. They Sometimes academics think, and convey to their recognize that the world needs individuals who are not students, that engineering is, or should be, all fun and only smart but also strong, disciplined, and organized. games. In fact, engineering is generally hard, aggravat- An engineering leader combines these capabilities and ing work. It means having nothing else in your head, can orchestrate the talents of others. And the results waking up in the middle of the night, and personal can be magical. stress. However, it also has major rewards. Some might say that building the first analog-to-digital converter or References fetal monitor or a 3D explosive-detection system, all of Gordon, B.M. 1984. What is an Engineer? Invited Keynote which my companies accomplished and which have had Presentation. European Society for Engineering Education an impact on millions of lives, would have been done Annual Conference on the Impact of Information Tech- by others within a few years if I hadn’t pursued them. nology on Engineering Education, University of Erlangen- However, we actually did them, and knowing that pro- Nurnberg, Germany. vides real satisfaction. Gordon, B.M., and J.E. Levy. 1985. Engineering Leader- ship–Conversations. Looking Ahead Gordon, W.J.J. 1961. Synectics: The Development of Creative Fortunately, in recent years, a number of techni- Capacity. New York: HarperCollins College Division. cal academic institutions have realized the need for a Winter 2009 47

NAE News and Notes NAE Members Receive National Medals of Technology and Innovation and National Medal of Science

President Barack Obama presented the 2008 National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation on October 7, 2009, at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Four NAE members were among the recipients of these prestigious awards. Esther Sans Takeuchi, professor of electrical engineering, chemical and biological engineering, and chemistry, State University of Esther Sans Takeuchi, 2008 National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureate. New York, received the medal “for her seminal development of the silver vanadium oxide battery that powers the majority of the world’s life-saving, implantable cardiac defibrillators and her innovations in other medical battery technologies that improve the health and quality- of-life of millions of people.” John E. Warnock, chairman, and Charles M. Geschke, chairman of the board, Adobe Systems Inc., were honored for their contribution John E. Warnock and Charles M. Geschke, 2008 Technology and Innovation Laureates. to the “desktop publishing revolution.” They developed a stream of pioneering software products that leverage Adobe’s strength in transforming how people create, process, and engage with information, thereby bringing publishing tools to everyday Americans. Dr. Rudolf Kalman, Professor Emeritus, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, received the National Medal of Science for the Kalman filter, a device that measures trajec- tory in avionics and space travel. Rudolf Kalman, 2008 National Medal of Science Laureate. All Photos by Ryan K. Morris, National Science and The Kalman filter, a mathematical Technology Medal Foundation. The 48 BRIDGE technique that removes “noise” being used in previously unimagined nearly all engineering fields. Appli- from series of data, revolutionized ways. Recognition of the Kalman fil- cations of the filter include target the field of control theory and has ter’s utility began in the early 1960s tracking by radar, global position- become ubiquitous in engineering with aerospace and military applica- ing systems, hydrological modeling, systems. Kalman’s ideas enabled a tions such as guidance, navigation, atmospheric observations, time- broad range of technologies with and control systems and was quickly series analyses in econometrics, and unprecedented accuracy that are applied to systems and devices in automated drug delivery.

NAE Newsmakers

Three NAE members were tronic Design Automation Consor- took place on July 10. In April of awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in tium and the Institute of Electrical this year, Professor Kailath received physics for the technologies that and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) the Padma Bhushan Award from enable digital photography. Half Council on Electronic Design Auto- the president of India in a ceremony of the prize was awarded to Charles mation. The award was presented to in New Delhi; the Padma Bhushan K. Kao, Standard Telecommunica- Dr. Bryant on November 4 in recog- is the third highest civilian honor tion Laboratories, Harlow, United nition of his “seminal technological bestowed by the government of Kingdom, and Honorary Professor, breakthroughs in the area of formal India. On November 6, Dr. Kailath Department of Information Engi- verification—the use of mathemati- was awarded the Blaise Pascal neering, Chinese University of cal techniques to prove that a hard- Medal for Computer and Infor- Hong Kong, “for groundbreaking ware or software design functions as mation Sciences by the European achievements concerning the trans- intended.” Academy of Sciences. mission of light in fibers for optical The Association for Computing Pradeep K. Khosla, dean, College communication.” The other half Machinery (ACM) Special Inter- of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon was split between Willard S. Boyle, est Group on Computer Graphics University, received the 2009 Aca- retired executive director, Com- and Interactive Techniques (SIG- demic Excellence Award on October munications Research Division, GRAPH) presented its 2009 Ste- 11 at the Pan IIT Entrepreneurship and George E. Smith, retired head, ven Anson Coons Outstanding Conference in Chicago. Dr. Khosla MOS Device Department, AT&T Service Award to Robert L. Cook, was unanimously selected from a Bell Laboratories, “for the inven- vice president, Advanced Technol- field of more than 200 nominees to tion of an imaging semiconductor ogy, Pixar Animation Studios. Mr. receive the Academic Excellence circuit—the CCD sensor.” Cook is the original author and Award from Pan IIT, a global orga- Anil K. Chopra, Johnson Pro- co-architect of RenderMan, the nization representing alumni from fessor of Structural Engineering, software recognized as the industry all Indian Institutes of Technology University of California, Berkeley, standard for computer graphics ani- campuses. has been included in International mation and visual effects. He was Edward I. Moses, principal asso- Water Power & Dam Construction’s also cited for his work on behalf of ciate director, Lawrence Livermore list of the “60 most influential peo- the SIGGRAPH community. National Laboratory, is the recipi- ple in the Industry.” According to Thomas Kailath, Hitachi America ent of the 2009 Edward Teller the announcement, “these people Professor of Engineering Emeritus, Medal, presented by the American have helped shape the course of the Department of Electrical Engineer- Nuclear Society. Dr. Moses shares global hydro and dams business over ing, Stanford University, was elected the honor with Ricardo Betti, Uni- the last 60 years.” a Foreign Member of the Royal versity of Rochester. Dr. Moses was Randal E. Bryant, dean and Uni- Society. Every year, the Royal Soci- cited for “leadership in the devel- versity Professor, School of Com- ety elects 44 Fellows and eight For- opment and completion of the puter Science, Carnegie Mellon eign Members, including just a few National Ignition Facility.” Estab- University, was awarded the Phil engineers. The induction ceremony, lished in 1991, the Edward Teller Kaufman Award from the Elec- with traditions going back to 1660, Medal is awarded for pioneering Winter 2009 49

research and leadership in inertial computational and mathematical and the Charles Smithgall Institute fusion sciences and applications. sciences and his national leadership Endowed Chair, School of Materi- Richard A. Tapia, University in education and outreach. The His- als Science and Engineering, Geor- Professor and Maxfield-Oshman panic Heritage Awards were created gia Institute of Technology, for his Professor in Engineering, Rice Uni- by the White House in 1988. leadership in the IEEE and CPMT versity, received the annual His- The David Feldman Award given Society for the last 22 years. panic Heritage Award for Math by the IEEE Components, Packag- Submissions for Newsmakers should and Science at a ceremony on ing and Manufacturing Technology be sent to [email protected] or mailed Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (CPMT) Society, has been awarded to Dennis Thorp, NAE Membership Dr. Tapia was cited for his interna- to C.P. Wong, Regents’ Professor of Office, 500 Fifth Street NW, Wash- tional reputation for research in the Materials Science and Engineering, ington, DC 20001.

Highlights of the 2009 NAE Annual Meeting

system to meet 21st century grand challenges (see p. 53). Executive Officer Lance Davis then introduced the members and associates of the NAE Class of 2009 as they were inducted into the academy. The program continued with the presentation of the 2009 Found- ers Award and Arthur M. Bueche Award. The winner of the Founders Award, was John R. Casani, special assistant to the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Casani was cited for his “distinguished innovation and leadership in robotic spacecraft engineering and project NAE Class of 2009 management that has enabled the NAE members, foreign associ- the importance of NAE members first four decades of planetary and ates, and guests gathered in Irvine volunteering their time, expertise, deep space exploration.” The Bueche and Newport Beach, California, this and funds to further NAE’s efforts Award was then presented to Sheila October for the 2009 NAE Annual and goals (see p. 51). E. Widnall, Institute Professor, Mas- Meeting. The meeting began on President Charles M. Vest then sachusetts Institute of Technology, Saturday afternoon, October 3, delivered his annual address. He for her “remarkable academic career with an orientation session for new noted that the United States still in fluid dynamics combined with members. In the evening, the 66 does not have a sense of urgency and the highest levels of public service new members and 8 new foreign commitment to investing in educa- and for championing the role of associates were honored at the NAE tion, research, and other aspects of women in engineering.” Acceptance Council dinner at The Island. our innovation capacity. He also remarks by Drs. Casani (see p. 58) NAE chair Irwin M. Jacobs said that the recommendations of and Widnall (see p. 61) followed. opened the public session on Sun- Rising Above the Gathering Storm After a break, Dr. Vest intro- day, October 4, with brief remarks should be updated and implemented duced the Armstrong Endowment about the importance of engineering and that we must take action to for Young Engineers– Gilbreth innovation to our economic health develop the next generation’s brain- Lecturers, outstanding young engi- and well-being. He also stressed power and transform our innovation neers selected from speakers at The 50 BRIDGE recent NAE Frontiers of Engineer- including projects specific to NAE DuPont; Steve Koonin, U.S. Under ing symposia. Jeffrey J. Welser, and collaborative projects with the Secretary of Energy for Science, director, SRC Nanoelectronics National Research Council and former vice president of BP, and Research Initiative, IBM Almaden Institute of Medicine. former provost of Caltech; Ray- Research Center, spoke on “The The business session was fol- mond Lane, managing partner of Quest for the Next Information- lowed by “Rebuilding a Real Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, and Byers Processing Technology.” Yoky Mat- Economy: Unleashing Engineering and former president of Oracle; and suoka, associate professor of computer Innovation,” a forum moderated Tony Tan Keng Yam, chairman of science and engineering, University by Ali Velshi, chief business corre- the Singapore National Research of Washington, describe cutting-edge spondent for CNN and co-host of Foundation, executive director of research on “Neurobotics: Inter- “Your Money.” The discussion was the Government of Singapore facing Robot and Nervous Systems focused on unleashing technologi- Investment Corporation, and former to Enhance Human Movement.” cal innovation to create products deputy prime minister. and services with real market value. On Monday afternoon, members The panelists included Jean-Lou and foreign associates participated in Chameau, president of Caltech and NAE section meetings at the Beck- former provost of Georgia Tech; man Center and the Newport Beach Peter Diamandis, chairman and Marriott Hotel and Spa. The final CEO of the X-Prize Foundation; Judy event of the meeting was the annual Estrin, former CTO of Cisco, serial reception and dinner dance, held at entrepreneur, and author; Chad The Island. Music was provided by Holliday, chairman and CEO of That Vibe.

Distinguished Guest Lecturer Charles Elachi

The Distinguished Guest Lec- ture, “Innovation in Robotic Space Exploration,” was then presented by Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The last event of the day was a reception for members and guests. At the Annual Business Ses- sion on Monday morning, Dr. Vest brought members up do date on current administrative and programmatic matters of interest. He described actions that had been adopted by the NAE Council to modify NAE membership procedures and provided an overview Forum panel. Left to right: Jean-Lou Chameau, Peter Diamandis, Judy Estrin, Chad Holliday, Steve Koonin, Ray of NAE’s programmatic priorities, mond Lane, and TonyTan Keng Yam. Ali Velshi is the moderator. Photos by Tom Sullivan. Winter 2009 51

The Importance of Engineering Innovation Remarks by NAE Chair Irwin M. Jacobs

lead the ARPA team that extended note that Schneider drivers quickly the Arpanet to Europe via sat- overcame their Big Brother con- ellite. While visiting Europe with cerns about the system as Schneider Bob Kahn to launch the project, we shared the benefits of improved profound that the PTTs [phone compa- ductivity with them. The success of nies] were friendly but did not see OmniTRACS enabled us to move any potential in a packet-switched on to the application of code divi- network. Luckily, several govern- sion multiple access (CDMA) to ment labs and universities did. Pro- cellular technology. fessor Peter Kirstein, University I also note the citation of Profes- Irwin M. Jacobs College London, played a key role sor Gurindar Sohi of the University in this successful effort. His citation of Wisconsin, “For contributions Welcome. I want to add my con- reads, “For contributions to com to the design of high-performance, gratulations and those of the NAE puter networking and for leadership superscalar computer architectures.” Council to all of our new members in bringing the Internet to Europe.” That caught my eye because, based and foreign associates and their fami- It was great working with him, and on his pioneering work, superscalar lies and friends. Needless to say, this in doing so, I got hooked on e-mail. processors are now embedded on is a very impressive group. I found Another result of Peter’s efforts was cell phone chips that run on batter- it very exciting to read through your the first demonstration of the Inter- ies and are carried in our pockets. citations and note the breadth and net protocol. In November 2007, at With four billion subscribers impact of your research, teaching, the Computer History Museum, we worldwide, new uses for mobile and leadership activities. celebrated the 30th anniversary of phones are driving many innova- We live in a time of great need for this event, which linked the Arpa- tions that have an economic and technical innovation (and less finan- net, Satnet, and packet-radio social impact. Last year, I described cial innovation) to boost the econ network. The packet radio seemed a project using smart phones to omy, help preserve our environment, quite far out at the time, but we now teach Algebra 1. We are now into improve education, expand health all carry a much more powerful ver- our third year of the project, with care, and indeed raise standards of sion of it in our pockets. more students and subjects, and the living and quality of life worldwide. In the early days of Qualcomm, results continue to be very posi- Engineering is one important key we developed a continent-wide, tive. A key to this success is that to innovations with true economic satellite-based truck-tracking and students have phones with them value. The importance of engineer- communication system called outside of school as well as in class. ing innovation is reflected in the OmniTRACS. The first customer Academic social networking has a name of this year’s NAE Annual to purchase a system was Schneider valuable feature—students helping Meeting Forum, “Rebuilding a Real National. However, the company one another and posting elegant Economy: Unleashing Engineering would need an entire logistics and solutions to problems. Innovation.” management information system to In the September 26th issue of The I want to mention the citations justify the cost and gain full value. I Economist there were several articles of several members whose work has note that Chris Lofgren, president on the value of rapidly expand- directly affected me and who have and CEO of Schneider National, is ing communications in developing strongly supported innovation. I being cited “For development and countries. They mentioned one should note that I played no role in implementation of supply-chain farmer who accessed an application their elections. engineering concepts, software and called “Farmer’s Friend” to check on In the early 1970s, a few years after technology for truck transportation, timing for planting tomatoes and starting Linkabit, I was fortunate to and third-party logistics.” I should another, who was dealing with an The 52 BRIDGE aphid infestation, on how to make Internet, environmental engineer- of HTH is project-based learning, a pesticide using soap and paraffin. ing, micro- and nano-engineering, often involving engineering design. They also mentioned the benefits of robotics and manufacturing, and HTH is now introducing a virtual Google Trader, a text-based system many other areas that impact our classroom component and elec that matches buyers and sellers of lives. Finally, although we live in tronic texts. agricultural produce and commodi- an increasingly digital world, there NAE Independent Funds, our ties. Sellers send a message to say was even a citation for “high-speed only truly discretionary resource, where they are and what they have analog microelectronics.” support these and other projects. to offer to potential buyers within NAE, of course, does much more They provide seed money for explor- 30 kilometers for the next seven than recognize achievements. It ing and launching new initiatives days. A Mr. Makawa says his father also draws on your expertise to assist and ensure the continuity of our used the service to look for a buyer with many projects each year. You operations. These philanthropic for some pigs, which he sold to pay have received information on our funds are critical to NAE. They school fees. In the first five weeks, NAE Matching Challenge, a cam- provide more than 30 percent of our these services had a total of more paign to increase funds available for budget and are highly leveraged as than one million queries. new efforts. You may ask why NAE externally funded studies and proj- I must admit that in reading needs independent funds and funds ects are developed. through the citations, I came across targeted to specific projects. For instance, NAE Independent several terms I did not recognize. Of An example of a privately funded Funds supported the pre-project course, all I had to do was Google NAE study is the recently completed planning for our highly successful them, which did the job. Two of Engineering in K-12 Education: “Grand Challenges for Engineer- our new members are from Google. Understanding the Status and Improv- ing” project funded by NSF. They Sergey Brin, co-founder and presi- ing the Prospects. This study surveys also supported the early planning dent of technology, is cited “For the extent and nature of efforts to and provided supplementary fund- leadership in development of rapid integrate engineering into U.S. ing for the “Engineer of 2020” proj- indexing and retrieval of relevant K-12 education and explores the ect (also largely funded by NSF); information from the World Wide potential of expanding those efforts. based on book sales, this was one Web.” Sanjay Ghemawat, Google Funding will also support follow-on of NAE’s most successful projects. Fellow, is cited “For contributions projects. Finally, NAE Independent Funds to the science and engineering of Last year, I described High Tech also made possible the creation of large-scale distributed computer High (HTH), a charter school sys- the NAE Center for the Advance- systems.” tem in San Diego that is mentioned ment of Scholarship in Engineering Many other innovations in key in the K-12 study. HTH selects Education (CASEE). I invite you to areas are addressed in the citations, students by lottery, does not track participate actively in these projects including innovations in energy, bio- them, and yet graduates and sends and, when you can, to contribute to engineering (including one on engi- almost 100 percent of them to col- their support. neering molecular assembly lines), lege, with about 30 percent studying Again, congratulations and wel- communications, computers and the STEM subjects. A key component come to the academy. Winter 2009 53

A Time for Fundamental Change Remarks by NAE President Charles M. Vest

medicine. But we are not a govern- Two weeks ago, he wrote about ment organization, and we are not the visionary work of one of our part of the federal government. We fine Silicon Valley companies that are an independent, non-profit orga- produces photovoltaic solar cells. A nization. In return for providing great story, but every manufacturing objective analyses and experience- job associated with the company is based advice of the nation’s most in another country, specifically Ger- accomplished engineers, through many. Friedman then noted that studies conducted in an objective, while many in the United States nonpolitical manner, we have been continue to treat renewable energy Charles M. Vest granted a special, respected role as largely as a fairy tale, the renewable advisors to the nation. energy industry in Germany, with It is a great pleasure to participate We perform this function largely more than 50,000 new jobs, is now in this 45th induction ceremony by conducting rigorous studies of second only to its automobile industry. of the National Academy of Engi- specific issues, either when requested What is this about? It is a harbin- neering, the first ever held outside by the government, or, from time ger of a nation that has for too long Washington, D.C. And it is a spe- to time, when we ourselves choose ignored many of the greatest chal- cial privilege to welcome the fami- to examine an issue we believe to be lenges of our age. It is about a nation lies, friends, and guests of those who particularly important. Of course in which far too many citizens and are being inducted today as members we call on our members to provide leaders assume that because we have and foreign associates of NAE. leadership for these studies. The been king of the mountain through- Your election to the National National Academies can be thought out their lives, the future will be no Academy of Engineering signals that of as an unparalleled think tank different. It is about the most inno- our members, through a very rigor- centered on engineering, science, vative nation on the planet failing ous process, have concluded that and medicine. This is the primary to harness that innovation in some you are among the most brilliant, service we will expect of you. of the most important directions. It accomplished, and distinguished When I was elected to NAE in is about a nation that for decades has members of your profession. We are 1993, I received a note from John given up on providing a world-class proud to welcome you as colleagues Armstrong, the former vice presi- education to its primary and second- in the academy, and we all hope that dent for research of IBM. John’s ary students and is now tearing into this is a deeply meaningful event in note said, “Congratulations on your the core of its great public system your professional lives. Election to election to the NAE. I just can’t of higher education. It is about a NAE is a rare and singular honor, wait to put you on a committee!” nation that properly and generously but membership also has additional You can see that John is less subtle shows the rest of the world how significance. It is an opportunity for in these matters than I am, but the to build the foundations of strong national service. Indeed, it is a call message is identical. economies while it stubbornly for- to national service. In his New York Times column one gets its own lessons at home. It is We are chartered by the U.S. Con- year ago, Tom Friedman contrasted about a nation increasingly unable gress, together with the National the Wall Street bailout with the to find a proper balance between Academy of Sciences, the Institute need for a green future. He wrote, short-term gain and long-term vital- of Medicine, and our joint operating “. . . we don’t just need a bailout. ity. It is about a body politic that arm, the National Research Council, We need a buildup. We need to get thinks globalization is an evil out to provide independent, objective back to making stuff based on real on the horizon, when in fact it has advice to the federal government on engineering not just financial engi- been the reality of our businesses matters of science, technology, and neering.” That was one year ago. and industries for decades and must The 54 BRIDGE be shaped as a source of economic of any reasonable strategy for mov- tant indicator, the fraction of col- strength. It is about a nation in ing forward: developing brainpower, lege graduates who earn degrees in which someone seems to arise every unleashing innovation, and grap- engineering. Broadly across Asia, morning and ask, “What new thing pling with scale. Europe, and the United States can we do today to become even the fraction of graduates with first less hospitable to people from other Developing Brainpower degrees in the natural sciences is countries who want to visit, study, Our age is both global and approximately 12 percent in each or become part of our society?” knowledge driven. As the world region. However, the fraction of I have asked myself if I could has become wealthier and gener- graduates with first degrees in engi- really stand here this morning and go ally better educated, science and neering is 20 percent across Asia, through this litany yet again. After engineering talent and knowledge 12 percent across Europe, but only all, our National Academies report are being distributed more broadly. 4.5 percent in the United States. Rising Above the Gathering Storm: North America, Europe, and Asia I believe that the low fraction of Energizing and Employing America for each accounts for roughly one-third our students majoring in engineer- a Brighter Economic Future presents of the world’s R&D expenditures. ing is something we really need to the clearest summary of these issues China now leads the world in the worry about. The fact is that we and provides the strongest recom- number of young engineering pro- have been filling in the correspond- mendations for changing course. fessionals; India leads the world in ing gap in our engineering work- The report has had some impact, the number of young profession- force for many years by importing but its findings were released in als in finance and accounting; and talent from other countries. Well 2006, and we still have not seen the United States leads the world, more than half of the engineering broad, fundamental change. by a small margin, in the number of and science Ph.D. students in U.S. The time really has come to slay young life-science professionals. universities come from other coun- the dragon of complacency. There But coupling science and engi- tries, and these immigrants have is little slack left, and other nations neering gives us a misleading picture. assumed major leadership positions are not biding their time. I really am The global trends in the engineer- in our universities and in our entre- worried. Indeed, I am frightened. But ing workforce are very different from preneurial industries. deep inside me there is still a spark of those in the scientific workforce. In We are grateful and should cel- optimism, based in the first instance the early 1980s, China, Japan, and ebrate the leadership and contribu- on something Winston Churchill the United States each graduated tions of these talented immigrants once said, “You can always count on about 75,000 bachelors-level engi- and the traditional openness of our the Americans to do the right thing neers per year. By 2002, the most country, campuses, and industries. . . . after they have exhausted all the recent year for which accurate data But we cannot necessarily count other possibilities.” are available, first degrees in engi- so heavily on them going forward. I also have a sense of underlying neering in the United States had Many more are beginning to return optimism because this generation dropped to about 60,000; in Japan home because of perceived higher of young people is idealistic and is they had grown to more than 100,000 speed of professional growth and attracted to addressing the grand graduates per year; and China had better opportunities to start their challenges of the 21st century. And leaped to about 250,000 first engi- own businesses. we surely can make them aware that neering degrees per year. Yes, there We also need to make our borders this is indisputably the most excit- is a wide variance in the nature and more welcoming and especially to ing era in engineering and science quality of engineering education, but implement the Gathering Storm rec- in human history. the trend is very important. ommendation to increase the num- So how do we get back on track? You might say, “Of course China ber of H1-B visas issued each year, The short answer is, we update the should have many more engineers and we should offer H1-B visas to recommendations of Rising Above than we do. After all, their popu- students who earn doctoral degrees the Gathering Storm and implement lation is nearly 1.5 billion, and in STEM fields. them. But today I would like to they are rapidly industrializing.” I But our fundamental task must explore three essential components agree, so let’s look at a more impor- be to increase the number of U.S. Winter 2009 55

citizens entering these fields. This one shining example. Rising Above Unleashing Innovation requires two things: inspiration and the Gathering Storm recommended The United States is facing an improved education. We must inspire bringing to national scale a program economic crisis unmatched in the next generation to contribute started several years ago in Dallas recent memory, and there is gen- to a better world and a stronger by businessman and philanthropist eral consensus that this crisis was economy through engineering and Peter O’Donnell that provides mod- precipitated by building far too science; and we must somehow est financial incentives to teachers much of our economy on vaporous become serious about improving our to qualify to teach science and math transactions that did not create real public K–12 education. at the AP level. The program also value. To emerge from this financial There are productive roles here provides a modest payment of a few crisis and set a sound 21st century for the National Academy of Engi- hundred dollars to students who pass course, we must turn our attention neering. NAE’s Grand Challenges AP subjects in math, science, and to unleashing engineering innova- for Engineering is proving to be an English. The results of this simple tion to create products and services effective organizing framework for program have been simply amazing. that add actual value. inspiring the next generation. And Following the release of Gath- As a nation we must refocus on the Grand Challenges are a wonder- ering Storm, while waiting for the the real economy, and that will ful example of how seeds planted by federal government to consider set- require a re-energized innovation NAE can be leveraged through the ting up an AP program, a nonprofit, system to generate new knowledge passionate work of others. Several private-sector organization—the and technology and move them suc- engineering deans and university National Math and Science Initia- cessfully to the competitive world presidents around the country have tive (NMSI)—was established with marketplace. We must become picked up the agenda of inspiration financial support form ExxonMo- more productive and efficient at and run with it. Next spring there bile, the Gates Foundation, and the the things we already do well, cre- will be six coordinated summits in Dell Foundation. During its first ate new industries, and transform different parts of the country that year, the NMSI AP program is in 67 others. We need to address energy, will bring students, faculty, and schools in seven states; and 13,000 environment, security, and health leaders of industry and government exams were taken by AP students in care delivery in order to sustain our together to focus on two or three of science, math, and English, an 80.1 economic stability and quality of the NAE Grand Challenges. percent increase over the previous life. Our innovation system itself With the leadership of Dean Tom year. There was also a 51 percent must evolve to meet these large- Katsouleas at Duke, Dean Yan- increase in the number of AP exams scale challenges. nis Yortsis at USC, and President passed, which is more than nine times Tomorrow, in our Forum, a distin- Rick Miller at Olin College, there the national average. The percent guished panel will explore the roles is a national movement to estab- increases among women and under- of academia, entrepreneurs, ven- lish a program of Grand Challenge represented groups was even higher. ture capitalists, global corporations, Scholars among engineering under- This program will be expanded in challenge prizes, and governments graduates to “foster undergraduate the coming years. NMSI’s second in unleashing technological innova- research, study, and experiential component, UTEACH, now oper- tion to rebuild a real economy and learning related to the National ating in universities in 14 states, meet 21st century challenges. It will Academy of Engineering Grand aspires to meet the Gathering Storm be an exciting event. Challenges for Engineering.” In goal of graduating 10,000 K–12 But let me offer a few comments addition, there are undergraduate teachers appropriately educated in now. The American innovation project courses, and even reorga- the disciplines they teach. system, as I think of it, is a loosely nizations of curricula around the My point is that there are things organized system that creates country building on our Grand that can be done. Individuals can new knowledge and technology Challenges report. make a difference. And the work of through research and educates Let me return now to improving NAE and the National Academies young men and women to under- education. This is a very compli- can be leveraged by private groups, as stand and create this new knowl- cated issue, but I want to point out well as by the federal government. edge and technology and move The 56 BRIDGE it to market as new products, 4. Globalization of R&D invest- will be focused heavily on science, processes, and services. ments, education, and a high- engineering, information systems, This system, which has been an quality workforce will continue and architecture, with a special enormous success from any perspec- apace. emphasis on the role of design, tive, derives largely from the 1945 broadly defined. 5. Economic growth may require a Vannevar Bush report, Science—The In California, Singularity Univer- new enabling technology analo- Endless Frontier, which established sity is the working name of a joint gous to IT and the World Wide universities as the primary ele- effort by NASA, Google, and sev- Web in the last century. ment of the nation’s basic research eral leading thinkers, such as NAE infrastructure and recommended 6. We will need transformative member Ray Kurzweil, to cross- the establishment of a National breakthroughs to address many educate students from the emerging Science Foundation. That report global grand challenges, such as disciplines of nanotechnology, bio- still accurately describes a large energy, health care, and security. technology, and information tech- part of technological innovation nology and prepare them to attack Perhaps our current innovation in the United States, especially the the great challenges of our times. system will simply continue to evolve. chain that runs from universities Another intriguing attempt to More likely, it will be augmented or through entrepreneurs and venture drive innovation to achieve large readjusted to tackle large-scale 21st capitalists. goals is the work of the X-Prize century challenges. For example, However, during the last 40 years, Foundation. In 1996, the $10 mil- a 2004 NAE study proposed that the core of the innovation system lion Ansari X-Prize for the first Discovery Innovation Institutes be involving large corporations has nongovernmental group to achieve located on the campuses of research- changed substantially about every human space flight went to Burt intensive universities. These insti- decade. In the 1970s, central cor- Rutan, who in turn was financed tutes would conduct engineering porate research laboratories domi- by Paul Allen, both NAE members. research and innovation on a large nated; in the 1980s, corporate R&D The goal of the X-Prize Foundation scale and would have direct linkages was transformed and absorbed into is to spur innovation to solve other to industry and government to guide a new style of product development highly challenging and important use-inspired research and more effi- in response to the challenge of Japa- societal problems by leveraging the ciently move new ideas, discoveries, nese consumer manufacturing; in financial and intellectual resources and technologies into practice. Such the 1990s, large companies acquired of contest entrants. The DARPA institutes would be especially suit- innovation by buying start-up com- Grand Challenge Program has a able to addressing complex, large- panies often spun off from research similar structure. scale, long-lived challenges such as universities; and now in the early Finally, there are many emerging energy. Indeed, DOE recently pro- 2000s, globally open innovation has Web-based platforms for develop- posed something similar. begun to play a major role. ing and using the collective input In higher education there are Several things suggest that we of large numbers of people to forge many experiments under way to may see another shift in the U.S. new ideas, solve problems, and, in foster and enhance innovation innovation system: a broad sense, innovate. For exam- capacity and new modes of thought. ple, Rosetta@home is a website that 1. The scientific basis of new tech- Olin College of Engineering, near enables thousands of people around nologies will increasingly come Boston, has operated now for seven the world to play a massive computer from the life sciences and infor- years with an untraditional, design- game whose real purpose is to use mation technology. oriented curriculum and an organi- their collective brainpower to solve zational structure without the usual 2. Macro-scale systems challenges, highly complex problems of protein disciplines. Finland is constructing especially energy, will drive inno- folding and bimolecular design. the entirely new Aalto University, vation in the coming decade. which will combine technology, Grappling with Scale 3. Venture capital may now be too economics, and art and design. Sin- Driven by relentless change, risk averse and may not fit some gapore is establishing a new univer- globalization, and distributed large-scale systems. sity in partnership with MIT that Winter 2009 57

intelligence, the new generation will the private sector. This is another about the innovation system that I undoubtedly reshape our innova- kind of social/technical grand chal- hope we in NAE can help address. tion system, and it will be none too lenge for our nation. soon. I am optimistic that we can Finally, it is time for healthy but Conclusion move forward on developing brain- objective debate about how far we Once again, congratulations on power and unleashing engineering can move into a service economy. It your election to the National Acad- innovation, but it is less clear to me is empirically evident, and possibly emy of Engineering. I hope that this how we can adapt our industrial and desirable, that the fraction of our is a deeply meaningful event for each innovation base to meet large-scale workforce employed in the service of you. NAE asks that you recognize national goals. For example, how sector, broadly defined, is approach- your membership as an opportunity will we deploy a modern electrical ing 70 percent. But can we truly to serve your nation and world by transmission and distribution system prosper without some form of trans- contributing to well-informed, capable of intelligent operation and formed manufacturing base? objective, independent advice on adaptation to highly variable renew- Efficient, low-cost manufactur- important issues involving technol- able energy sources? How will we ing is the essential element in the ogy. Developing and transmitting reinvent our manufacturing base? deployment of batteries, solar cells, such advice is an important form of A primary historical lesson from and other green technologies. Is engineering leadership. the 20th century is that the answer is it really okay if the manufacturing You come to this task at a moment not central planning. Government- jobs in emerging green industries in history when it is urgent that we generated technology road maps or are established in other countries sustain and enhance the techno- other grand detailed plans, in my to begin with, rather than follow- logical welfare of the nation so that view, are not the way to go. But ing the past trend of starting here we can compete in the global, neither is the anything-goes, politi- and moving overseas as the industry knowledge-based economy and cal interest-generated collection of matures and margins become thin? maintain our prosperity. You also regulatory regimes that break the Many thinkers, including a num- come to this task at a time when current electrical grid into a mul- ber of NAE members, believe that the frontiers of engineering, on tiplicity of overly independent seg- we must find a new manufacturing both the small and large scale, are ments. Somehow we must establish paradigm, perhaps based on emerg- not only enormously exciting, but a common vision of the so-called ing advances in fields like robotics also critically important to meeting Smart Grid and set common regu- and biological synthesis of materials the great challenges of energy, envi- latory standards and common tech- and devices, where we might estab- ronment, productivity, health care, nology standards that can be met in lish a lead. In any event, these are food, water, and security. various ways by regional entities and fundamentally important questions Thank you for your attention. The 58 BRIDGE

2009 Founders Award Acceptance Remarks by John R. Casani

actually met one. My father owned a wholesale confectionary business in Philadelphia, and all of his friends and all of my relations were business people. In fact, my father placed a high value on a liberal arts education, and he had very much wanted to go to college himself. His biggest disappointment in life was that he was denied that opportunity when his family decided he should join the family business as soon as he was discharged from the Army at the end of World War I. His mother was a college graduate, as was my mother, and my father was determined that every one of his children would get a college education. Because he was Irwin Jacobs, John R. Casani, and Charles M. Vest. interested in literature, he steered all of us in that direction. The 2009 Founders Award was pre- engineering award on a person who I was sent to a Jesuit high school sented to John R. Casani, special began college in liberal arts and did in Philadelphia where the curricu- assistant to the director, Jet Propulsion not switch to engineering until the lum consisted of four years of Latin, Laboratory, for “distinguished innova- end of the sophomore year. While three years of classical Greek, four tion and leadership in robotic spacecraft such redirections in college are years of English literature and Eng- engineering and project management not unusual, most of them go the lish composition, American history, that has enabled the first four decades of other way. How I came to choose algebra, and high school physics. planetary and deep space exploration.” an engineering education and how There were no courses in any other that choice affected my career as science, like chemistry or biology, It is a great honor to be here an engineer and as an engineering and the subject of engineering was tonight to receive the National manager will be the focus of my never once broached. Interestingly Academy of Engineering Founders remarks this evening. It is my hope enough, the class I liked best in four Award. I want to begin by express- that my experience may reveal some years of high school was a senior ing my profound appreciation to the clues as to how we might encourage class called physics. (Today it would Academy, the nominators, and the talented young people to succeed in probably be called something else.) Award Committee for this great rec- engineering careers. I graduated from high school ognition. When Chuck Vest called Although I’ve always had an thinking I wanted to be a physicist, to let me know, I was truly amazed. abiding interest in gadgetry and not even knowing that engineering This is an award that few would ever was drawn to all things mechanical was a college curriculum. It might anticipate—certainly not I. growing up, I was never introduced seem nearly impossible—that after a Although I am surprised to be to, or even aware of, the field of good high school education I had no receiving the Founders Award, engineering. No one in my family idea a person could study engineer- you may be surprised to learn that or circle of friends ever knew of any- ing in college. Maybe today it would you have bestowed this esteemed one who was an engineer, much less be impossible. But I would venture Winter 2009 59

to say that even today, more people an education in engineering. To his given the task of figuring out how than you might think are similarly credit, my father said, “Great!” to integrate an experimental radio- uninformed. In my case, I think Three years later I graduated with inertial guidance system into a my lack of awareness was directly a bachelor of science in electrical Corporal missile for a test flight at related to my family and my high engineering from the University White Sands. That was a big assign- school’s lack of interest or under- of Pennsylvania Moore School of ment for a kid just one year out of standing of engineering. By con- Electrical Engineering, now the school! And it was a golden oppor- trast, my guess is that most of you in College of Engineering and Applied tunity, because it put me into direct this room grew up in an atmosphere Sciences. My first job after gradu- contact with all the technical disci- in which science and engineering ating was in Rome, New York, at plines involved in developing the were not unknown topics of con- the Rome Air Development Cen- CODORAC—or coded Doppler, versation at the dinner table. Not ter, where I worked in electronic ranging, and command—guidance so in my house. countermeasures. It was an excit- system inertial platform: for exam- So it was that I matriculated ing time for me, but not exciting ple, gyro and accelerometers, phase- in liberal arts at the University of enough to hold me through a harsh locked loop tracking, pseudo-noise Pennsylvania in 1950, still unaware winter. After a week of tempera- generators, radar beam splitting that engineering was a choice. At tures that never got warmer than and spread spectrum modulation, the end of the sophomore year, each five degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, antenna tracking and pointing, student was required to declare a I started exploring other opportuni- telemetry and command, and a host major. By that time all I knew for ties. Come June, I was on my way of other emerging technologies that certain was that I didn’t want to be to California and a new job at the turned out to be quintessential to a physicist. I was otherwise at a loss Jet Propulsion Laboratory. the as-yet unforeseen challenges of as to what direction I should take. When I left Philadelphia to head robotic spacecraft. I suggested to my dad that the best west, I assured my folks I was only The California Institute of Tech- course of action for me would be to going to be gone for a few years and nology was managing and operat- drop out of school and join the Air would return with stories to amaze ing JPL for the Army at the time. Force, with the thought that I would them about life on the frontier. To When NASA was created as part be better able to make a curriculum my circle of acquaintances, Califor- of the Space Act of 1958, Caltech’s choice after I had matured for a cou- nia was a magical place that few of contract with the Army was novated ple of years. He would hear none them would ever visit. I had every to the new agency. At the same of it and sent me back to school, expectation of eventually returning time, the National Advisory Com- telling me not to come home until to my roots. As it turns out, I’m still mittee for Aeronautics (NACA) I had picked a major. in California, 53 years later, and I was decommissioned, and the Ames I returned to school and shared have never looked back. and Langley research centers were this dilemma with a casual friend, I started work at JPL on July 11, assigned to NASA. who happened to be a freshman 1956, and 53 years later, I’m still My first job under NASA was who was studying electrical engi- there and loving every moment of as systems engineer for the Pioneer neering. He was enthusiastic about it. I can’t imagine a better career, 3 and 4 spacecraft, designed to fly his studies and invited me to check and I am grateful to the people of by the moon to test an optical limb out the Moore School (of Electri- JPL, NASA, and many in the aero- sensing mechanism as a possible cal Engineering). To make a long space community who gave me the triggering device for use on a subse- story short, I did just that and was opportunity to do things that had quent mission. Although Pioneer 3 intrigued by what I saw. The dean never been done before. I suppose suffered a launch vehicle failure and agreed to accept me as an entering you could say that I’m one of those ultimately ended up in the South sophomore for the fall semester, pro- people who does not have a life; Atlantic Ocean, it returned data vided I went to summer session to rather, my life is what I do. that revealed the outer van Allen make up math. I entered the Moore In 1956, JPL was doing work for radiation belt, distinct from the belt School, attended the summer ses- the Army Ballistic Missile Agency discovered by Explorer 1. Pioneer 4 sion, and started down the road to in Huntsville, Alabama, and I was worked as intended and showed that The 60 BRIDGE the limb crossing detector would not experience at just the right time to lay the groundwork for employee serve its intended purpose. prepare me for the next assignment. success; a series of jobs with ever- Next, I was assigned to lead the I also believe the fundamentals of increasing responsibility; a sense design team for Ranger-class space- my early education, which included that, even as an employee, you craft and, a few years later, the the liberal art of respectful argumen- “owned” the job; recognition for design team for Mariner-class space- tation, contributed directly to my good performance; a sense of doing craft. I was the project engineer for selection for career development something that matters; and, most the first two Ranger launches as well and ultimately to the success I have of all, the challenge and satisfaction as the project engineer for the first enjoyed as a manager of complex of doing what has never been done two Mariner spacecraft. After that, spacecraft projects. before—of making history. I know I progressively moved through a What might this story tell us about that those are the elements that sequence of increasingly responsible how we might encourage promising to this day keep me at JPL. I may project management roles, always young engineers? Earlier this year be naïve, but it seems to me that under the guidance and mentoring the AIAA sponsored a conference employers who provide employees of a remarkable group of managers on the problem of employee reten- with a sense of responsibility, job and pioneers in spacecraft develop- tion in the engineering industry, ownership, recognition, and support ment and management. noting that most young profession- will likely be rewarded with less fre- It is literally true that I was fortu- als today will hold five or six dif- quent turnover—and we all will be nate enough to be in the right place ferent jobs over the course of their rewarded with a solid cadre of com- at the right time. My mentors were careers. That probably is not too mitted, highly qualified engineers the giants of robotic space explora- different from what I had expected to address the important challenges tion, including Jack James, Gene when I started working. But I stayed that face our nation and our world. Giberson, Bill Pickering—who was in the same company, enjoying a full The Founders Award is not the JPL director and a founding mem- and satisfying career without mov- end of my career, but it is most cer- ber of NAE—and Bud Schurmeier ing on. Why is that? tainly a very high point. I want to and Bob Parks, who also were NAE It may be that many companies again thank the Academy for this members. I truly believe that my don’t or can’t offer what I had work- great distinction and all of you for career progression was carefully pre- ing at JPL: an environment that your kind attention. programmed by them. Each assign- encourages professional growth with ment seemed to provide just the right managers and leaders who actively Winter 2009 61

2009 Arthur M. Bueche Award Acceptance Remarks by Sheila E. Widnall

instrumental in getting AIAA to start a Congressional Fellow’s Pro- gram so that my husband Bill could have a position with the House Committee on Science dealing with the NASA budget. Then there was the call from Bill Carey, the executive officer of AAAS. He said, “Are you a member of AAAS?” I said, “No.” And he said, “Would you be willing to join?” I said, “Why would I do that?” He said, “We’d like you to run for the board.” And I said, “OK.” Follow- ing my service on the board, I was president of AAAS. I think you might be hearing a Irwin Jacobs, Sheila E. Widnall, Charles M. Vest, and A. Galip Ulsoy. theme playing in the background. It’s a theme from “Oklahoma”—I’m The 2009 Arthur M. Bueche Award fair in Tacoma, Washington, I was just a girl who can’t say no. And it was presented to Sheila E. Widnall, approached by the owner of a local has served me well! Institute Professor, Massachusetts specialty construction firm who Through the AAAS connec- Institute of Technology, for “a remark- had a Ph.D. in civil engineering tion, I met David Hamburg, the able academic career in fluid dynam- from MIT. He said, “You should go former president of the Institute of ics combined with the highest levels of to MIT.” And I said, “OK, where’s Medicine who served as president public service, and for championing the that?” He and his fellow Seattle of AAAS. At that time, David was role of women in engineering.” alumni made it all possible through president of the Carnegie Corpora- their scholarship support. tion of New York. He asked me to I am deeply honored to receive At MIT, my strongest mentor serve as a trustee. I said—let’s hear the Arthur M. Bueche Award and was Professor Holt Ashley, a col- it!—“OK.” to join the list of previous winners, league of many of you. When I was David had an incredible public many of whom have been my col- a sophomore, he said to me, “You policy agenda. One of his strong leagues and mentors. I feel most should go to graduate school.” And areas of focus was the role of the fortunate. I said, “OK.” He made it all pos- scientific and engineering com- I often characterize my life in the sible for me. Only now do I realize munity in providing advice to the engineering and scientific commu- what that takes. government on important scientific, nity as surfing on the leading edge Then there was Bob Cannon, technical, and public policy issues. of a wave, a wave of heightened sen- who came up to me on the podium To that end, Carnegie Corporation sitivity and activity to increase the after I had won the Outstand- established the Carnegie Commis- role of women in science and engi- ing Young Man of the Year Award sion on Science, Technology, and neering and the role of the many from AIAA. He said, “I’d like you Government. Members of this com- people who have reached out to to come to Washington and be mission included Bueche Award win- help make this new role a reality. the first director of the Office of ners, Norm Augustine, Bill Perry, In my case, I was very fortu- University Research at DOT.” And and Guy Stever. I felt privileged to nate. When I won the science I said, “OK.” Holt Ashley was serve. Jack Gibbons was also active The 62 BRIDGE with the commission in his role as with Jerry Wiesner. Under the lecture called “Digits of Pi,” I gave head of Office of Technology Assess- stars, we had long discussions of Sheila Widnall’s list of top 10 issues ment for the U.S. Congress. why women would want to go into that make women students feel less I served as vice chair of the Board science and technology. Jerry was than welcome and, more important, of Trustees of the Carnegie Corpora- instrumental in opening doors for less than capable. tion. Warren Christopher was chair. women faculty and students at MIT At MIT, we made an important Fast forward to fall and the election in those early days. discovery—that the Math SAT of 1992. With the election of Bill So what’s my message? That at under-predicts the performance of Clinton, Warren Christopher was critical points in my life, members women students. Being data driven, asked to help identify cabinet mem- of the scientific and engineering we applied this knowledge, and bers and other senior officials for the community reached out to me and in one year the number of women new administration. Carnegie lost gave me incredible opportunities admitted rose from 26 percent to four board members—Bob Rubin to for growth. Every woman I have 38 percent. Their performance vali- Treasury, Donna Shalala to HEW, spoken to on this issue reports that dated our expectations based on the Warren Christopher to State, and someone reached out to encourage data. By the way, the percentage me to the Air Force. The Carnegie her to advance her career. Given has continued to climb. Women Commission on Science, Technol- the statistics, in most cases, that now comprise 48 percent of MIT ogy and Government contributed someone would have been a man. undergraduates and a majority of the Bill Perry to Defense, and Jack I urge members here today to undergraduate students in half of our Gibbons was tapped as presidential include young women in their web engineering departments. Clearly, we science advisor. of support. The leverage of increas- are in a time of intense change. In December 1992, David Ham- ing the role of all women and tap- In many ways, the engineering burg called me and said, “Sheila, ping into their potential will be community is also surfing at the I’ve got a great idea, and I’ve talked enormous. I don’t know any other leading edge of a wave, poised to it over with Sam Nunn and Les way it can happen. Former Bueche tackle the incredibly complex prob- Aspin—who had been tapped as Award winners have been my fam- lems facing our society—problems of secretary of defense—and they ily, my mentors, and my supporters. energy, environment, sustainability, think it’s a great idea. I said “David, I have also actively encouraged and the health and strength of our what is it?” He said, “We think young women to pursue careers in industrial base, which provides jobs you should be secretary of the Air science and engineering. In my to support the dignity of the Ameri- Force.” And I said, “David, that’s a AAAS presidential lecture, “Voices can workforce. Interaction with great idea!” When the offer began from the Pipeline”—available on the government and the larger society is to gel, I was windsurfing in Aruba. Web at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/ essential to ensuring that appropriate I went to the board shop and made www/people/widnall/webpublications. and effective policies are conceived two phone calls to ask my men- html—I described the environment and implemented. NAE and the tors for advice. Both calls were facing women who want to enter extended Academy complex play a to Bueche Award winners, Chuck science and engineering fields and crucial role at this interface and are Vest and Bob Seamans. identified the aspects of that envi- deserving of your support. I probably should also mention ronment that make them feel less So guys, I recommend you get out my week sailing in the Caribbean than welcome. In my later work, a your surfboards! Winter 2009 63

2009 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

On September 10–12, NAE development, energy/environment, Funding for the 2009 U.S. FOE welcomed 110 mid-career engi- information/communication, etc.). symposium was provided by The neers to the 2009 U.S. Frontiers of There were also groups on engineer- Grainger Foundation, Arnold O. and Engineering (US FOE) symposium ing education and a movie and dis- Mabel Beckman Foundation, Air at the Beckman Center in Irvine, cussion group about infrastructure, Force Office of Scientific Research, California. NAE member Andrew which provided a lead-in to the ple- Defense Advanced Research Proj- M. Weiner, Scifres Family Distin- nary session on the next day. ects Agency, Department of Defense guished Professor of Electrical and The dinner speaker this year was (ODDR&E), National Science Computer Engineering at Purdue Dr. Bradford W. Parkinson, Edward Foundation, Microsoft Research, University, chaired the organizing C. Wells Professor of Aeronau- and Cummins Inc. committee and the symposium. tics and Astronautics, Emeritus, at NAE has hosted annual U.S. Talks at the symposium covered Stanford University. His fascinat- Frontiers of Engineering meetings topics in the areas of engineering ing talk was about the challenges since 1995, and bilateral programs tools for scientific discovery, nano/ of developing the global position- that now include Germany, Japan, micro photonics and new applica- ing system (GPS), its military and India, and China. The meetings tions, engineering the health care civilian applications, and its place bring together outstanding engi- delivery system, and resilient and in our future. neers (30 to 45 years old) in industry, sustainable infrastructure. A pro- For the first time, six engineers academe, and government at a rela- ceedings volume with papers from from Mexico attended the sym- tively early point in their careers. the meeting will be published in posium under the auspices of the FOE facilitates the establishment of mid-February 2010. United States-Mexico Founda- contacts and collaboration among On the first afternoon of the tion for Science. They hoped to the next generation of engineering meeting, participants broke into learn more about the program leaders and gives them an opportu- small groups for “get-acquainted” and, eventually, to initiate their nity to learn about developments, sessions where each one presented own domestic FOE program and techniques, and approaches at the and answered questions about a establish ties with engineers in the forefront of a wide range of engi- slide describing his or her research United States. neering fields. or technical work. These ses- Andrew Weiner will continue to For more information about the sions gave attendees an opportu- serve as chair for the 2010 US FOE symposium series or to nominate nity to meet and learn about each symposium, which will be hosted an outstanding engineer to partici- other’s work relatively early in the by IBM at IBM Learning Center in pate in a future Frontiers meeting, program. On the second afternoon, Armonk, New York, on September contact Janet Hunziker at the NAE attendees had another opportunity 23–25, 2010. To topics will be cloud Program Office at (202) 334-1571 for informal interaction through computing, biosensing and bio or by e-mail at [email protected]. discipline-, or topic-based, “salons” actuation, engineering and music, (e.g., materials, product/process and autonomous space systems. The 64 BRIDGE

First China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

Participants in first China-America Frontiers of Engineer Symposium.

NAE added a fourth bilateral In the first session, Engineering that enable cells to operate at inter meeting to its Frontiers of Engi- and Public Health: Ensuring Food mediate temperatures. A third neering portfolio with the inaugural Safety, speakers noted that the speaker described the state of the art China-America Frontiers of Engi- interconnectedness of food produc- in hydrogen storage based on metal- neering (CAFOE) Symposium tion, processing, and distribution hydride compounds and advances in (CAFOE) on October 17–21 in Bei- has created serious challenges for metastable hydrides and chemical- jing and Changsha, China. The Chi- the development and implementa- regeneration methods. The fourth nese Academy of Engineering (CAE) tion of engineering processes and speaker described direct coal- was co-organizer of the event, which systems that protect public health. liquefaction and carbon dioxide- was supported by The Grainger The specific topics included: inte- abatement technologies in China. Foundation, Hunan University, and grated risk analysis for controlling Sustainable and Disaster‑Resilient Hunan Province. NAE member food safety; the application of risk Infrastructure Systems, the sub- Zhigang Suo, Allen E. and Marilyn assessment methodologies to food ject of the third session, included M. Puckett Professor of Mechan- safety, specifically dealing with talks on advances in new materi- ics and Materials, Harvard Univer- high degrees of uncertainty and crit- als, sensor technology, nanotech- sity, and Zhihua Zhong, president of ical gaps in knowledge; the analysis nology, and computer technology Hunan University, were co-chairs. of genetically modified organisms that make next-generation infra- Consistent with the tradition of in China; and practical constraints structure more robust, resilient, bilateral FOE symposia, CAFOE in the adoption of novel food safety and sustainable. Presentations brought together approximately 60 technologies. focused on (1) advanced materi- engineers, ages 30 to 45, from U.S. The focus of the second session, als, seismic response-modification and Chinese universities, compa- New Energy-Saving Technologies, devices, and state-of-the-art sen- nies, and government laboratories. was on sustainable energy. Fuel sors that improve seismic safety During the meeting, presentations cells, which can generate elec- and durability for highway bridges; were made on leading-edge devel- tricity with zero emissions, is an (2) the evaluation and mitigation opments in food safety, energy- important technology for a sustain- of recent disruptions in the Chi- saving technologies, sustainable able energy future. The first two nese electric power grid infrastruc- and disaster-resilient infrastructure speakers described recent develop- ture from earthquakes, wind storms, systems, and intelligent transporta- ments in solid-oxide fuel cells, par- and ice storms; (3) intelligent sen- tion systems. ticularly new electrolyte materials sors for mitigating natural hazards, Winter 2009 65

controlling energy use, and manag- Distinguished guests at the sym- at Yuelu Academy, founded in 976, ing assets in complex infrastructure posium included Chunxian Zhang, the forerunner of Hunan Univer- systems; and (4) the use of monitor- secretary of the Hunan Provincial sity; the State Key Laboratory of ing, evaluation, design, and control CPC Committee and director of the Advanced Design and Manufac- in designing infrastructure systems Standing Committee of the People’s turing for Vehicle Bodies; and the to resist earthquake and wind- Congress of Hunan Province, and State Key Laboratory of Chemo/ induced loading. Qian Zhou, governor of Hunan Biosensing and Chemo-metrics. The last session, Intelligent Trans- Province and vice secretary of the The dinner that followed was at the portation Systems (ITS), high- Hunan Provincial CPC Committee. West Lake, Xihulou, Restaurant, lighted efforts to add information Mr. Zhang welcomed participants reputed to be one of the largest res- and communications technology to to the symposium at the opening taurants in the world. transport infrastructure and vehicles ceremony, and Mr. Zhou addressed After the symposium ended, to improve transportation efficiency, the group at a banquet on the first attendees who were not scheduled reduce environmental impacts and evening. The dinner address that to leave until the following day vis- energy consumption, and improve evening by Dr. Baitao Sun, deputy ited the Hunan Provincial Museum, safety and comfort. Speakers director of the Institute of Engi- which has a collection of objects addressed several topics: improved neering Mechanics, China Earth- excavated from the Mawangdui signal processing and roadside quake Administration, was on the Han Tombs, as well as relics from computational equipment that can 2008 Sichuan earthquake and its several Chinese dynasties. This was improve tactical and strategic arte- implications for engineering. NAE followed by a visit to a shopping rial management and provide high- president Charles M. Vest and CAE area and a traditional Hunan din- quality traveler information; major president Kuangdi Xu were honor- ner at the Fire Palace. ITS developments in China, with a ary chairs of the symposium. CAFOE symposia will be held focus on technologies developed for Special events for the partici- every two years. The next meet- the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games; pants included a reception for U.S. ing will be at the National Acad- techniques for estimating U-turn attendees at the CAE headquar- emies Beckman Center in Irvine, capacity at medians; and consumer ters in Beijing where guests were California, in late March 2011. electronic devices carried by passen- treated to a magnificent banquet Zhigang Suo and Zhihua Zhong gers and vehicles (e.g., Bluetooth™ and tour of the new CAE building, will continue to serve as sympo- devices) to obtain high-fidelity travel- a thoroughly modern facility with sium co-chairs. time data on freeways, arterials, and elements of traditional Chinese For more information about airport security lines. design. The next day, the group CAFOE or the symposia series or to A poster session was held on the flew to Changsha in Hunan Prov- nominate an outstanding engineer first afternoon to give participants ince, the site of the meeting. On to participate in future Frontiers a chance to meet and talk in an the afternoon of the second day, meetings, contact Janet Hunziker at informal setting and to share infor- participants took a break from tech- the NAE Program Office at (202) mation about their research and nical sessions for a tour of Hunan 334-1571 or by e-mail at jhunziker@ technical work. University, which included stops nae.edu. The 66 BRIDGE

Mirzayan Technology and Policy Fellows

Carrie Brubaker David Lukofsky Zach Pirtle

Carrie Brubaker is a Ph.D. can- and the PGA Committee on Women David is working with the NAE didate in biomedical engineering at in Science, Engineering and Medi- Committee on U.S.-China Coopera- Northwestern University, where she cine. She is actively evaluating a tion on Electricity from Renewables recently completed her M.S. in the career in academia. and with the PGA Science and Tech- same field. She is conducting doctor- nology for Sustainability Program. David Lukofsky earned a Ph.D. in al research on the synthesis and char- engineering physics from the Thayer Zach Pirtle is completing his M.S. acterization of marine mussel-inspired School of Engineering at Dartmouth. in environmental engineering; he adhesive hydrogel materials and their As part of his dissertation, he col- has a B.S.E. in mechanical engineer- use in wound healing and surgical/ laborated with the Naval Research ing and a B.A. in philosophy from biomedical applications. In recog- Laboratory in Washington, D.C., to Arizona State University. His M.S. nition of her research program and develop a wireless, all-optical com- concentration is in earth systems graduate student leadership activities, munication link in water. For this engineering and management, and Carrie received a “50 for the Future” project, he drew on his undergradu- in his research he developed a robust- award from the Illinois Technology ate education in electrical engineer- ness analysis framework for evaluating Foundation in April 2009. ing and biomedical instrumentation, multi-model ensembles. Zach spent Prior to attending Northwest- for which he earned a degree in his the 2008–2009 academic year in ern, Carrie was employed by the native Canada at Dalhousie Univer- Mexico as a Fulbright-Garcia Robles Ministère de l’Education Nationale sity. David spent last summer report- Scholar studying the potential role of (France) as an English language ing on science and technology issues nanotechnology in furthering Mexi- teaching assistant. She graduated at an NPR-member station as part of co’s development goals and reducing Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA with a an AAAS Mass Media Fellowship. inequities. As an undergraduate, he B.S. in biochemistry and a B.A. in In the coming years he intends interned with the Consortium for French and Francophone studies. to continue communicating on sci- Science, Policy and Outcomes and As a former teacher, graduate stu- ence issues to a broad audience—to with Honeywell Aerospace. dent, and a woman in engineering, encourage the development of green At NAE, Zach is working for the she is interested in the processes by energy resources on both sides of Center for Engineering, Ethics, and which science and technology pol the U.S.-Canadian border. He is Society, which will give him an icy decisions impact various groups, fluent in English and French and is opportunity to apply and unify his both in the United States and inter- competent in Spanish. In his spare interests in engineering, philosophy, nationally. Carrie enjoys swimming, time, he likes to spend time snow- and science policy. He hopes to travel, French lit, and unique dining boarding with friends enjoying fresh work as an engineer and eventually experiences. New England and Canadian powder. earn a Ph.D. in the philosophy of During her fellowship, she is work- He is a fan of David Suzuki, David science. He enjoys racquetball and ing with the NAE program on diver- Attenborough, and Oprah Winfrey. travel and is proud to be a fourth- sity in the engineering workforce generation Arizonan. Winter 2009 67

17th News and Terrorism Workshop

Crisis” workshop on September 23 importance of the media having in Baltimore, Maryland. Conducted access to engineering and techni- by NAE in collaboration with DHS cal expertise. “When catastrophe and the Radio-Television Digital strikes or we have a terrorist attack, News Foundation, this was the 17th we turn to the media. We trust the in a series of interactive workshops media as our source [of information], on the effective communication of and all of a sudden you folks are information in a crisis—particularly really on the hot seat. . . . Suddenly, a crisis involving terrorism. you are in the position of having to Napolitano told the attendees, be an expert on things with a lot of “The plain fact of the matter is that science and technology at their root the media—and when I say the that you’ve not necessarily thought media, I mean all forms of media— about before.” hard print, television, radio, text, A mix of 111 journalists, govern- Janet Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department Twitter, etc.—can and need to be ment officials, public information of Homeland Security, and Charles M. Vest, NAE accurate sources of information so officers, private sector representa- president. that as rumors spread or conspiracy tives, and engineering, science, Janet Napolitano, secretary of theories arise . . . we can jointly and medical experts attended. The the U.S. Department of Homeland get accurate information out about event was moderated by former Security (DHS), addressed the par- what the risks really are.” CNN anchor Aaron Brown. ticipants at the NAE “News and In his opening remarks, NAE Terrorism: Communicating in a president Charles Vest noted the

The Irwin M. Jacobs Matching Gift Challenge

NAE’s discretionary financial mittees consider vital to the nation’s is to raise NAE’s baseline of annual resources ensure that advice on future. For example, two influential unrestricted support, broaden the national policy remains independent reports on fundamental issues, Ris- donor base, and encourage the par- and support our efforts to (1) increase ing Above the Gathering Storm and ticipation and engagement of NAE the number, quality, and diversity America’s Energy Future, were both members and friends. If all challenge of U.S. engineering graduates and funded this way. Discretionary funds funds are leveraged, the total could (2) rebuild our national capacity for also enable us to expand the dissemi- reach more than $1 million. 21st century innovation and global nation of our reports to include more Thanks to the generosity of Irwin competitiveness. To help us meet key stakeholders and lawmakers, and Joan Jacobs, and of all the these goals, Irwin and Joan Jacobs state and local communities, busi- donors who have taken advantage of have issued an ambitious challenge nesses, and academic institutions. their challenge so far, we are moving to the NAE community: a $500,000 From January 1, 2009, to Decem- closer to our goal. As of November 1, matching gift to encourage new and ber 31, 2009, Irwin and Joan Jacobs about 200 members had contributed increased support for NAE’s Inde- will match all new gifts to NAE more than $260,000. pendent Funds. Independent Funds and all increases To make a gift or for more infor- NAE Independent Funds give us in gifts (from 2008), dollar for dollar, mation, please visit www.nae.edu/ the flexibility to meet the immedi- up to $500,000. Pledges of $10,000 JacobsChallenge or contact Radka Z. ate and emerging needs of NAE or more that are fulfilled by Decem- Nebesky, senior director of develop- programs and enable us to initiate ber 31, 2010, will also be matched. ment, at 202/334-3417 or rnebesky@ projects that our members and com- The goal of the Jacobs’ challenge nae.edu. The 68 BRIDGE

NAE Calendar of Events

2010 February 9 –11 NAE Council Meeting March 6 –7 Engineering Toward a More Just January 4 2010 NAE Awards Irvine, California and Sustainable World Call for Nominations February 14 –20 Engineers Week Session at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics January 28 News and Terrorism Workshop February 16 NAE National Meeting Annual Meeting St. Louis, Missouri February 19 National Science Foundation and Cincinnati, Ohio February 5 Membership Policy Committee Ethics Education in Science and March 11–13 Indo-America Frontiers of Meeting Engineering Engineering Symposium Irvine, California San Francisco, California Agra, India February 8 The National Academies February 25 NAE Regional Meeting Corporation Board/Advisory University of Miami All meetings are held in Academies’ facilities in Washington, D.C., unless otherwise noted. Board Meetings March 4 NAE Regional Meeting Irvine, California For information about regional meetings, please Sun Microsystems/Tufts contact Sonja Atkinson at [email protected] or University (202) 334-3677. Boston, Massachusetts

In Memoriam

Alan G. Davenport, 76, to dislocation behavior of ceramics, Environmental Research Labora- Emeritus Professor and founding disclination behavior of polymers, tory, National Oceanic and Atmo- director, Boundary Layer Wind leadership in development and pro- spheric Administration; and retired Tunnel Lab, University of Western duction of metal glasses.” lecturer, University of Colorado, Ontario, died on July 19, 2009. Dr. died in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Davenport was elected a foreign William C. Goins Jr., 88, on August 9, 2009. Dr Hogg was associate of NAE in 1987 for “pio- retired senior vice president, elected to NAE in 1978 for “con- neering contributions to the design O’Brien-Goins-Simpson & Associ- tributions to the understanding of of wind sensitive structures, descrip- ates Inc., died on May 22, 2009. Mr. electromagnetic propagation at tion of the urban wind climate, and Goins was elected to NAE in 1990 microwave frequencies through the wind tunnel testing of structures.” in recognition of his “pioneering atmosphere.” contributions to blowout prevention Coleman duPont Don- leading to safe economical drilling Kenneth J. Ives, 82, Emeritus aldson, 86, independent consul- of high pressure oil-gas wells.” Professor of Civil and Environmen- tant, died on Friday, August 7, 2009. tal Engineering, University College Dr. Donaldson was elected to NAE Ira G. Hedrick, 94, retired London, died on September 8, 2009. in 1979 for “research on supersonic senior vice president, Grumman Dr. Ives was elected to NAE as a diffusers, viscous vortex motion and Corporation, died on January 14, foreign associate in 2003 for “con- turbulent transport phenomena, 2008. Mr. Hedrick was elected to tributions to the theory and prac- with application to solution of prac- NAE in 1974 for “contributions to tice of water-treatment technology tical engineering problems.” aerospace technology, particularly in throughout the world.” the area of structures and materials.” John J. Gilman, 83, research Henry R. Linden, 87, Max professor, University of California, David C. Hogg, 87, retired McGraw Professor of Energy and Los Angeles, died on September 10, head, Antenna and Propaga- Power Engineering and Manage- 2009. Dr. Gilman was elected to tion Research, AT&T Bell Labs; ment, Illinois Institute of Technol- NAE in 1975 for “contributions retired chief, Radio Met Research, ogy, died on September 13, 2009. Winter 2009 69

Dr. Linden was elected to NAE Washington, D.C., died on July 26, Lymon C. Reese, 92, Nasser I. in 1974 for “contributions to meth- 2009. Dr. Murray was elected to Al-Rashid Chair Emeritus, Depart- ods of fuel conversion and energy NAE in 1976 for “contributions ment of Civil Engineering, Univer- utilization.” to the understanding and engineer- sity of Texas, died on September ing application of materials in high- 14, 2009. Dr. Reese was elected Thomas L. Martin Jr., 88, flux radiation and high-temperature to NAE in 1975 for “contributions President Emeritus, Illinois Institute corrosion environments.” in geotechnical engineering and of Technology, died on October 8, education.” 2009. Dr. Martin was elected to Theodore H.H. Pian, 90, NAE in 1971 for “creative appli- Professor Emeritus of Aeronautics Robert J. Spinrad, 77, retired cation of modern communications and Astronautics, Massachusetts vice president, Technology Strategy, technology to advance engineering Institute of Technology, died on Xerox Corporation, died on Septem- education.” June 20, 2009. Dr. Pian was elected ber 2, 2009. Dr. Spinrad was elected to NAE in 1988 for “pioneering to NAE in 1993 for “contributions Peter Murray, 89, retired research and continued develop- to the application of computers to director, Nuclear Programs, West- ment of hybrid finite element meth- data acquisition, analysis, and con- inghouse Electric Corporation, ods for the analysis of structures.” trol for scientific experiments.” The 70 BRIDGE

Publications of Interest

The following reports have been Department of Energy, and National ANSER (Analytic Services Inc.); published recently by the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- Stephen W. Drew, Drew Solutions Academy of Engineering or the tion, as well a comprehensive review LLC; and Leslie Greengard, profes- National Research Council. Unless of the entire program. sor of mathematics and computer otherwise noted, all publications are NAE members on the study com- science and director, Courant Insti- for sale (prepaid) from the National mittee were Jacques S. Gansler tute of Mathematical Sciences, New Academies Press (NAP), 500 Fifth (chair), professor and Roger C. Lip- York University. Paper, $21.00. Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Wash- itz Chair in Public Policy and Private ington, DC 20055. For more infor- Enterprise, University of Maryland, Toward a Universal Radio Frequency mation or to place an order, contact College Park; Trevor O. Jones, System for Special Operations Forces. NAP online at chairman and CEO, ElectroSonics The U.S. Special Operations Com- or by phone at (888) 624-8373. Medical Inc; Duncan T. Moore, mand (SOCOM) was created in (Note: Prices quoted are subject to professor, Institute of Optics, Uni- aftermath of the failed attempt change without notice. Online orders versity of Rochester; and Charles in 1980 to rescue American hos- receive a 20 percent discount. Please R. Trimble, chairman, U.S. Global tages held by Iran. Special opera- add $4.50 for shipping and handling for Positioning System Industry Coun- tions forces (SOF) often operate the first book and $0.95 for each addi- cil. Hardcover, $90.25. alone in austere environments tional book. Add applicable sales tax or using only the equipment they can GST if you live in CA, DC, FL, MD, Avoiding Technology Surprise for Tomor- carry, which makes equipment size, MO, TX, or Canada.) row’s Warfighter: A Symposium Report. weight, and power needs especially On April 29, 2009, the National important. This report reviews An Assessment of the Small Business Research Council held a one-day the state of the art for both hand- Innovation Research Program at the symposium to investigate challenges held and man-packable, platform- Department of Defense. The SBIR confronting the scientific and tech- mounted radio-frequency systems program allocates 2.5 percent of 11 nical intelligence (S&TI) commu and determines which frequencies federal agencies’ extramural R&D nity and discuss potential solutions could be provided by handheld sys- budgets to fund R&D projects by for overcoming them. This report tems. The report committee also small businesses, providing approxi- captures comments and observations discusses whether or not a system mately $2 billion annually in com- by representatives of combatant com- that fulfills SOF’s unique require- petitive awards. At the request of mands and supporting government ments could be deployed within a Congress, the National Academies organizations, as well as symposium reasonable time. Several recom- conducted a comprehensive study participants. The group identified mendations are included to address of how well the SBIR program has concepts and trends for improving these and other issues. stimulated technological innovation the U.S. Department of Defense NAE members on the study com- and how well small businesses have technology warning capability. Top- mittee were Jacques S. Gansler met federal research and develop- ics included the globalization of sci- (chair), professor and Roger C. ment needs. Drawing substantially ence and technology, challenges to Lipitz Chair in Public Policy and on new data, this review focuses U.S. warfighters that could result Private Enterprise, University of on the SBIR program at the U.S. from technology surprise, examples Maryland, College Park; Alton D. Department of Defense and pro- of past technological surprises, and Romig Jr., executive vice president, vides recommendations for improve- the strengths and weaknesses of cur- deputy laboratory director, and chief ments. The review series includes rent S&TI analysis. operating officer, Sandia National separate reports of the SBIR program NAE members on the study com- Laboratories; Dwight C. Streit, at the National Science Foundation, mittee were Ruth A. David (chair), vice president, Northrop Grumman National Institutes of Health, U.S. president and chief executive officer, Space Technology; and David A. Winter 2009 71

Whelan, vice president, Deputy- chilled water required to heat and candid, sobering look at our current GM Phantom Works, and chief sci- cool historic buildings in Washing- state of preparedness for an IND and entist, Integrated Defense Systems, ton, D.C., and related equipment identifies several key focus areas for Boeing Company. Paper, $15.00. is generated and distributed by national efforts to improve the over- the Capitol Power Plant (CPP) all level of preparedness. Review of the DOE National Security District Energy System, portions NAE member James M. Tien, Labs’ Use of Archival Nuclear Test Data: of which are 50 to 100 years old Distinguished Professor and dean, Letter Report (QMU Phase II). In 2006, and require renewal. This report College of Engineering, University Congress and the National Nuclear provides comments on interim of Miami, was a member of the work- Security Administration of the U.S. consultant-generated options for shop committee. Paper, $54.75. Department of Energy requested an the delivery of utility services to evaluation of the quantification of the U.S. Capitol Complex, as well The Disposal of Activated Carbon from margins and uncertainties frame- as recommendations for realizing Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. At work used by the national secu- those options and suggestions for facilities where stockpiles of chemi- rity laboratories in support of their additional analyses. cal agents are being destroyed, activities related to stewardship of NAE members on the study effluent gas streams pass through the nuclear weapons stockpile. The committee were Steven J. Fenves large activated carbon filters before first part of the request resulted in (chair), University Professor Emeri- being vented to ensure that residual a full-length report, Evaluation of tus of Civil and Environmental trace vapors of chemical agents and Quantification of Margins and Uncer- Engineering, Carnegie Mellon Uni- other pollutants do not escape into tainties Methodology for Assessing and versity, and Roy Billinton, Emeritus the atmosphere in amounts that Certifying the Reliability of the Nuclear Professor, Department of Electrical exceed regulatory limits. All car- Stockpile. The present letter report, and Computer Engineering, Uni- bon will have to be disposed of for in fulfillment of the second part of versity of Saskatchewan, Canada. final closure of these facilities. In the request, provides a high-level Paper, $15.00. March 2008, the Chemical Mate- overview of how archival under- rials Agency asked the National ground nuclear test data are used in Assessing Medical Preparedness to Research Council to study, evaluate, the application of QMU, specifically Respond to a Terrorist Nuclear Event: and recommend the best methods for the evaluation of margins and Workshop Report. A nuclear attack of disposing of used carbon from the uncertainties in developing base- on a large U.S. city by terrorists— operational disposal facilities. This lining codes, informing annual assess- even with a low-yield improvised report includes descriptions and ments, assessing significant-finding nuclear device (IND) of 10 kilotons discussion of various approaches to investigations, and more. The study or less—would cause a large number handling carbon waste streams from committee’s analysis includes find- of deaths and severe injuries. The the four operating chemical agent ings and recommendations. large number of injured from the disposal facilities. The approach NAE members on the study com- detonation and radioactive fallout used at each facility must be chosen mittee were John F. Ahearne (chair), would overwhelm local emergency based on local regulatory practices, Executive Director Emeritus, Sigma response and health care systems, facility design and operations, and Xi, The Scientific Research Society; even assuming that these systems the characteristics of agent invento- B. John Garrick, independent con- and personnel were not themselves ries, as well as public involvement in sultant, Laguna Beach, California; incapacitated by the event. The decisions about facility operations. and Richard L. Garwin, IBM Fel- U.S. Department of Homeland NAE member Walter J. Weber low Emeritus, IBM Thomas J. Wat- Security recently contracted with Jr., Gordon M. Fair and Earnest son Research Center. Free PDF. the Institute of Medicine to hold a Boyce Distinguished University workshop, summarized in this vol- Professor, University of Michigan, Evaluation of Future Strategic and ume, to assess medical preparedness was a member of the study commit- Energy Efficient Options for the U.S. for a nuclear detonation of up to tee. Paper, $21.00. Capitol Power Plant. The steam and 10 kilotons. This report provides a

The Periodicals BRIDGE Postage Paid (USPS 551-240)

National Academy of Engineering 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20418