Annual Report

2009 Annual Report NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING ENGINEERING THE FUTURE 1 Letter from the President 3 In Service to the Nation 3 Mission Statement 4 Program Reports 4 Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education 5 Technological Literacy 5 Public Understanding of Engineering Implementing Effective Messages Media Relations Public Relations Grand Challenges for Engineering 8 Center for Engineering, Ethics, and Society 8 Diversity in the Engineering Workforce Engineer Girl! Website Engineer Your Life Project 10 Frontiers of Engineering Armstrong Endowment for Young Engineers- Gilbreth Lectures 12 Technology for a Quieter America 12 Technology, Science, and Peacebuilding 13 Engineering and Health 14 Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology 15 America’s Energy Future: Technology Opportunities, Risks and Tradeoffs 15 U.S.-Chinese Cooperation on Electricity from Renewables 17 Gathering Storm Still Frames the Policy Debate 18 Rebuilding a Real Economy: Unleashing Engineering Innovation 20 2009 NAE Awards Recipients 22 2009 New Members and Foreign Associates 24 NAE Anniversary Members 28 2009 Private Contributions 28 Einstein Society 28 Heritage Society 29 Golden Bridge Society 30 The Presidents’ Circle 30 Catalyst Society 31 Rosette Society 31 Challenge Society 31 Charter Society 33 Other Individual Donors 35 Foundations, Corporations, and Other Organizations 37 National Academy of Engineering Fund Financial Report 39 Report of Independent Certified Public Accountants 43 Notes to Financial Statements 57 Officers 57 Councillors 58 Staff 58 NAE Publications Letter from the President The United States is slowly emerging from the most serious economic cri- sis in recent memory. To set a sound course for the 21st century, we must now turn our attention to unleashing technological innovation to create products and services that add actual value. As a nation we must refocus on the real economy, which will require a reenergized innovation system to generate new knowledge and technology and move them successfully to the competitive world marketplace. We must become more productive and efficient at the things we already do well, and in addition create new industries and transform others. To sustain our economic vitality and quality of life, we must address the difficult problems of energy, the environment, infrastructure, security, and health care delivery. Our innovation system Charles M. Vest itself must evolve to meet these large-scale challenges. The Forum at the NAE Annual Meeting in October 2009 addressed these issues (see www.nap.edu/catalog. php?record_id=12851). The work of NAE and the National Academies can be leveraged by individuals and private groups, as well as by the federal government. The Academies’ report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, defined the federal investments and policy changes necessary to generate new businesses and industries and to prepare workers to fill the jobs they create. The NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering (see www.engineeringchallenges.org) and the Academies’ America’s Energy Future report set the stage. We must now focus on execution. I believe there are three essential components of any reasonable strategy for moving forward: devel- oping brainpower, unleashing innovation, and grappling with scale. Our fundamental task must be to increase the number of U.S. citizens entering STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields of study. This will require inspira- tion and improved education. We must inspire the next generation to contribute to a better world and a stronger economy through engineering and science; and we must become serious about improving our public K-12 education so students will be prepared to do that. In September 2009, NAE released, Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects, a report that addresses many of these issues. The Grand Challenges for Engineering report is proving to be an effective organizing frame- work for inspiring the next generation. Several engineering deans and university presidents have developed and adopted an agenda for inspiring and exciting students to take on the global challenges of the 21st century. Six coordinated summits will be held in different parts of the country in early 2010. Each will bring students, faculty, and leaders of industry and government together to focus on two or three of the NAE Grand Challenges. With leadership from Duke, USC, and Olin College, a national movement is afoot to establish a program of Grand Challenge Scholars among engineering undergraduates to encourage research, study, and experiential learning related to the Grand Challenges. In addition, undergraduate project courses, and even reorganizations of curricula, will build on our Grand Challenges report. Rising Above the Gathering Storm recommended bringing to a national scale a program that provides modest financial incentives for teachers who qualify to teach science and math at the advanced placement (AP) level and for students who pass AP subjects in math, 1 science, and English. In 2009, the private sector National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) AP Program resulted in a marked increase in the number of exams taken and passed by AP students. NMSI’s second component, UTEACH aspires to meet the Gathering Storm goal of graduating 10,000 K-12 teachers who are appropriately educated in the disciplines they teach. We will need transformative breakthroughs to address many if not most of the Grand Challenges. Macro-scale systems challenges, especially energy, will drive innovation in the coming decade. Innovations in higher education will be necessary to cross-educate students in emerging disciplines, such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology, and to prepare them to attack the great challenges of our times. To further these objectives, NAE held the inaugural Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) meeting in the DC area, chaired by NAE member, Ed Crawley from MIT. The FOEE symposium, generously supported by the O’Donnell Foundation, was designed to promote innovative approaches to engineering education among young faculty. Efficient, low-cost manufacturing is an essential element in the deployment of batteries, solar cells, and other green technologies. Many thinkers, including a number of NAE members, believe we must find a new manufacturing paradigm, perhaps based on emerging advances in robotics and the biological synthesis of materials and devices, fields in which we might establish a lead. NAE continues to engage in activities that support our mission of building and enhancing relationships with engineering communities worldwide and providing a global perspec- tive to relevant NAE and NRC studies. In 2009, we continued our bilateral Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) programs with Germany and Japan, held our first FOE program with China, in Changsha, China, and negotiated an agreement with Euro-CASE, the European Council of Academies of Science and Engineering, to inaugurate an EU-US FOE program, for which the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK will be the lead European academy. The German Leopoldina held a joint symposium with NAE, NAS, and IOM called “Technologically Modified Environment: Environmentally Modified Technology.” To encourage donations to NAE for discretionary purposes, Joan and Irwin Jacobs put forth a very generous and successful matching gift challenge for new and increased gifts to NAE in 2009. This annual report lists members and friends whose generous contributions are helping NAE to continue to make meaningful contributions to the well-being of the nation. We are deeply grateful for their support. The pages that follow provide details on the scope and depth of NAE work performed in 2009. These activities have been conceived and executed to pursue our goal of providing objective, independent advice to the federal government and the engineering community and to proactively promote the technological welfare of the nation. Thank you. Charles M. Vest President 2 NAE 2009 In Service to the Nation Every day our nation faces questions related to engineering and technology. How can we keep our nation safe from terrorism? How can we increase diversity in the engineering workforce? What role should citizens play in decisions about technology development? How can we help journalists and others in the media provide accurate, timely information on engineering and technology? As we advance technologically and become more involved in the global community, answering these questions becomes increasingly difficult. Since 1964, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has provided independent, objective advice to the nation on engineering-related topics and policies. NAE operates under the same congressional act of incorporation that established the National Academy of Sciences, signed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, to respond “whenever called upon by any department or agency of the government, to investigate, examine, experi- ment, and report upon any subject of science or art.” NAE has more than 2,395 peer-elected members and foreign associates, approximately 50 percent from academia, 43 percent from industry, and 7 percent from nonprofit insti- tutions and government. NAE members are leaders in bioengineering, computer science, electronics, aerospace, earth resources, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chem- ical engineering, industrial engineering, materials engineering, and interdisciplinary

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