The Future of Engineering & Beyond

A new book release, focusing “on the new era of engineering and its implications for practitioners, business, and society overall,” was announced today.

Citizen Engineer: A Handbook for Socially Responsible Engineering, aims to help engineers, students and those in the profession, understand the broader implications of their role as engineers.

Learn more about the book and its authors in this news release.

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The LCROSS probe has completed its “crash” into the lunar south pole. Confirmation has been received from NASA and through images of the crash. Read article

The goal behind the strategic “bulldozing” was to try and find water on the moon. NASA has already announced that “in the third decade of this century, astronauts will be living and working on the Moon.”

To accomplish this feat NASA must determine ways of getting water to astronauts on the Moon. According to NASA, it currently costs “about $20,000 per kilogram” of water transported to the International Space Station.

In an effort to stimulate interest in the STEM disciplines and to get ideas for a water recycling system, NASA has introduced the Waste Limitation and Management of Resources Design Challenge.

The challenge is for teams of 5th to 8th graders to develop a system and proposal to the water management dilemma on the Moon. Read this news release for more information on the challenge

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As federal funding for hydrogen-powered electric cars diminishes, automakers are expressing plans to sell such cars in the next ten years.

Researchers and automakers are detailing advancements in the technology related to electric cars fueled by hydrogen. Citing these improvements in production and lower costs of production, automakers want to start selling these “zero-emission vehicles.”

“The advances that have been made by the automobile manufacturers are remarkable,” said Scott Samuelsen (CA A ’64), director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California Irvine.

With several automakers pushing for public sale of the hydrogen cars, Samuelsen says that the “infrastructure is the Achilles’ heel” of the industry. These cars would need a network of fueling stations similar to those used today for gasoline vehicles.

Germany and Japan are leading the way with growing networks of hydrogen fueling stations. Read full story

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