The Future of Engineering

Taking lessons from engineering disasters is the subject of a recent article in The New York Times.

Taking a look back at the innovation that follows disasters. “It’s (disaster) a great source of knowledge – and humbling, too – sometimes that’s necessary,” said Dr. Henry Petroski, P.E. (NY X ’63), a historian of engineering at Duke University.

In the wake of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it is expected that deepwater oil drilling will need to “improve complex gear and procedures.” David Fowler, Ph.D. (TX A ’60), says “The industry know it can’t have that happen again. It’s going to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.”
Read more here

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In the July 16 issue of Science Magazine, a professor from the University of Virginia details his research on measuring student achievement in STEM fields.

His work is focused on answering the question, “what does it mean to be an expert in science, technology, engineering, and math?” Read the full article from The News Leader (VA) to read about his recommendations for “widening the pipeline of (STEM) students.”

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In a recent article from The New York Times, a bill put together by the House committee for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is compared with the version of the bill in the Senate.

The House bill provides considerably less direct financing for “investing in companies to develop a space taxi service…” Bretton Alexander (VA A ’89), president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, says the the draft House bill was “completely unexecutable” and would leave the United States dependent on Russia for transportation to orbit.

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