Tag Archives: engineering

Take 5: Top 5 Books on Engineering

The scientists and engineers on your list may not always be the easiest people to shop for during the holidays. It should come as no surprise that we have recommendations. Take five and finish your holiday shopping with our most-recommended books for the engineer in your life.

Changing the Conversation Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering

Can the United States continue to lead the world in innovation? The answer may hinge in part on how well the public understands engineering, a key component of the “innovation engine.” A related concern is how to encourage young…
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America's Energy Future America’s Energy Future: Technology and Transformation: Summary Edition

Energy production and use touch our lives in countless ways. We are reminded of the cost of energy every time we fill up at the gas pump, pay an electricity bill, or purchase an airline ticket. Energy use also has important indirect impacts, not all of which…
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Technology for a Quieter America Technology for a Quieter America

Exposure to noise at home, at work, while traveling, and during leisure activities is a fact of life for all Americans. At times noise can be loud enough to damage hearing, and at lower levels it can disrupt normal living, affect sleep patterns, affect our…
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The Engineer of 2020 The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century

To enhance the nation s economic productivity and improve the quality of life worldwide, engineering education in the United States must anticipate and adapt to the dramatic changes of engineering practice. The Engineer of 2020 urges the engineering profession to recognize what engineers…
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Educating the Engineer of 2020 Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Phase I in the Engineer of 2020 project, Visions of Engineering in the New Century, described a set of attributes that are expected to be necessary for engineers that will perform well in a world that is driven by rapid technological advancement…
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Future Trends for Doctorate Degree Programs

On September 14th, a Council of Graduate Schools report found that for the 2008-2009 academic year, women earned a majority of doctorate degrees. While women have been earning the majority of master’s degrees, this was the first year that women took the lead in doctorate degrees as well.

Yesterday, the National Academies released A Data-Based Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs in the United States. This report assesses U.S. research doctorate programs, ranking academic programs in 62 major fields based on a variety of characteristics, including measures of faculty diversity.

Earlier this year, the National Academies published Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Faculty. Using original data from surveys of faculty at major U.S. research universities, Gender Differences paints a picture of the status of female faculty.

Links to more information about these and other National Academies reports that may also interest you are listed below.

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty presents new and surprising findings about career differences between female and male full-time, tenure-track, and tenured faculty in science, engineering, and mathematics at the nation’s top …
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A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States

A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States provides an unparalleled dataset that can be used to assess the quality and effectiveness of doctoral programs based on measures important to faculty, students, administrators, funders, and other stakeholders…
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To Recruit and Advance To Recruit and Advance: Women Students and Faculty in Science and Engineering

Although more women than men participate in higher education in the United States, the same is not true when it comes to pursuing careers in science and engineering. To Recruit and Advance: Women Students and Faculty in Science and Engineering identifies and…
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Beyond Bias and Barriers Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering

The United States economy relies on the productivity, entrepreneurship, and creativity of its people. To maintain its scientific and engineering leadership amid increasing economic and educational globalization, the United States must aggressively pursue the…
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Educating the Engineer of 2020 Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Phase I in the Engineer of 2020 project, Visions of Engineering in the New Century, described a set of
attributes that are expected to be necessary for engineers that will perform well in a world that is driven by rapid
technological advancement,…
Details
In the Nation's Compelling Interest In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce

The United States is rapidly transforming into one of the most racially and ethnically diverse nations in the world. Groups commonly referred to as minorities–including Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and…
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Bridges to Independence Bridges to Independence: Fostering the Independence of New Investigators in Biomedical Research

A rising median age at which PhDs receive their first research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is among the factors forcing academic biomedical researchers to spend longer periods of time before they can set their own research directions and…
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Six New Books: Health Care, Science Careers, and more…

There are six new books to the NAP website, all of which are final versions. Frequent readers of Notes From NAP may notice that the titles usually have “(final)” or “(prepublication)” after the title. We often release “prepublication” versions, which are uncorrected proofs of the books in order to get the research to the public more quickly, and then release the final versions. Because many people wait for the final version to purchase the books, we like to give notices of both the prepublication and the final version. So if you’ve been wondering what those qualifiers are, wonder no more!

Featured Publication

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty (final)

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty presents new and surprising findings about career differences between female and male full-time, tenure-track, and tenured faculty in science, engineering, and mathematics at the nation’s top research universities. Much of this congressionally mandated book is based on two unique surveys of faculty and departments at major U.S. research universities in six fields: biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, and physics. A departmental survey collected information on departmental policies, recent tenure and promotion cases, and recent hires in almost 500 departments. A faculty survey gathered information from a stratified, random sample of about 1,800 faculty on demographic characteristics, employment experiences, the allocation of institutional resources such as laboratory space, professional activities, and scholarly productivity.

This book paints a timely picture of the status of female faculty at top universities, clarifies whether male and female faculty have similar opportunities to advance and succeed in academia, challenges some commonly held views, and poses several questions still in need of answers. This book will be of special interest to university administrators and faculty, graduate students, policy makers, professional and academic societies, federal funding agencies, and others concerned with the vitality of the U.S. research base and economy.

All New Publications This Week

Report of the Treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences: For the Year Ended December 31, 2009 (final)

Toxicity Pathway-Based Risk Assessment: Preparing for Paradigm Change: A Symposium Summary (final)

Leadership Commitments to Improve Value in Healthcare: Toward Common Ground: Workshop Summary (final)

Engineering, Social Justice, and Sustainable Community Development: Summary of a Workshop (final)

Review of the WATERS Network Science Plan (final)

Seven New Books: Genetically Engineered Crops, Healthcare Quality, and more

Last week saw seven new books, including books in the topics of agriculture; construction: design, research, planning; health and medicine; and behavioral and social sciences. Five of the seven books also have free PDFs available to download.

Featured Publication

Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States (prepublication)

Since genetically engineered (GE) crops were introduced in 1996, their use in the United States has grown rapidly, accounting for 80-90 percent of soybean, corn, and cotton acreage in 2009. To date, crops with traits that provide resistance to some herbicides and to specific insect pests have benefited adopting farmers by reducing crop losses to insect damage, by increasing flexibility in time management, and by facilitating the use of more environmentally friendly pesticides and tillage practices. However, excessive reliance on a single technology combined with a lack of diverse farming practices could undermine the economic and environmental gains from these GE crops. Other challenges could hinder the application of the technology to a broader spectrum of crops and uses.

Several reports from the National Research Council have addressed the effects of GE crops on the environment and on human health. However, The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States is the first comprehensive assessment of the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the GE-crop revolution on U.S. farms. It addresses how GE crops have affected U.S. farmers, both adopters and nonadopters of the technology, their incomes, agronomic practices, production decisions, environmental resources, and personal well-being. The book offers several new findings and four recommendations that could be useful to farmers, industry, science organizations, policy makers, and others in government agencies.

All New Publications This Week

Engineering, Social Justice, and Sustainable Community Development: Summary of a Workshop (prepublication)

A National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century: Reinvigorating the NCI Cooperative Group Program (prepublication)

Future Directions for the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports (prepublication)

A Summary of the October 2009 Forum on the Future of Nursing: Acute Care (final)

Strategic Planning for the Florida Citrus Industry: Addressing Citrus Greening (final)

Student Mobility: Exploring the Impact of Frequent Moves on Achievement: Summary of a Workshop (final)

Nine new books: emergency care, obesity prevention, engineering innovation, and more

Nine new publications—both pre-publications and final versions—hit the website last week, and as usual, we’re rounding them up here. Stay tuned to Notes From NAP. In the next few weeks, we’ll be writing about some of our most popular publications in addition to these weekly lists of what’s new.

Featured Publication

Regionalizing Emergency Care: Workshop Summary (prepublication)

During medical emergencies, hospital staff and emergency medical services (EMS) providers, can face barriers in delivering the fastest and best possible care. Overcrowded emergency rooms cannot care for patients as quickly as necessary, and some may divert ambulances and turn away new patients outright. In many states, ambulance staff lacks the means to determine which hospitals can provide the best care to a patient. Given this absence of knowledge, they bring patients to the closest hospital. In addition, because emergency service providers from different companies compete with each other for patients, and emergency care legislation varies from state to state, it is difficult to establish the necessary local, interstate, and national communication and collaboration to create a more efficient system.

In 2006, the IOM recommended that the federal government implement a regionalized emergency care system to improve cooperation and overcome these challenges. In a regionalized system, local hospitals and EMS providers would coordinate their efforts so that patients would be brought to hospitals based on the hospitals’ capacity and expertise to best meet patients’ needs. In September 2009, three years after making these recommendations, the IOM held a workshop sponsored by the federal Emergency Care Coordination Center to assess the nation’s progress toward regionalizing emergency care. The workshop brought together policymakers and stakeholders, including nurses, EMS personnel, hospital administrators, and others involved in emergency care. Participants identified successes and shortcomings in previous regionalization efforts; examined the many factors involved in successfully implementing regionalization; and discussed future challenges to regionalizing emergency care. This document summarizes the workshop.

See the rest of this week’s new publications

New Publications: Near-Earth Objects, Engineering, Zoonotic Diseases and More

Happy new year! Things have been a little bit quiet around here with the winter holidays, so we’re listing out all the new publications for the last three weeks in one fell swoop to get the year started with a bang.

Also, don’t forget to check out the YouTube video that accompanies Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Disease.

Featured Publication

Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies: Interim Report (final)

The United States is currently the only country with an active, government-sponsored effort to detect and track potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs). Congress has mandated that NASA detect and track 90 percent of NEOs that are 1 kilometer in diameter or larger. These objects represent a great potential hazard to life on Earth and could cause global destruction. NASA is close to accomplishing this goal. Congress has more recently mandated that by 2020 NASA should detect and track 90 percent of NEOs that are 140 meters in diameter or larger, a category of objects that is generally recognized to represent a very significant threat to life on Earth if they strike in or near urban areas. Achieving this goal may require the building of one or more additional observatories, possibly including a space-based observatory.

Congress directed NASA to ask the National Research Council to review NASA’s near-Earth object programs. This interim report addresses some of the issues associated with the survey and detection of NEOs. The final report will contain findings and recommendations for survey and detection, characterization, and mitigation of near-Earth objects based on an integrated assessment of the problem.

All New Publications, 12/21/09 – 01/08/09

Phase I Report on Review of the Testing of Body Armor Materials for Use by the U.S. Army: Letter Report (final)

Information Assurance for Network-Centric Naval Forces (prepublication)

Engineering Curricula: Understanding the Design Space and Exploiting the Opportunities: Summary of a Workshop (final)

The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009-H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic: Global Challenges, Global Solutions: Workshop Summary (prepublication)

Liquid Transportation Fuels from Coal and Biomass: Technological Status, Costs, and Environmental Impacts (final)

Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases (final)

Intangible Assets: Measuring and Enhancing Their Contribution to Corporate Value and Economic Growth: Summary of a Workshop (final)

Evaluation of NSF’s Program of Grants and Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE) (final)

An Assessment of NASA’s National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (final)