21st Century Engineering Challenges with Open Source

The National Academy of Engineering, of the United States, has described a list of the grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century (http://imechanica.org/node/2908). These are reorganized into Stream specific challenges. Let the collaborative effort start idea storming, data banking, discussions. One decade of the century is already and we need to move fast.

=Civil Engineering and Architecture, Social Science=

Providing access to clean water
How do you address the short supply of water for personal use and irrigation in many areas of the world?
 * The cities are drinking recycled Water.
 * Rain Harvesting is being done.
 * New Dams, Water Storage
 * How to use Ocean Water, water in glaciers

Restoring and improving urban infrastructure
How do you renew aging infrastructure while bringing cities into better ecological balance?
 * Mega cities overloaded with people
 * Rural to Urban Migration
 * Are there planned cities?

=Physics,Electrical and Electronics Engineering=

Making solar energy affordable
How do you convert and store the power of sunshine at a cost competitive with fossil fuels?
 * Need to tap Wind Energy
 * Need to tap Solar energy
 * Need efficient low power lighting devices

Providing energy from fusion
How do you sustain a controlled fusion reaction for commercial power generation?

Engineering the tools for scientific discovery
How do you improve our methods for exploring the frontiers of life, the atom and the cosmos?
 * Collaborative Research
 * Creation of Body of Knowledge
 * Use of Knowledge for efficient, cost effective life

=Preventing nuclear terror= How do you head off threats from agents who are bent upon bringing ruin to industrial society?
 * A deterrent moral and value driven security
 * Efficient methods to deter threats

=Information Technology, Computing Sciences, Mathematics=

Enhancing virtual reality
How do you use computer technology to create imaginative environments for education and entertainment?

Advancing personalized learning
How do you move from a "one-size-fits-all" style of education to more engaging, computer-enhanced teaching techniques?

Securing cyberspace
How do you protect the global information infrastructure from identity theft, viruses and other threats without bogging down the flow of data?

=Chemical Engineering Chemistry=

Developing carbon sequestration methods
How do you capture the carbon dioxide produced from fossil-fuel burning, and confine that excess carbon underground? Also conversion of Carbon dioxide to useful chemicals?

Managing the nitrogen cycle
How do you develop countermeasures for fertilizer use, and other activities that contribute to pollution?

=Health Engineering, Medical Sciences=

Advancing health informatics
How do you identify the specific factors behind wellness and illness, and follow through on the promise of personalized medicine?
 * Public Health
 * Epidemic Control
 * Health Databases
 * Efficient Medical Establishments for better reach

Engineering better medicines
How do you find new treatments for age-old scourges as well as newly emerging diseases?
 * Cheaper Medicines
 * Convergences with alternative medical science
 * Efficient Public Health strategies

Reverse-engineering the brain
How do you unlock the secrets of brain function, to heal human diseases and advance the field of artificial intelligence?
 * Research