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