Forouzan GolshaniCollege of Engineering 

GRAND CHALLENGES FOR 

College of Engineering California State University – Long Beach

ENGINEERING

Grand Challenges for EngineeringGrand Challenges for Engineering

Make solar energy  Engineer better medicinesMake solar energy economicalProvide energy from fusion

Engineer better medicinesReverse‐engineer the brain

Develop carbon sequestration methodsManage the nitrogen cycle

Prevent nuclear terrorSecure cyberspaceE h   i t l  litManage the nitrogen cycle

Provide access to clean water

Enhance virtual realityAdvance personalized learning

Restore and improve urban infrastructureAdvance health informatics

Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

Advance health informatics

Must read ...  Must read ...  

http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx

“Changing the conversations”Changing the conversations

E i i  i   i l   Engineering is essential to ourhealth,  h i   d happiness, and safety

Make solar energy economicalMake solar energy economical

Sun shine: 10,000 times more energy more energy than all the energy humans are 

lcurrently producing commercially on the planet.p

Improving solar efficiencyImproving solar efficiency

In Spring, 2008, Sandia National Lab and Stirling Energy Systems set new world record for solar‐to‐grid conversion efficiency  ….  of 31.25%. 

Source: Sandia National Laboratory (Photo by Randy Montoya)

Solar FarmsSolar FarmsParabolic mirrors focus the sun’s 

     energy on a small area, generating heat, which can then be converted to electricity. Large scale solar tro ghs  like troughs, like these in California, have tremendous commercial energy potential.

Source: Sandia Source: Sandia National Laboratory

Provide energy from fusionProvide energy from fusion

Fusion is the energy of the stars. Enormous heat and gravitational pressure compress the nuclei of certain atoms together to form heavier nuclei. 

In the process, a tiny t  f   i  amount of mass is 

transformed into energy. 

Fusion ReactionFusion ReactionUnder high pressure andat high temperature twoat high temperature twoisotopes of hydrogen,deuterium and tritium,f t th t ffuse together to form ahelium atom and freeneutron. The neutron canbe combined with lithiumto produce more tritium.

There is 300 times more potential energy in a glass of seawater than the equivalent volume of gasoline!Deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, occurs naturally in the ocean and is a key fuel for nuclear fusion reactors.

Fusion for space travelFusion for space travel

The Boussard Interstellar Ramjet engine:  Ionize hydrogen which is in the environment and collect it in an l f ld b delectromagentic field. An onboard 

laser heats the plasma and triggers fusion pulses creating propulsionpropulsion.

Source:NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA‐MSFC)

Develop carbon sequestration Develop carbon sequestration methods

Capturing the carbon dioxide prod ced b b rning fossil f els andproduced by burning fossil fuels and storing it safely away from the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide sources, capture, transport, and storage.

Industrial uses, costs and potential, and environmental implications for captured carbon dioxide.

Pumping it underPumping it under

T h l i t CO2Technologies to pump CO2 captured from the atmosphere under the ocean floor for long-term storage. g g

“Seed" the oceans to take up more carbon from the atmosphere.

Manage the nitrogen cycleManage the nitrogen cycle

Microbes near plant Microbes near plant roots convert nitrogen from the environment into the forms that plants can use as nutrients in a process called fixation. Fertilizers fixation. Fertilizers deliver nitrogen to plants in a ready‐to‐use form, increasing l t  thplant growth.

The green revolution

Manage the nitrogen cycleManage the nitrogen cycle

Excess nitrogen in runoff into the 

Mississippi River causes explosive growth of algae in the Gulf of 

Mexico. The bacteria that decompose the that decompose the 

algae use all the oxygen in the water creating a 

"dead zone".S G l SSource: Liam Gumley, Space 

Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin‐Madison

Dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico

Manage the nitrogen cycleManage the nitrogen cycleImproved fertilizer delivery: Find new ways to delivery: Find new ways to deliver nitrogen to plants in more sustainable ways. Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment can help (GPS) equipment can help in precisely applying fertilizer to areas that need it, limiting nitrogen runoff.Improved handling of animal waste: Find better ways of storing and recycling animal wastes in recycling animal wastes in ways that will reduce excess nitrogen in the environment.    

A farmer checks the operation of his lagoon pump. 

Source:USDA Photo by: Ken Hammond

Provide access to clean waterProvide access to clean water

1.1 billion people lack proper p p p pdrinking water………

I d l i t i i ltIn developing countries, agriculture irrigation often exceeds 80% of total water use.

About 2 % of the planet's water is fresh, but more than ¾ of the planet's water is locked up in the polar icewater is locked up in the polar ice caps and glaciers.

Fresh WaterFresh Water

About 2 % of the planet's water is fresh, but more than ¾ of the planet's water is locked up in the polar ice caps and glaciers.

Restore and improve urban Restore and improve urban infrastructure

By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will liveworld s population will live

in an urban area.

E i ill b f dEngineers will be faced with challenges related to

energy, transportation, water provision, wastewater provision, waste

management, and other critical support systems.

Advance health informaticsAdvance health informatics

Ability to access, analyze and integrate vast database thatintegrate vast database that contains hundreds of thousands of interrelated data.

Engineer better medicinesEngineer better medicines

The key is in the code

Personalized di i  i  th  

y

medicine is the desired result of combining genetic information with clinical data to optimally tailor drugs and doses to meet the unique needs of an unique needs of an individual patient.

Engineer better medicinesEngineer better medicinesDeveloping better systems to rapidly assess a patient’s genetic profile and managing massive amounts of data on individual patients are two key engineering challenges to massive amounts of data on individual patients are two key engineering challenges to making personalized medicine a reality.

Engineer better medicinesEngineer better medicines

Robots help stroke survivors retrain their muscles to perform basic tasks  As the patient's movements improve  perform basic tasks. As the patient s movements improve, the robot adjusts the assistance it delivers.

Engineer better medicinesEngineer better medicines

Ti   i d Tissue engineered cartilage is produced using a biodegradable nanofibrous scaffold seeded with adult human stem cells. The scaffold degrades over time to allow the over time to allow the seeded cells to give rise to new, functional tissue.

Source:National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Di  Rh d  B  Diseases, Rhoda Baer 

Synthetic tissues

Engineer better medicinesEngineer better medicines

2006 Stats:

3.6 billion prescriptions 

At a cost of $240 billion

Personalized medicine promises to reduce the number of drugs gprescribed incorrectly or unnecessarily

Engineer better medicinesEngineer better medicines

Engineering will develop more effective tools Engineering will develop more effective tools and techniques for rapid analysis and diagnosis so that a variety of drugs can be quickly screened and proper treatments can be promptly applied.

Reverse‐engineer the brainReverse engineer the brain

Artificial Intelligence and thinking machines, combined with medicalcombined with medical imaging and nanotechnology

Nanotube technology may help in the development of new treatments that would require only minimally invasive procedures no matter the location of the brain tumor.no matter the location of the brain tumor.

Reengineering the brain Reengineering the brain 

MRIs from 20 normal people were combined topeople were combined to create this image that indicates areas with different degrees of

i i Thi d h lvariation. This data helps scientists to identify abnormal brain loss, such as that seen insuch as that seen in Alzheimer's disease.

Enhance Virtual RealityEnhance Virtual Reality

Going beyond entertainment

and “toy” applicationsapplications

A veteran using a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment software programtreatment software program

Prevent nuclear terrorPrevent nuclear terror

A suitcase bomb could produce a fireball the size of this one from a March 12, 1955 nuclear experiment in Nevada. An explosion of this size could kill tens of thousands if it occurred in a large city.

Source:National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office

Port SecurityPort Security

Monitoring Monitoring Portals for the ports of Long Beach and Los 

Angeles require  developing 

better sensors to d fidentify 

radiological or nuclear material 

that could be that could be used as nuclear or dirty bombs.

Buying time in disastersBuying time in disastersReal-life disasters (including(including biological, radiological, natural and other t ) lt itypes) result in, or involve, interactions among a range of physical g p yphenomena involving a variety of mechanical, chemical thermalchemical, thermal, electromagnetic, viscous, and turbulent processes.

Advance personalized learningAdvance personalized learningClassrooms of the past:  One‐room school houses

Advance personalized learningAdvance personalized learning

Classrooms of the future

Classrooms of the future may the future may 

be more like the one‐room 

schools of the past, except 

computers with sophisticated 

learning gsoftware would take the place of 

texts and kb kworkbooks.

Engineer the tools of Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

An Interactive visualization of a synthetic flow field