CERN Accelerating science

Grand challenges: Resources

  • US National Academy of Engineering:  Grand Challenges for Engineering: From urban centers to remote corners of Earth, the depths of the oceans to space, humanity has always sought to transcend barriers, overcome challenges, and create opportunities that improve life in our part of the universe. In the last century alone, many GREAT ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENTS became so commonplace that we now take them mostly for granted.  Technology allows an abundant supply of food and safe drinking water for much of the world.  We rely on electricity for many of our daily activities.  We can travel the globe with relative ease and bring goods and services wherever they are needed.  Growing computer and communications technologies are opening up vast stores of knowledge and entertainment. As remarkable as these engineering achievements are, certainly just as many more great challenges and opportunities remain to be realized.  While some seem clear, many others are indistinct and many more surely lie beyond most of our imaginations. With input from people around the world, an international group of leading technological thinkers were asked to identify the Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st century. Their 14 game-changing goals for improving life on the planet, announced in 2008, are outlined here. The committee suggested these Grand Challenges fall into four cross-cutting themes: SUSTAINABILITY, HEALTH, SECURITY, and JOY OF LIVING.  Specifically, these grand challenges are:

  1. Advance Personalized Learning
  2. Make Solar Energy Economical
  3. Enhance Virtual Reality
  4. Reverse Engineer the Brain
  5. Engineer Better Medicines
  6. Advance Health Informatics
  7. Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure
  8. Secure Cyberspace
  9. Provide Access to Clean Water
  10. Provide Energy from Fusion
  11. Prevent Nuclear Terror
  12. Manage the Nitrogen Cycle
  13. Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods
  14. Engineer the Tools of Scientific Discovery

 

  • US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges: ​Environmental engineers support the well-being of people and the planet in areas where the two intersect. Over the decades the field has improved countless lives through innovative systems for delivering water, treating waste, and preventing and remediating pollution in air, water, and soil. These achievements are a testament to the multidisciplinary, pragmatic, systems-oriented approach that characterizes environmental engineering. Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges outlines the crucial role for environmental engineers in this period of dramatic growth and change. The report identifies five pressing challenges of the 21st century that environmental engineers are uniquely poised to help advance: sustainably supply food, water, and energy; curb climate change and adapt to its impacts; design a future without pollution and waste; create efficient, healthy, resilient cities; and foster informed decisions and actions. The five Grand Challenges are:

  1. Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy
  2. Curb Climate Change and Adapt to Its Impacts
  3. Design a Future Without Pollution or Waste  
  4. Create Efficient, Healthy, Resilient Cities  
  5. Foster Informed Decisions and Actions