by Dale Baker
Industrial Engineering: http://www.iienet2.org/Default.aspx
Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE)
IIE is the world’s largest professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity. IIE is an international, nonprofit association that provides leadership for the application, education, training, research, and development of industrial engineering. IIE’s primary mission is to meet the ever-changing needs of industrial engineers, which includes undergraduate and graduate students, engineering practitioners and consultants in all industries, engineering managers, and engineers in education, research, and government.
Marine Engineering:
http://www.sname.org/
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
SNAME is an internationally recognized nonprofit, technical, professional society of individual members serving the maritime and offshore industries and their suppliers. SNAME is dedicated to advancing the art, science, and practice of naval architecture, shipbuilding, and marine engineering, encouraging the exchange and recording of information, sponsoring applied research, offering career guidance and supporting education, and enhancing the professional status and integrity of its membership.
Mechanical Engineering:
http://www.asme.org/
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Today’s ASME promotes the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe. ASME codes and standards strive to be the world leader in mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering codes, standards, conformity assessment programs, and related products and services.
Mining Engineering:
http://www.aimeny.org/
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME)
The goal of AIME today is to advance the knowledge of engineering and the arts and sciences involved in the production and use of minerals, metals, materials, and energy resources, while disseminating significant developments in these areas of technology.
Nuclear Engineering:
http://www.ans.org/
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
ANS is a not-for-profit, international, scientific and educational organization. The core purpose of ANS is to promote the awareness and understanding of the application of nuclear science and technology.
Petroleum Engineering:
http://www.spe.org
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
The mission of SPE is to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence. The vision is to be a society of professional excellence, providing its members the highest quality lifelong learning, and continuous personal and professional growth.
Systems Engineering:
http://www.incose.org/
International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)
INCOSE is a not-for-profit membership organization.. Its mission is to advance the state-of-the-art and practice of systems engineering in industry, academia, and government by promoting interdisciplinary, scaleable approaches to produce technologically appropriate solutions that meet societal needs.
Instructor Supplemental Resources
Standards
ASEE Draft Engineering Standards. This chapter is focused on “Dimension 3: The Nature of Engineering” of the ASEE Corporate Members Council Draft Engineering Standards; these draft standards will serve as input to the National Academy of Engineering process of considering engineering standards for K-12 education. This dimension includes the following outcomes:
Students will develop an understanding of the characteristics and broad scope of engineering.
Students will be able to be creative and innovative in their thought process and actions.
Massachusetts State Technology/Engineering High School Standards This chapter addresses standard 1.2: “Understand that the engineering design process is used in the solution of problems and the advancement of society. Identify examples of technologies, objects, and processes that have been modified to advance society, and explain why and how they were modified.”
Common Preconceptions
The following are common student preconceptions about engineering:
Students have little to no knowledge about what engineers do, or the range of engineering careers open to them.
Students rarely know anyone who is an engineer unless that person is a relative.
Student typically view engineering as limited to planning, designing, building, fixing and repairing things. Engineers are typically perceived as male, but rarely female.
All engineers are viewed as lacking social qualities.
Most people in the United States do not recognize the role of engineers in developing new forms of energy or drugs, or even working in space. These activities are seen as the work of scientists.
Most people do not realize that engineers work with scientists to create new technologies.
Chapter 3: Engineering & Society
About This Chapter
A characteristic of human beings is that we develop tools and technology to adapt our environment to meet our needs. Engineers contribute to the development of many innovations that improve life.
In this chapter, we will begin by investigating how engineers work to meet human needs; we will describe a few of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the past and consider needs that engineering must meet in the future. We then consider an example of how engineering has dramatically improved health and well-being for most of the developed world: providing clean drinking water as well as treatment for wastewater.
Chapter Learning Objectives
After working through this chapter, you should be able to
explain the relationship between engineering and societal needs,
explain how engineering has influenced water systems in our lives,
describe the impact of an engineering solution related to water from an ethical viewpoint.
To Engineer Is Human
Figure 3.1
The ancient pyramids are an engineering marvel. The great pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for almost four thousand years.
Engineering is a human endeavor. Humans have engaged in engineering to meet their needs as long as they have had needs. We invent and innovate when we are confronted with problems, needs, and desires. Inventions exist and continue to be created to meet our needs for daily life, such as access to water, energy, transportation, and entertainment. Petroski (2004) said, “Making things is an activity as old as civilization, and making ever new things is part of being human.” Our lives are permeated with technological inventions that humans have engineered (Figure 1). Yet, the fundamental nature of engineering or what engineers do is not everyday knowledge. For instance, many of us are unfamiliar with the basic principles used to build the systems that deliver water, gas, or electricity to our homes.
Engineering is the design, analysis, and creation of things that are practical and useful in our lives. At its core, engineering incorporates design. Design, simply put, is creating something that has not existed before. Engineers help design, create or change almost everything we encounter in our lives, including what we feel, eat, see, and hear.
In this section, we consider several different engineering achievements that have dramatically changed the way we live today. We then consider the impact of engineering on sustainability of natural resources, and focused briefly on one very important resource: water.
Human Needs Are Met By Engineering
To stay alive, humans and animals need only the basics of water, food, and shelter. In addition to these basics, animals, and at times humans, too, need prot
ection from other animals that are predators. For the most part, however, humans today do not have to worry about becoming food for other animals. Although we need water, food, clothes, and shelter, not very many of us fetch water from a well or a river; grow or kill our own food; make our own fabric and sew clothes; or, build our own homes with our own hands. We do not do this on our own because people have invented products, tools and systems to do it for us, allowing us to spend productive time in other ways.
We prefer to do something other than figure out how to get clean water to our homes, grow crops, raise poultry, make fabric and sew clothes, or construct homes. This is possible because of all the people before us who created inventions that met their and our needs. These inventions range from the basic technology of the plow or the wheel to today’s advanced technologies that allow us to manage and sustain our natural resources or engage in space exploration. Human needs and wants have been met throughout time by engineering achievements that have significantly transformed and impacted our lives, especially over the past one hundred years.
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has identified the top twenty engineering achievements of the twentieth century; these achievements are documented in the book by Constable and Somerville (2003) and on the webpage (http://www.greatachievements.org/). These achievements are described in more detail in the chapter Nature of Engineering. These achievements include many of the technologies that we use every day and may take for granted.
One of these achievements that we will consider in more detail in this chapter is water supply and distribution. Water is vital for our lives. When we turn on our kitchen faucet and clean drinking water flows from the faucet, we seldom pause to think how that water got there (Figure 2). However, delivering clean water to your home or school or office requires an advanced system of treatment and distribution facilities. Imagine your life without indoor plumbing. Yet, even in today’s world, there are many who live without access to running water, toilets, bathtubs, or showers. Maintaining water quality and distributing water to people where they live are timeless challenges. It is important to remember that water is not merely needed for our basic survival; in today’s world water is used for many other purposes that sustain our way of life.
Figure 3.2
Most people in the United States are fortunate to have safe drinking water.
Engineering Sustainability for Our Future
Current projections predict that the earth’s human population will be around 9 billion in 2050. By the year 3000 the world’s population is predicted to be double that of today’s 6.6 billion. Most of this expected increase is predicted to be concentrated in the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Meeting the most basic needs of this future population means an ever-growing stress on our environment and limited natural resources. This means increased production and consumption of goods and services and increased demand for land, energy, and materials (NRC, 1999). While the engineering achievements of the past century have increased the standard of living in developed countries, the challenge of the future is to alleviate poverty and raise the standard of living for all on this planet while also sustaining our natural resources.
As we consider the engineering achievements of the past, we also need to consider their unintended consequences on our lives and our planet. We must ask ourselves: What are the social, economic, and environmental impacts of our engineering achievements? Many engineering decisions cannot be made without consideration of nearby natural and man-made systems, because contemporary engineering systems can affect the environment far into the future. There is a strong need to reduce the risk and level of unwanted disturbances to natural resources and our man-made world associated with engineering systems.
According to the National Resource Council (NRC, 1999): “Sustainable development—the reconciliation of society’s developmental goals with its environmental limits over the long term—is the most recent conceptual focus linking the collective aspirations of the world’s peoples for peace, freedom, improved living conditions, and a healthy environment.” Engineers have an obligation to meet the basic needs of all humans for water, nutrition, energy, sanitation, and health, as well as the protection of the planet’s resources, including our cultural and natural diversity.
Water
Figure 3.3
Water covers % of the Earths surface. This photograph of Earths polar ice and oceans was taken by the Galileo space probe.
The next section focuses on one of the basic human needs: water. Water is a common substance. Its chemical formula of is widely known. It is a life-giving natural resource. Seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface is covered in water, most of which is salt water (Figure 3). Water is essential to most organisms on Earth. For instance, % of a human body is made up of water.
Water is one of the few substances on the planet Earth that can be found occurring naturally in all three states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapor). A significant difference between these states is the density of each state. (Density here refers to how close the water molecules are to each other. The mass of water within a specific volume determines the density of water.) The vapor state is least dense, while the liquid state is most dense; the solid-state (ice) is less dense than the liquid state. Warm water is less dense than cold water. Therefore, heating and cooling water affects its density.
Water is a very good solvent for many compounds. Therefore, almost no pure water exists in nature; most water contains dissolved substances. After water falls to earth in the form of precipitation, it dissolves substances from soil and rocks. This leads, for example, to hard water, which is water that has magnesium and calcium dissolved in it. Next time you buy bottled water, read the label. You may discover, to your surprise, that your pure spring water is not merely , but also contains chemicals. In fact, the label on your bottled water may even list the chemicals and their amounts. Most water you drink has ions in it. Those ions in the water make it acidic or basic. The of water is a measure of its acidity or alkalinity; The index is related to the amount of free hydrogen ions in the water.
Water is a natural resource and sustaining it for future populations is a major challenge that will require creative engineering. Water is used by industry, agriculture, and homes. In many places in North America, people have access to all of the clean water they need. However, there are many places in the world where water supply is limited. Most uses of water actually decrease the quality of the water; this is true of water that is used in many industrial processes as well as water used by humans.
Our family, our community, our culture, our geographical area, and the prevailing economy often influence our values regarding water. For instance, if you are from an agricultural area, where your livelihood depends on the availability of water for your agricultural needs, you may rate the value or significance of water for your own life higher than someone whose livelihood is built around an entertainment industry such as running a cinema multiplex.
Activity
Take a few minutes to consider the various uses for water you have encountered in your life. Get out a pen and paper and list as many uses for water as you can. Compare your list to someone else’s list. How are they different? What do they have in common?
Review Questions
The following questions will help you assess your understanding of this section. There may be one, two, three, or even four correct answers to each question. To demonstrate your understanding, you should find all of the correct answers.
Technology refers to computers, software, and computer peripherals
changing the natural world to satisfy needs
tools used by engineers to design systems
pre-engineering courses taken in high school
When looking at large-scale problems engineers should focus on the scientific aspects
ethical aspects
economic aspects
legal aspects
Engineering began as a
twentieth-century invention
has always been a human activity
is a field first developed in Europe
began with Alexander Graham Bell
Engineers help design things that are practical and useful in our lives
only useful to scientists
too specialized to be useful
not practical or economical
One of the biggest challenges of engineering is to raise the standard of living while using natural resources
keep the standard of living the same while sustaining natural resources
keep the standard of living the same while using natural resources
raise the standard of living while sustaining natural resources
Engineering decisions must take into consideration internal systems
natural systems
man-made systems
future systems
Sustainable development is linked to basic needs
freedom
nutrition
world peace
Which of these influences our values regarding water culture
cost
cleanliness
family
Engineering achievements can have mistaken consequences
unrealistic consequences
no consequences