“Linking engineering and society” is both the tag line of The Bridge and, I believe, an appropriate title for this column as I reflect on the role of the NAE at this time of rapid societal change.

Societal changes precipitated by technology are nothing new, dating back at least to the ...

In the digital transformation era, a transcendent moment for US manufacturing on the global stage has arrived with the confluence of the evolving Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), global geopolitical uncertainties, and the coronavirus pandemic. It is appropriate to take stock of the ...

“Never let a crisis go to waste.”
What are the lessons from the pandemic
crisis to benefit manufacturing?

As the world is entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution (dubbed Industry 4.0), one recurring question for manufacturing is what will be involved in terms of running a business ...

The digital thread makes it possible to digitally verify products, deploy the latest technologies for manufacturing, and strengthen the workforce.

The manufacturing sector is dramatically evolving with recent technical and digital advances. Among these, the digital thread is revolutionizing ...

Mass individualization factories will create
local manufacturing jobs and novel research
areas in manufacturing operations.

My vision for 21st century innovation in the manufacturing industry is the establishment of a new type of factory for producing individualized products for a single ...

Telefacturing is based on telecontrol and
telerobotics, and effectively utilizes most
components of Industry 4.0.

The US manufacturing sector, which employs about 13 million workers (Weston 2019), has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic in part because most jobs entail physical ...

Through measurements and standards, NIST aims to facilitate the postpandemic adoption of efficient, secure, and decentralized technology for the industrial sector.

The pandemic forced many on a personal journey of digital transformation akin to that required of industry and much of the workforce. ...

Academic makerspaces can quickly create
holistic complementary teams and execute
complicated projects under significant time pressure.

The role of universities in addressing the needs of the manufacturing sector has been substantially evolving in the past decade because of macro trends and ...

Considerations for designing manufacturing supply chains to be resilient in the face of likely future disruptions.

The year 2020 was one of turbulence and unprecedented challenges. Global companies had already been redesigning their supply chains in response to escalating trade frictions, threats ...

Urgent and continued work in frugal engineering and manufacturing is essential for addressing technosocioeconomic inequity in the United States.

Traditionally, problems arising from lack of access to basic human needs such as food insecurity, affordable health care are thought of as global ...

In the postpandemic environment, corporations should prioritize elements of social responsibility that are naturally aligned with corporate profitability.

Engineering and Social Responsibility

The digital-industrial revolution, called Industry 4.0, has begun to effect a major transformation of ...

As research assumes an increasingly central role in the research-active engineering schools across the country, we argue for an alternate and complementary curriculum pathway for students who plan to work as practicing engineers with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. The research-active ...

NAE member Martin Cooper is widely celebrated as the “father of the cell phone.” He was an inaugural member of the Wireless Hall of Fame (2000) and is a recipient of the IEEE Centennial Medal (1984), the Marconi Prize (2013), and the NAE’s Draper Prize (2013), among others.

In a ...

John le Carré laid espionage traps. They came with honey pots, false flags, and negotiated morals. Just as in these thrillers, one such double agent has infiltrated vast areas of our real lives: the concept of efficiency. We created efficiency as a way to think about reducing waste and ...