Organization:Grand Challenges Scholars Program

Overview

The NAE Grand Challenge Scholars program is a combined program with five components that are designed to create and inspire our next generation of engineers to face a lifetime of problem solving. These challenges range for simple to extreme, that must be solved to create a stable and safe life for our children and future generations. It is anticipated that each participating institution will develop its own specific realization of the five components and that students who complete the program successfully will receive a distinction of Grand Challenge Scholar endorsed by their institution and the National Academy of Engineering.

The Grand Challenge Scholar Program has two levels of organization and thus two levels of assessment are needed to ensure consistency with the core principles set forth by the founding committee.

Purpose

Our next generation engineers require more diverse knowledge than ever before. The Grand Challenge Scholars program is looking at these ambitious tasks.

• Create new capabilities

• Provide pragmatic solutions for basic human needs

• Develop new entrepreneurial opportunities

• Reinvent human interactions

• Transform systems thinking

• Be the architects of a sustainable society

• Be mindful of unintended consequences

• Connect technology with society 

The five components of the Grand Challenge Scholars Program include:

1. Project or research activity engaging a GC theme or challenge: Working to solve the NAE Grand Challenges is the motivation for the GCSP. Each GC scholar must participate in a substantial team or independent project relating to a Grand Challenge theme or specific Grand Challenge problem. 

2. Interdisciplinary curriculum: Bridging engineering to other disciplines is essential for solving the NAE Grand Challenges. An “Engineering-Plus” curriculum should be devised that prepares engineering students to work at the boundary between an engineering and non-engineering discipline, such as public policy, international relations, business, law, ethics, human behavior, risk, medicine and the natural sciences. However, this must be more than simply double majoring or picking up a minor in a non-engineering discipline.

3. Entrepreneurship: Implementing innovation is central to technology development. Each GC scholar must participate in a curricular or meta-curricular component on the process of translating invention and innovation into market ventures. This may be either risk-taking ventures for business or introducing technology for not-for-profits in the public interest.

4. Global dimension: Global awareness is necessary for working effectively in an interdependent world. Students may participate in a curricular or meta-curricular component that instills elements necessary to develop innovations in a global economy, or address ethical issues of global concern. Domestic activities that stress global or cross-cultural implications may satisfy this component.

5. Service learning: Working for the benefit of others is the foundation of a civil society. Students may participate in a curricular or meta-curricular component that deepens their social awareness and to heighten their motivation to bring their technical expertise to bear on societal.

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

Current Campuses Involved:

Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering

The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Universtiy of Southern California, Viterbi School of Engineering

Arizona State Universtiy, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering

Louisiana Tech University, College of Engineering and Science

NC State University, College of Engineering

University of Iowa, College of Engineering

Lafayette College, Lafayette College

The University of Tennessee, College of Engineering

Bucknell Univeristy, Bucknell College of Engineering

Western New England College, School of Engineering

St. Louis Univeristy, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology

The Univerity of Texas at Austin, Cockrell School of Engineering

University of Utah, College of Engineering

Contact Information

Duke University

Student Contact for the Duke Grand Challenge Scholars Program:

Martha Absher, Associate Dean, Education & Research Programs

martha.absher@duke.edu

+1 919 660 5139 (tel)

Olin College

Student Contact for the Olin Grand Challenge Scholars Program:

Lynn Andrea Stein, Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science, The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

las@olin.edu 

+1 781 292 2525 (tel)

USC Viterbi

Student Contact for USC Viterbi Grand Challenge Scholars Program:

Louise Yates, Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs

yates@usc.edu 

+1 213 740 4530 (tel)