Building Bridges: Engineering for the People

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Building Bridges Engineering for the People

• ASME International Mechanical Engineering
  Conference Exposition
• November 12, 2007
• Roop L. MahajanVirginia Tech, Blacksburg,
  Virginia

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Perceptions Among Engineers
Societys transformation in only the last 100
years because of engineering is nothing short of
stunning.
William A. Wolfe President, NAE
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Perceptions Among Engineers

• In an age when technology helps turn fantasy and
  fiction into reality, engineers have played a
  pivotal role in developing the technologies that
  maintain our nations economic, environmental,
  and national security ...

Martha Sloan AAES Chair, 1998 Commission on
Harris Poll
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In 1904

• Radio, TV, computers, and the Internet did not
  exist
• The country was not electrified
• The airplane had just made its first flight
• The average life span was 46 mostly due to
  unclean water and poor sanitation

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Public Perceptions

• When non-engineers think about engineering ...
• Its usually because something has gone wrong
  ... collapsing levees in New Orleans, the loss of
  the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Perhaps too uncharitable
John SchwartzRe-Engineering Engineering NY
Times, Sept. 30, 2007
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Public Perceptions
An overwhelming majority of Americans believes
Technology makes a positive contribution to
society

• Harris Poll, 1998commissioned by the American
  Association of Engineering Societies (AAES)

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Public Perceptions

• Parents were asked the following question
• Using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being extremely
  displeased to 10 being extremely pleased, if
  your son or daughter or other family member said
  they wanted to be an engineer,how pleased would
  you be?

• 9

The mean response
Not bad at all!
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Perceptions and Concerns
Harris poll again A disturbing trend beneath
the goodwill
Americans generally feel uninformed about
engineers and engineering

• 45 not well-informed 16 not at all informed
• Statistics worse among women (55, 23)

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Perceptions and Concerns
Stealth Profession (Martha Sloan)
The distinction between science and engineering
is rarely made
Then there are clichés

• No interpersonal skills
• Socially awkward clock-puncher

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Marching Ahead

• Engineering will continue to remain a dominant
  force and impact many aspects of our lives
• However, public support, based on understanding,
  is critical
• When we fail to engage the public, misconceptions
  arise leading to wrong policies and decisions
• In addition, with the emerging powerful
  technologies, we must be cognizant of ethical
  and societal considerations

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Promise of NBIC Time Horizon 10-20 Years

• Human Longevity and Quality of Life
• Comfortable, wearable sensors and computers
• Life log
• More durable, healthy, energetic, easier to
  repair, resistant to stress, biological threats,
  and aging process
• Mitigation and in cases eradication of physical
  and mental disabilities
• Safe, cheap, fast transportation with real-time
  information systems
• Easy access to knowledge

• National Security
• Invulnerable data networks
• Capable, uninhabited combat vehicles
• Effective measures against biological, chemical,
  nuclear attacks

• Revolutionary Materials
• Engineering
• Bio

• Agriculture
• Increased yield
• Reduced Spoilage

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Why the future doesnt need us
--Bill Joy, Wired Apr 2000
Our most powerful 21st-century technologies -
robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are
threatening to make humans an endangered species.
Failing to understand the consequences of our
inventions while we are in the rapture of
discovery and innovation seems to be a common
fault of scientists and technologists we have
long been driven by the overarching desire to
know that is the nature of sciences quest, not
stopping to notice that the progress to newer and
more powerful technologies can take on a life of
its own.
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Humans are hunted by Nano-swarm
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Prince Charles on NanotechnologyBBC News, July
11, 2004
Discovering the secrets of the Universe is one
thing ensuring that those secrets are used
wisely and appropriately is quite another.
What exactly are the risks attached to each of
the techniques under discussion, who will bear
them, and who will be liable if and when real
life fails to follow the rose-tinted script?
Grey Goo
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Taking Charge, Changing Perceptions
You must be the changeyou wish to see in the
world. -- M.K. Gandhi

• We must undertake the task of engaging the public
  ourselves, on a personal level and on an
  institutional level.

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Engaging the public A personal commitment
One talk at a time
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Building Bridges, one talk at a time

• Nanotechnology The Next Industrial Revolution?
  Boulder Rotary Club
• Nanotechnology and Humanistic EngineeringUniver
  sity of Trieste, Italy
• Nanotechnology The New FrontierAmrita
  Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Kerala,
  India
• North-South Dialog on Nanotechnology Challenges
  and OpportunitiesTrieste, Italy, sponsored by
  ICS/UNIDO
• Converging Technologies for Human Longevity and
  Quality of LifeRegis University, Denver, CO

Different venues, different audiences,
audience-tailored talks.
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Nanotechnology The New Industrial
Revolution? R.L. Mahajan, Boulder Rotary Club,
Aug. 15, 2003
Micro/Nano Systems
Engineering
Life Sciences Medical
Informatics
Bio-Medical
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Nanotechnology The New Industrial
Revolution? R.L. Mahajan, Boulder Rotary Club,
Aug. 15, 2003
What are Nano/Microsystems?

• Microsystems
• Small (10-6 m), diameter of hair
• MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) a good
  example
• Electrical and mechanical components
• Hundreds to thousands on a single silicon wafer
• MEMS as sensors and actuators
• Engineering applications
• Medical applications

A 500 micron capacitive pressure sensor for
cardiovascular applications fabricated through a
surface micromachining process.
Nanosystems Dealing with matter on the scale of
atoms and molecules, in the range of about 1-100
nanometers.
A bulk micromachined silicon die. Suspended
cantilevers and membranes are shown in the image
on the right. An ant is included for size
comparison.
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Converging Technologies for Human Longevity
and Quality of Life R.L. Mahajan, Regis
University, Denver, CO, March 25, 2006
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Converging Technologies for Human Longevity
and Quality of Life R.L. Mahajan, Regis
University, Denver, CO, March 25, 2006

• OUTLINE
• What are converging technologies?
• What is their promise? Can they be harnessed
  for enhancing human longevity and quality of
  life?
• Utopian dream or reality?
• Concluding remarks from streams of consciousness

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Would you want to live to be 969 years old?

• Seriously, there are many societal issues that
  would need to be considered
• Quality of life
• Sustainability
• Social structure

What would your answer be if I told you that you
can live to be 969 years old but your kids stayed
at home for 900 of those 969 years?

• Possible?
• Maybe.

Would you want to?
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Sustainability and Spirituality

• Direct link between the two
• If we want to leave this planet to our children
  with enough resources, we need to examine our
  insatiable desire for material goods
• Reduce our needs
• What I want What I need
• Enhance our happinessHappiness Quotient (HQ)
  No. of desires fulfilled/total no. of desires

What do you think happens when you try to
increase the numerator ?
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Engaging the Public A Personal Commitment
Lessons Learned

• Public wants to know more
• Some disenchantment and skepticism about
  technology even some fatigue
• Need to break barriers between Two cultures
  HSS, SET
• Need partnerships, co-location, co-decision
  making
• Need seamless integration of societal and ethical
  considerations in the development of emerging
  technologies
• Parallel or sequential involvement does not work

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Putting Lessons to Actions

• Embedded humanist in my Thermal and
  Nanotechnology laboratory
• Humanistic Engineering Integrating society and
  technology in the academy
• Extending research from laboratory to communities

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of
preaching. M.K. Gandhi
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Humanistic Engineering

• Produce 21st century engineers who are able to
• Initiate and engage in effective dialogue
• Adopt multiple perspectives on issues
• Draw from multiple paradigms when designing
• Perform their own critiques when necessary
• Interdisciplinary integration in both directions
• Represents the viewpoints of both technical and
  humanistic disciplines
• Mirror the continuity of the real world
• Stress mutual contexts and synergistic
  relationships
• Integrate humanistic perspectives into the
  technical curriculum itself

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Humanistic Engineering Initiatives

• Technology and Culture courses
• Dialogues Between Two Cultures faculty
  development program
• Connections Gallery
• Seamless Integration / Midstream Modulation
• Engineers Without Borders

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Technology and Culture Courses

• Connections Math, Physics, Humanities
• Applied Math Philosophy
• Sustainability and the Built Environment
• Flow Visualization
• Mechanical Engineering Fine Arts
• Making Waves
• Telecommunications English
• Air Pollution, Art and Environmental Change
• Mechanical Engineering Fine Arts
• Writing in Engineering Environments
• Engineering Management Comparative Literature

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The Connections Course

• Traces the influence of applied mathematics on
  science and philosophy over history
• Ancient
• Enlightenment (Modern)
• Contemporary (Postmodern)
• Teaches students to get the most out of models
  by questioning their (axiomatic) foundations
• Provides students with a tangible skills and an
  historical perspective that enable out of the
  box thinking

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Student Feedback on the Connections course

• I hope one day I can look at the curriculum for
  engineering when my kids are going to school and
  find that each engineering class begins with a
  philosophy of aerodynamics or philosophy of
  thermodynamics section, whichever class it might
  be. I will know then that the science is being
  portrayed in its completeness, where not only the
  certainties are conveyed but also the assumptions
  these are based on, and the possibility for
  improvement in the science itself.

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Flow Visualization The Physics and Art of
Fluid Flow

• Explores the evolving relationship between
  science and art
• illustrated by primarily photographic images of
  fluid flow
• The course centers around the critique of images
  published in the art and science literature and
  images generated by students in the lab/studio
  portion of the course
• Artist/Engineer student teams
• The critiques by students and faculty will be
  from both scientific and artistic perspectives

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Flow Visualization The Physics and Art of
Fluid Flow
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Dialogues Between Two Cultures
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Putting Lessons to Actions

• Embedded humanist in my Thermal and
  Nanotechnology laboratory
• Humanistic Engineering Integrating society and
  technology in the academy
• Extending research from laboratory to communities

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of
preaching. M.K. Gandhi
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Extending Research

• From modeling and simulation of thin film
  deposition to a photovoltaic system (UJALA) to
  replace a kerosene lamp for rural households
• A project with ICS/UNIDO

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Process(Over 4000 stable 3x3 cells
manufactured)

• Inline process with single vacuum boundary
• 3 x 3 cells demonstrated stable efficiency of
  10.5 over 7500 hours of operation
• System being scaled to make 16 x 16 panels

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Motivation for Modeling and Optimization of
Process

• Major impediment to successful manufacture has
  been low consistency and device stability
• (Visoly-Fisher et al, 2003, Dobson et al, 2000,
  Brog, 1997)
• Stability directly related to deposition
  uniformity
• Deposition uniformity directly related to
  temperature uniformity

Need to maintain this uniformity level while
scaling up to 16 x 16 substrate size
Need very high temperature uniformity in
substrate (lt1oC)
Reduction of overall cost of PVs
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Need for Optimization

• To study the effect of various source and
  enclosure design parameters on the deposition
  uniformity
• To recommend changes in current design for better
  deposition uniformity and hence better stability
  of devices

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Progress Modeling Optimization
1/4th Model with radiation symmetry
8 noded brick elements and 4 noded shell (linear)
elements
Radiation between all exposed surfaces and
conduction within elements
Finite Element Model in ABAQUSTM
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Deposition Model

• Line of sight and diffusion models being
  developed in ABAQUS
• Line of sight models verified with literature
  data
• To be coupled with thermal model and verified
  with experimental data
• Will be used for optimization of source geometry
  and temperature for maximum deposition uniformity

Area sources at different separations
Collimated sources with difference aspect ratios
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UJALA Lighting System
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Extending research for public good

• Collaborations with NGOs

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The Human Problem Life after Sunset
For millions of villagers, life comes to a
grinding halt at sunset. With no electricity,
there is no light, so no ability to work or study
or play. There is no light for children to study
or for any family entertainment.
Fossil Fuels for LightingIndia has over 140
milllion rural homes. Out of this, some 87
million still burn kerosene for lighting. Each
family consumes between 100-150 liters of
kerosene per annum.
Solar Energy for Lighting
Digital Low-Energy Lighting Digital lighting is
non-polluting and eliminates the carbon dioxide
being emitted from rural homes.
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Digital Low-Energy Lighting
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Digital Low-Energy Lighting
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Digital Low-Energy Lighting
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Extending research for public goodAnother
example

• From a sophisticated neural network classifier to
  a screening device for pathological heart murmurs
  in children

Phonocardiogram (microphone recording)
Diagnosis
ANN Classifier
GSM time-domain burst of Samsung
Energy Spectrum in Frequency Domain (Digital
Signal Processing FFT)
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Frequency-Domain Energy Spectrum of a VSD murmur
Frequency-Domain Energy Spectrum of a Innocent
murmur
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A major interdisciplinary research institute at
Virginia Tech incorporates a bias for outreach
and making the benefits of its research available
to the developing communities
ICTAS A
ICTAS I
ICTAS II
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V I S I O N
To be among the top-ranked global institutes in
transformative, sustainable technologies geared
toward societal needs.
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ICTAS
A home for Interdisciplinary Research at the
intersection of science, engineering, biology,
medicine and social sciences.
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Economic Development

• Commonwealth of Virginia
• Aneesh Chopra, Secretary of Science and
  Technology
• Virginia Economic Development Partnership
• Gary McLaren (Deputy Director)
• Jeffrey Anderson (Executive Director)
• Ted Settle (Virginia Tech Director of OED)
• Seat on Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board
• Corning Initiative
• Beyond Borders
• GE Initiative
• NIST - ATP

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Concluding Remarks

• Technologically exciting times
• Convergence of powerful emerging technologies
• Public at large has a positive view of
  engineering but understanding of what engineering
  is, is not deep.
• In a democracy, it is critical that the society
  is engaged intellectually. Only then we can
  fulfill our engineering mission to harness these
  technologies for the benefit of society.
• At institutional level, we must integrate
  humanistic consideration and reflection into
  our engineering curriculum. This will enhance
  creativity, innovation, and critical thinking
  within engineering frameworks.

Perhaps more importantly, all of us should make a
personal commitment to ROE (Reach Out and
Engage)
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