Benchmarking the Competitiveness of the United States in Mechanical Engineering Basic Research
NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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www.nap.edu
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn fro m the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The memb ers of the panel responsible for the report were chosen for their special co mp etences an d with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by the National Science Fo undation under Grant CTS-0534814.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or reco mmendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
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The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
Panel on Benchmarking the Research Competitiveness of the United States in Mechanical Engineering
WARD O. WINER, Chair,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
CRISTINA H. AMON,
University of Toronto, Canada
L. CATHERINE BRINSON,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
EARL H. DOWELL,
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
JOHN R. HOWELL,
University of Texas, Austin
MARSHALL G. JONES,
GE Corporate Research and Development, Niskayuna, New York
CHANG-JIN KIM,
University of California, Los Angeles
KEMPER E. LEWIS,
University at Buffalo-State University of New York, Buffalo
VAN C. MOW,
Columbia University, New York
J. TINSLEY ODEN,
University of Texas, Austin
MASAYOSHI TOMIZUKA,
University of California, Berkeley
National Research Council Staff
ALBERT EPSHTEYN, Christine Mirzayan Graduate Fellow (January-March 2007)
TINA MASCIANGIOLI, Program Officer
ERICKA MCGOWAN, Associate Program Officer
KELA MASTERS, Project Assistant
JESSICA PULLEN, Research Assistant
FEDERICO SAN MARTINI, Program Officer
MARTA VORNBROCK, Research Associate
DOROTHY ZOLANDZ, Director
BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
F. FLEMING CRIM (Co-Chair),
University of Wisconsin, Madison
GARY S. CALABRESE (Co-Chair),
Rohm & Haas, W. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
BENJAMIN ANDERSON,
Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, Indiana
PABLO G. DEBENEDETTI,
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
RYAN R. DIRXX,
Arkema, Inc., Bristol, Pennsylvania
GEORGE W. FLYNN,
Columbia University, New York
MAURICIO FUTRAN,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, New Brunswick, New Jersey
MARY GALVIN-DONOGHUE,
Air Products and Chemicals, Allentown, Pennsylvania
PAULA T. HAMMOND,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
RIGOBERTO HERNANDEZ,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
JAY D. KEASLING,
University of California, Berkeley
JAMES L. KINSEY,
Rice University, Houston, Texas
MARTHA A. KREBS,
California Energy Commission, Sacramento
CHARLES T. KRESGE,
Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan
JOSEPH A. MILLER,
Corning, Inc., Corning, New York
SCOTT J. MILLER,
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
GERALD V. POJE, Independent Consultant,
Vienna, Virginia
DONALD PROSNITZ,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California
THOMAS H. UPTON,
ExxonMobil Chemical Company, Houston, Texas
National Research Council Staff
DOROTHY ZOLANDZ, Director
KATHRYN HUGHES, Postdoctoral Fellow
TINA M. MASCIANGIOLI, Program Officer
KELA MASTERS, Project Assistant
ERICKA M. MCGOWAN, Associate Program Officer
SYBIL A. PAIGE, Administrative Associate
JESSICA L. PULLEN, Research Assistant
FEDERICO SAN MARTINI, Program Officer
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF REVIEWERS
This report has been reviewed in draft form by persons chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets institutional standards of objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Dr. Nadine Aubry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dr. John M. Campbell, Sr., (Retired President and CEO, Campbell Companies), Norman, OK
Dr. Susan Cozzens, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
Dr. Iwona M Jasiuk, University of Illinois, Urbana
Dr. Nobuhide Kasagi, University of Tokyo, Japan
Dr. John H. Lienhard V, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Dr. Lee A. Matsch, AlliedSignal Inc. (retired), Tempe, Arizona
Dr. C. Dan Mote, Jr., University of Maryland, College Park
Ms. Susan Skemp, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Virginia
Dr. Venkataramani Sumantran, Sumantran Consulting, Chennai, India
Dr. A. Galip Ulsoy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dr. Sean Wu, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they did not see the final draft of the report before its release. The review was overseen by Dr. Maxine Savitz, Retired General Manager of Technology and Partnerships, Honeywell Inc, and Dr. C. Bradley Moore, Northwestern University. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authors and the institution.
Preface
At the request of the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate, the National Academies performed an international benchmarking exercise to determine the standing of the U.S. research enterprise in the field of mechanical engineering relative to its international peers. This of course was no trivial undertaking, even for the panel of mechanical engineers assembled—11 members, mostly from U.S. universities, with expertise across the 11 selected areas of mechanical engineering covered in the report (see Chapter 1): acoustics and dynamics, bioengineering, computational mechanics, design and computer-aided design, dynamic systems and controls, energy systems, manufacturing and computer-aided manufacturing, mechanics of engineering materials, microelectromechanical systems and nanoelectromechanical systems, thermal systems and heat transfer, and tribology. The panel was charged with addressing three specific questions:
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What is the current position of U.S. mechanical engineering research relative to that of other regions or countries?
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What key factors influence U.S. performance in mechanical engineering?
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On the basis of current trends in the United States and abroad, what will be the relative U.S. position in the near term and in the longer term?
At the same time, the panel was instructed to perform its charge in a short time frame and with a limited budget. Thus, in order to adequately respond to its charge, the panel had to limit the scope of the exercise to assessing the state of mechanical engineering basic research as determined by the open research literature, the opinions of its peers, and easily accessible data on U.S. human resources and research funding. Based on this slice of information, this benchmarking exercise attempts to provide a “snapshot” of the current status of the discipline and to extrapolate the future status based on current trends. The report does not make judgments about the relative importance of leadership in each area nor make recommendations on actions to be taken to ensure such leadership in the future.
Ward O. Winer, Chair
Panel on International Benchmarking of Mechanical Engineering Research