Benchmarking the Competitiveness of the United States in Mechanical Engineering Basic Research (2007) / Chapter Skim
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3 Key Factors Influencing U.S. Leadership in Mechanical Engineering Basic Research
3 Key Factors Influencing U.S. Leadership in Mechanical Engineering Basic Research
Pages 39-72
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3. Research and development funding: financial support for conducting mechanical engineering research CENTERS, FACILITIES, AND INSTRUMENTATION Modern science and engineering research involves interdisciplinary collaboration, requiring specialized hardware and software often used by multiple disciplines.
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, National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) , Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL)
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1. The Center for Nanoscale Materials is focused on fabricating and exploring novel nanoscale materials and, ultimately, employing unique synthesis and characterization methods to control and tailor nanoscale phenomena.
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Emerging quickly, largely because of digital advances and global market pressures, is the need for virtual prototyping, allowing researchers to create functional digital models of products and systems while also providing tactile feedback using haptic and virtual reality technologies. Although there are a small handful of design centers with virtual prototyping capabilities (e.g., Iowa State University, University of Iowa, University at Buffalo-State University of New York)
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11 Cyberinfrastructure According to the National Science Foundation, cyberinfrastructure refers to the distributed computer, information, and communication technologies combined with the personnel and integrating components that provide a long-term platform to empower the modern scientific research endeavor.12 Advances in computational mechanics depend heavily on (1) advances in high-performance computing (HPC)
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Strong Competition for International S&E Human Resources In terms of sheer numbers of engineering undergraduate degrees granted, the United States is outpaced by China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea (Table 3-1)
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SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 , appendix table 2-37, based on data from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Center for Education Research and Innovation, Education database, www1.oecd.org/scripts/cde/members/edu_uoeauthenticate.asp; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Institute for Statistics database, http://www.unesco.org/statistics, and national sources. The United States is the single largest producer of natural science and engineering doctoral degrees (see Figure 3-2)
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mechanical engineering degrees granted in the United States 15 M.G. Finn, 2005, Stay Rates of Foreign Doctorate Recipients from U.S.
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graduate students and Ph.D.s have remained fairly steady 16 National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 2006, Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-2004, Arlington, Virginia. 17 National Science Foundation, 2004, Science and Engineering Indicators 2004, Arlington, Virginia.
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citizens and permanent residents enrolling in mechanical engineering graduate programs that has begun to rebound more recently. Increasing enrollment of temporary residents has compensated for the declines in U.S.
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. 4,000 Engineering Graduate Students First-time Full-time Mechanical 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 Year FIGURE 3-5 First-time full-time mechanical engineering graduate students: Selected years, 1985-2005.
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Over the past 10 years for which data are available (1995-2005) , the number of earned mechanical engineering doctorates awarded each year has fluctuated, but overall remained above 800 doctorates awarded per year.
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, with only a small number of fellowships. In comparison, chemical engineering graduate students received more than 50 percent of their support from RAs, with the rest of the support split nearly equal between fellowships, teaching assistantships (TAs)
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Prepublication Copy 16,000 Total Research Assistantships Fellowships Teaching Assistantships 14,000 Other Mechanisms Mechanical Engineering Grad Students 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 Year FIGURE 3-8 Full-time mechanical engineering graduate students by mechanism of support, 1980-2004. SOURCE: NSF/SRS, Survey of Earned Doctorates, Integrated Science and Engineering Resources Data System (WebCASPAR)
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Mechanical Engineers Employed mechanical engineering degree holders have steadily increased (Figure 3-10)
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Figure 3-11 shows that there was an increase in the number of employed mechanical engineering degree holders across all employment sectors. 600,000 Employed Mechanical Engineering Degree 1999 500,000 2003 400,000 Holders 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 All Sectors Business Education Government Employment Sector FIGURE 3-11 Comparison of employed mechanical engineering degree holders across different sectors for 1999 and 2003.
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through 2014. Although total employment in manufacturing industries -- in which employment of mechanical engineers is concentrated -- is expected to decline, employment of mechanical engineers in manufacturing should increase as the demand for improved machinery and machine tools grows and as industrial machinery and processes become increasingly complex.
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50,167* -- Nuclear (including engineering physics)
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2003 120,000 120,000 100,000 100,000 80,000 80,000 60,000 60,000 40,000 40,000 20,000 20,000 0 0 l + <5 10 9 15 4 20 9 25 4 30 9 4 Al l 2 8 13 3 3 5– –1 –1 –2 –2 –3 Al 35 1– 3– –2 –3 9– 14 24 Years since highest degree Years since highest degree FIGURE 3-12 Median annual salaries for mechanical engineers with Ph.D.s by years since highest degree received, 1993 and 2003. SOURCE: National Science Foundation/Science Resources Statistics, 1993 and 2003 Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
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SOURCE: NSF, S&E Indicators 2006, Appendix Table 4-42.
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spent on R&D. In 2003 the United States spent a smaller percentage of its GDP (2.2 percent)
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. Of this, about two-thirds consisted of federal sources.
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One that has been documented in the past has to do with changes in NSF classification of funding by field of research, which changed in 1996.24 Federal obligations for mechanical engineering over the period 1999-2003 were on average about 1 percent of the total U.S. R&D budget.
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Prepublication Copy 550 Federal research funding for mechanical engineering, millions constant 2000 $US 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 19 4 19 5 19 6 19 7 19 8 19 9 19 0 19 1 19 2 19 3 19 4 19 5 19 6 19 7 19 8 20 9 00 20 1 20 2 03 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 19 20 Year FIGURE 3-17 Federal obligations for total research in mechanical engineering. SOURCE: NSF, S&E Indicators 2006, Appendix Table 4-32 Federal funding for mechanical engineering research is comparable with spending for the other "big four" engineering fields of civil and chemical engineering, with the exception of electrical engineering, which has traditionally been better funded than chemical, civil, and mechanical engineering (Figure 3-18)
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. In 1994 DOD accounted for 70 percent of the federal obligations for mechanical engineering research, whereas in 2004, DOD accounted for 84 percent.
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Engineering R&D 300 200 100 0 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 Fiscal Year FIGURE 3-19 Federal obligations for total research in mechanical engineering, 1984-2004. SOURCE: NSF, Federal Funds for R&D, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/fedfunds/ (accessed July 12, 2007)
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. The dominance of DOD funding for mechanical engineering is significant for basic research, because other agency contributions have been diminished (Figure 3-21)
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According to the Army Research Office website,25 "it supports fundamental investigations in the areas of solid mechanics, structures and dynamics, combustion and propulsion, and fluid dynamics." The Air Force Office of Scientific Research website26 indicates it supports "A wide range of fundamental research addressing structures, structural materials, solid mechanics, fluid dynamics, propulsion, and chemistry." 25 http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm? Action=29&Page=187 (accessed September 18, 2007)
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Other federal agencies also vary in the specific information they provide on the breakdown of funding for specific areas of mechanical engineering. Below is a comparison of Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences funding for core research areas in materials (Figure 3-22)
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Mechanical engineering basic research in thermal systems and fluid mechanics, as well as a work in micro- and nanofluids and heat transfer is funded by CBET.
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In comparison, the funding rate for the NSF engineering directorate and NSF as a whole declined by only 8 percent during this same time period. Comparable data on proposal funding rates for other funding agencies were not readily available.
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leadership. Key capabilities for mechanical engineering basic research include the following Measurement and standards o Materials characterization and micro- and nanofabrication o Manufacturing and automation o Biomechanical engineering o Supercomputing and cyberinfrastructure o Small- and large-scale flow systems o • There is increasingly strong competition for international science and engineering human resources.
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Prepublication Copy • Research funding for S&E overall and mechanical engineering in particular has been steady. In 2005, more than $900 million was spent on mechanical engineering R&D at academic institutions.
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Prepublication Copy 72
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Key Terms
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