President's Desk
Grand Challenges for O.R. and Engineering
INFORMS President
Cynthia Barnhart
president@mail.informs.org
Recognizing that engineering advancements can "help people and the planet thrive" [1], the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) convened a panel in 2006 of accomplished engineers and scientists to identify the grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century. Last month, the panel's list was released, and the following 14 challenges were identified [2]): 1) making solar energy affordable; 2) providing energy from fusion; 3) developing carbon sequestration methods; 4) managing the nitrogen cycle; 5) providing access to clean water; 6) restoring and improving urban infrastructure; 7) advancing health informatics; 8) engineering better medicines; 9) reverse-engineering the brain; 10) preventing nuclear terror; 11) securing cyberspace; 12) enhancing virtual reality; 13) advancing personalized learning; and 14) engineering the tools for scientific discovery.
As part of the process to develop the list, the NAE invited input from a broad base, including experts and the general public. In response, a group of us at INFORMS — Mark Daskin, Brenda Dietrich, Ed Kaplan, Richard Larson and I — worked to identify the 21st century engineering grand challenges to which operations researchers could contribute. Our list included the following challenges: 1) developing a self-sufficient sustainable energy program; 2) using advanced sensor and telecommunication technologies to diagnose infrastructure faults; 3) creating driverless highways and achieving congestion mitigation; 4) improving healthcare in developing countries and in the United States; 5) enhancing medical imaging and diagnostic capabilities; 6) developing effective counter-terrorism strategies; and 7) using the Internet to improve education in emerging countries [3].
Striking, but not surprisingly upon reflection, is the extent to which the more narrowly defined INFORMS list of challenges (that is, those to which operations researchers can contribute) covers the list of NAE-identified challenges. Like the NAE list, the INFORMS list includes challenges associated with sustainability, energy, infrastructure, health, security and education. Consider the following sample of questions, drawn from the INFORMS report cited above:
Energy: How should current resources be allocated between research in long-term energy sources and short-term deployment of known technologies? How should the design of distribution systems and networks evolve as new technologies and energy sources emerge? What are the optimal trade-offs between enhanced self-sufficiency, cost and environmental impacts in the selection of the alternative energy sources to develop?
Infrastructure, mobility, congestion: In assessing infrastructure conditions, how many sensors should be deployed, where should they be placed, and how frequently should data be collected? Should the initial deployment of technology to reduce congestion be aimed at passenger vehicles or the commercial fleet? How can equitable and efficient pricing schemes be developed for such systems?
Healthcare in developing countries and in the United States: How should resources be allocated between: (1) treating those who are already sick, (2) improving the basic infrastructure (for example, providing sewage systems and potable water) to reduce the spread of disease, and (3) educating families in nutrition and personal healthcare maintenance. How can the availability of advanced diagnostic procedures be made more equitable across all segments of the population? How do we identify the tipping point between increased influenza cases and a nationwide epidemic demanding emergency action on a national basis?
Counter-terrorism: What flexible, risk-focused approach simultaneously serves to allocate funds while recognizing that the nature of terror threats will change in response to whatever allocation is implemented? How do we aggregate intelligence information of multiple forms from multiple sources to infer terrorists' current and future plans? For a given portfolio of counter-terror tactics in a given setting, how does one know whether the array of tactics employed is actually helping or hurting?
For those interested in learning more about the accomplishments and untapped potential for operations researchers to address such issues, attend the 2008 INFORMS fall meeting where a set of sessions will focus on energy, public health and infrastructure.
In summary, solutions to today's and tomorrow's problems will, by necessity, involve multi-disciplinary teams, combining and expanding the expertise of disparate disciplines in novel ways to address any one of the challenges identified above. While every team might not benefit from having a materials scientist or a bio-medical engineer, it is plausible that every team could benefit from having an operations researcher. Central to addressing each challenge is the need to transform data into information, to make trade-offs in the best ways possible, to allocate scarce resources, and to find among the set of solutions those that are best at striking the appropriate balance between the many (often times competing) objectives and other considerations. Who better than operations researchers to help formulate these objectives and considerations and to design the approaches to find the best set of solutions?
References
- www.topnews.in/scientists-identify-major-challenges-may-improve-
quality-life-221105 - www.engineeringchallenges.org
- The complete INFORMS report is available at www.informs.org/index.php?c=778&kat=Comments
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