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AN ENGINEERING “GRAND CHALLENGE”: WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Beth Bateman Newborg (bateman@pitt.edu) and Dan Budny (budny@pitt.edu)

CURRENT ENGINEERING CHALLENGES: applications are essential to successfully meeting the

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Challenge.

“In each of these broad realms of human concern —
sustainability, health, vulnerability, and joy of living —
specific grand challenges await engineering solutions.” For
this assignment, you will familiarize yourself with the 14
Grand Challenges delineated by the National Academy of
Engineering (NAE), http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/.
You will choose an overall Challenge, then, from within that
Challenge, you will select one topic (for example, one
particular problem or area, with accompanying attention to
one particular innovation, technology and/or application
which addresses that problem). You will write an 850-950
word (note: word count does not include end-text References
or Acknowledgments) “position paper” which clarifies and
supports your view on why this problem and this solution
are significant to engineering and to society.
CONTENT REQUIREMENTS
With your research providing inspiration and information,
write an 850-950 word “editorial” or “position paper.” In
your paper, you will briefly describe your selected Challenge
(and, briefly, the context of the Challenge, which is the NAE
“Grand Challenges” project); you will clarify your selected
topic and related innovation, technology, and/or application;
and, throughout your paper, you will articulate your own
view on the significance of that Challenge, of your selected
topic, and of the related innovation, technology, and/or
application..
Clearly and responsibly communicating your point of
view, as a beginning engineer, about this Challenge, your
selected topic, and the related innovation, technology, and/or
application is the central task of this paper. As you compose
your paper, keep strongly in mind that you are not just
summarizing what your chosen Challenge is (though you
must provide those descriptions and details that will allow
readers to clearly envision what you are writing about).
What you must do is present your Challenge, selected topic,
and related innovation, technology, and/or application from
an evaluative perspective. Your paper will communicate
your own thoughtful, well-informed opinions about the
value and impact of your chosen Challenge, your selected
topic, and the related technologies and/or applications. Your
evaluations and opinions cannot take the form of a “tacked
on” conclusion to your paper. Readers of your paper will
expect to see, from start to finish, your well-informed,
carefully presented opinions about why your selected
Challenge merits the designation ”grand” and how and why
your selected topic and the related technologies and/or
DRILL DOWN, BORE INTO, FOCUS ON
To maintain a substantive set of evaluations in 850-950
words, you must quickly—in your research and your
writing--focus on a particular topic (a particular problem
area) and a particular innovation, technology, and/or
application that significantly addresses that problem area of
that Grand Challenge.
Broad Thesis = Insubstantial Paper
If you have chosen “Secure cyberspace” as your Grand
Challenge, you cannot meet the requirements of this
assignment by writing a brief description of cyber-security
issues and solutions in health care and a brief description of
cyber-security issues and solutions in banking and in
national defense and in law enforcement and in
transportation.
You must select one significant cyber-security problem
area or application (for example, transportation), and you
must then focus, even further, on a particular cyber-security
transportation issue or problem and on a potentially
successful solution to that problem. The thesis or center of
an effective paper on the Grand Challenge of “Secure
cyberspace” will not be “It is imperative to secure
cyberspace in the near and distant future.” Such a thesis is
“too big” for this paper.
A thesis such as “Everyone must pay attention to
securing the computer systems that run transportation” is
getting closer, but this thesis is still too broad, and will result
in a paper with too many unanswered questions (Who is
“everyone?” What does “pay attention” mean? What kinds
of “systems” or “transportation” need “attention?” How
serious is the “attention” to this issue, currently?).

University of Pittsburgh 1 Submission date

Swanson School of Engineering

Focus = Meaningful, Effective Specific Ideas;
For Example:
Consider how this set of statements builds towards an
interrelated set of central concerns: “In 2008, The National
Academy of Engineering named 14 „Grand Challenges for
Engineering,‟ which, according to the Academy, address
„the problem of sustaining civilization‟s continuing
advancement, while still improving the quality of life‟ [1].
While all of these Challenges are important and require the
attention of engineers in the 21st century, I find the overall
Challenge „Securing cyberspace‟ to be particularly vital
because of the devastation that could occur if cyberspace is
open to interference or attack. An area of especial
significance, in my opinion, is cyber-security in
transportation, because transportation directly affects the
personal safety of so many people every day, and because
transportation is such an important part of a society‟s
economic wellbeing.
Globally, transportation safety issues are significant, but,
here, I will focus on a particular kind of transportation, and the
particular innovation, technology and/or application being developed
by engineers in the United States. I focus on this cyber-
security technology because I believe it shows great promise
for protecting the millions of people in the U.S. who rely on
a particular kind of transportation, every day, and the millions of
dollars of goods shipped across the U.S. via a particular kind of
transportation, every day. My examination of a particular kind of
transportation security innovation, technology and/or application will also
demonstrate how engineers, by careful problem solving and
realistic assessment, benefit American society today and in
the foreseeable future by meeting its greatest needs and
challenges.”
Note how
 this author moves from the “broad” (“In 2008, The
National Academy of Engineering named 14
„Grand Challenges for Engineering‟) to the
“specific” (An area of especial significance, in my
opinion, is cyber-security in transportation…”)
 establishes logical connections among the broad
and the specific (“While all of these Challenges are
important”; “I find the overall Challenge „Securing
cyberspace…”; “An area of
significance…”; My examination of…will also
demonstrate…”)
 states his/her opinion, and immediately states why
he/she holds this opinion (“particularly vital
because of the devastation that could occur…”;
because transportation directly affects…”)
 states what is “at stake”; readers can immediately
begin to understand the importance of the large and
specific issues
 clarifies, for the reader, exactly what this paper will
be about; while there is not one absolutely distinct
“thesis sentence,” the statement “An area of
especial significance, in my opinion, is cyber-
Your name
security in transportation, because transportation
directly affects the personal safety of so many
people every day, and because transportation is
such an important part of a society‟s economic
wellbeing,” provides a clear overview of the
paper‟s content, and the statements that follow
immediately and cohesively articulate the specific
subjects that will be discussed.
This author can now proceed to
 describe and evaluate the current or potential
cyberspace problems related to a particular area of
transportation in the U.S.
 describe and evaluate a particular possible or in-
development solution
 discuss how engineers‟ work on this problem and
solution demonstrates the role and responsibilities
of engineers and engineering in U.S. society.
REQUIRED SECTIONS
Your paper must have sections, including an introduction
and a conclusion. Your introduction will briefly clarify the
general context of your paper (the NAE Grand Challenges
project), will briefly describe and evaluate the Grand
Challenge you have chosen, and will clarify and state your
position on your selected topic and a related innovation,
technology, and/or application.. From your introduction,
readers will know exactly what your paper is about and will
have a sense of how you will continue to explain and
validate your views.
After your introduction, you will use sections and
possibly subsections to present an organized description of
your Challenge and topic and to articulate and support your
opinions. Your conclusion will reinforce—without relying
on mere repetition or bland clichés—how and why this
Challenge, your selected topic, and the related innovation,
technology, or application you have written about are
important to engineers and to the society served by the
knowledge and work of those engineers.
Using Sections and Their Headings Effectively
especial Sections provide a valuable organizing strategy; section
headings and sub-headings (as well as your paper title)
provide a way of “mapping” your findings and ideas. Your
paper title and your headings and sub-headings should be as
specific as possible, alerting readers to (and sparking
readers‟ interest in) what is to come. If a paper is titled
simply “Transportation and Cyberspace,” or “Clean Water,”
or “Individualized Drugs,” and the introduction is titled
“Introduction,” a reader has little reason to be interested in
that paper, and the paper‟s author has not shown that he or
she is fully cognizant of the content of his own work.
Titles such as “Cyber-safety and Airplanes” or “Clean
Water Developments” are better, but still quite general,
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especially for a paper articulating an evaluative position. A
paper titled “From Water Truck to Drinking Cup: Effective
Point-of-Use Water Treatment Initiatives” engages readers‟
attention and indicates to readers what this paper is “about”
(which simultaneously lets the readers know that the paper‟s
author is clear about the focus and subject of her paper).
Section and sub-section headings should serve the same
purpose. These headings show that the writer knows where
she‟s been and where she‟s going, and these headings
introduce and reinforce important information for the reader.
Section headings and sub-headings should always be as
specific and as expressive as possible.
RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS
For this assignment, there are several articles you must read,
and several types of publications you must consult.
Required reading:
 “Introduction to the Challenges to Engineering,”
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/92
21.aspx
 Video: “The Grand Challenges”
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/92
21.aspx
 “About this Project: More on the Grand Challenges
for Engineering Project”
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/7124/71
69.aspx
 All materials on the NAE Page for your selected
Challenge (including videos, images, and “What do
you think?”)
 The article, “How Many „Grand‟ Engineering
Challenges are Really Policy Challenges?”
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/how-
many-grand-engineering-challenges-are-really-
policy-challenges/
In addition to the required reading (and viewing) listed
above, you must consult at least 2 sources from each of these
publication types:
 General interest magazines, such as Time,
Newsweek, Slate, U.S. News and World Report,
Harpers, and Economist; newspapers, such as The
New York Times, The International Herald Tribune,
The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The
Washington Post, and regional/local newspapers
 Trade journals (you might think of these as Time
and Newsweek for specialized audiences) such as
Engineering News Record, Industry Week, CE
News, Prism, and Mechanical Engineering: The
Magazine of ASME
You must also consult 1
 scholarly journal (also known as an “academic” or
“peer-reviewed” journal). These publications
usually include very detailed, often very technical
articles by specialists in their fields. Examples of
scholarly, peer-reviewed journals are Chemical
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Your name
Engineering Research and Design, Science,
American Society for Civil Engineering Journal of
Environmental Engineering, Journal of Biological
Engineering.
If you need help determining if a publication is “general
interest,” or “trade” or “scholarly,” ask for assistance from
the engineering librarians.
USING RESOURCE INFORMATION EFFECTIVELY
You + your sources = substantial evaluations and insights
While this is not the kind of research paper that only
summarizes research materials, you will need to make use of
details from your research sources to help you describe the
Challenge and related topic. You will use information from
your research resources to provide clarity and support for
your opinions.
If, for example, you have chosen “Provide access to clean
water” as your Challenge, and if your selected topic from
within that Challenge is clean water via small purification
units, and your selected innovation, technology, or
application is a particular experimental type of small
purification unit, you will need to use resources to help
describe the Challenge, the selected topic, and the relevant
technology.
You may also draw on research sources to help articulate
and clarify your opinion. You might, for example, quote an
authority who specializes in the relationship between clean
water and public health, and you might also quote an
engineer who is designing and testing small distillation and
purification units. Remember, though, that this research
information is not all your paper is about. The quotes of
authorities are not the only voices your readers want and
need to hear. Another scientist‟s or engineer‟s opinion might
help you understand, contextualize, and articulate your
opinions, but the bulk of every section of your paper should
not be made up of the quotes or summaries of other writers.
Readers want and see your views, accompanied by
information and data that has influenced and that supports
your reasoning.
ALL ELEMENTS MUST CONNECT
OR
THIS NOT THIS

THIS NOT THIS
THIS NOT THIS
You must engineer the sections of your paper for maximum
clarity, and you must engineer connections among those
sections for maximum cohesion and structural integrity. If
you do not show readers how each section is important to
another, you offer the reader strands or shapes or pieces
rather than a cohesive whole. If one element is incomplete or
weak, the entire structure will waver or collapse.
Make sure your elements are, themselves, strong.
Describe, in detail, the issues associated with your topic.
Describe, in detail, the related innovations, technologies,
and/or applications. Describe and explain, in detail, the role
of a responsible engineer in imagining, addressing, and
assessing these issues and technologies.
Establish and maintain cohesion by showing—clearly
explaining—how each well-designed element is integral to
every other element. Effective, strong connections among
elements depend on your carefully seeing and constructing
connections and intersections. For example, ask yourself,
“have I clearly described a particular threat to transportation cyber-
security?” Ask yourself, “have I also clearly described a
particular technology or way in which engineers are addressing this
transportation cyber-security problem ?” Now, also ask yourself,
“have I clearly shown how the problem and the solution are
connected? Have I clarified how this solution significantly
addresses this problem?” Be sure to connect description to
evaluation. Ask yourself, “have I continued to made it clear
why, in my opinion, this particular transportation cyber-
security problem and the solution I am writing about are so
important to U.S. society?”
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION: OVERALL
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS
Always Check, Double Check, Recheck The Specs
Click on the Paper Format Guidelines (which will be posted
soon) for a formatting template that also details all
formatting specifications. This Assignment you are reading
right now is formatted according to those specifications so
your finished paper will look much like this Assignment. For
Writing Assignments #2, #3, and #4, a 3 point deduction will
be taken for each formatting error, so, again, familiarize
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Your name
yourself with the formatting requirements, use the templates,
and double check your paper before submission.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION: CITATIONS AND
REFERENCES
You must include an in-text citation and a corresponding
reference (in a required References section) for any quoted,
paraphrased, or summarized resource material. You must
include an in-text citation and corresponding reference (in a
References section) for any figure (photograph, diagram,
drawing), for any graph or table, or for any equation taken
from a resource.
Always Begin with [1]: How to Cite Resource Material
Within the “Body” of the Paper
You “include an in-text citation” by putting a bracketed
number at the end of the quote, paraphrase, or summary, or
at the end of a figure or table caption. The bracketed
numbers in your paper must begin with [1] for your first
quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material, then proceed
sequentially ([2], [3], [4], etc.).
For example, if the first resource information you use is a
direct quotation from a World Health Organization report,
the passage in your paper might look like this: A 2005 report
by the World Health Organization says that, “Lack of
drinking water and sanitation kills about 4500 children a day
and sentences their siblings, parents and neighbours to
sickness, squalor and enduring poverty” [1].
If your first resource information, from the WHO report,
is paraphrased, the passage in your paper might look like
this: In a 2005 report, the World Health Organization noted
that microbial contamination of water continues to be an
issue for engineers to address, but chemical contaminants
such as arsenic are increasingly seen as posing a problem
worldwide [1].
Remember, in-text citation numbers proceed sequentially
from [1]. So, if your first resource information is from the
WHO report, as exemplified above, and your next quoted,
paraphrased, or summarized information is from the New
York Times, the NYT information will be cited as [2]. The
NYT information might appear in your paper like this, if you
are quoting directly: As David Zetland, S.V. Ciriacy-
Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in Natural Resource
Economics and Political Economy at U.C. Berkeley argues
in a 2008 New York Times editorial, “Bureaucrats will
declare victory, outsiders will applaud, projects will wrap
up, money will disappear, and those unlucky enough to have
pipes with unsafe and unsustainable water will be left to
their own devices” [2].

If you are summarizing Zetland‟s NYT editorial, it might
look like this in your paper: David Zetland, S.V. Ciriacy-
Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in Natural Resource
Economics and Political Economy at U.C. Berkeley, writing
for the New York Times questions the accuracy of
governments‟ and relief agencies‟ claims about successful
clean water pipelines [2].
The next quote, paraphrase or summary from another
resource will be cited, in text, as [3]. If, later in your paper
you quote again from Zetland‟s article and that quoted
information is from the same page (web or hard copy) of the
NYT, you would use [1] again.
A Correct, Professional References Section
Every bracketed in-text citation must accurately correspond
with the same numbered reference in the required
References section of your paper. Using the World Health
Organization article example from above, [1] in your
References section will provide full bibliographic
information for the WHO report. If [2] in your paper is a
quote from or a summary of Zetland‟s NYT editorial, then
[2] in your References section will include full bibliographic
information for that NYT article.
Examples of what information to include in each
reference, and of how to include that information (what goes
first, what goes next) in each reference appear below and
will also be posted on the Writing Projects page.
REFERENCES
[1] (2005). Water for Life: Making it Happen.” World Health Organization
and Unicef. Geneva, Switzerland [Online], p.5. Available:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmp2005/en/index.
html
[2] D. Zetland. (2009, September 9). “Politics, Possibility, and Pipes, a
Guest Post.” New York Times. [Online]. Available:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/the-economics-of-clean-
water-a-guest-post/?scp=1&sq=clean%20water%20treatment&st=cse
[3] D. Budny, K. Bursic, L. Lund, and N.Vidic. (2010, July). “Freshmen are
the Best Inventors.” Journal of Engineering Education. Vol. 99, no 3.
pp.78-80
[4] J. Browne. (2008, May 23). “From Toilet to Tap.” Discover. [Online].
Available: http://discovermagazine.com/2008/may/23-from-toilet-to-tap
[5] A. Mulrine. (2006, March). “To the Rescue.” Prism. [Online].
Available: www.prism-magazine.org/ mar06/feature_incredibles.cfm
[6] (2010) “Provide Access to Clean Water.” National Academy of
Engineering Grand Challenges For Engineering. [Online]. Available:
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9142.aspx
THE UGLY “P” WORD—PLAGIARISM
There are many different kinds of plagiarism and you never
want to involve yourself, intentionally or unintentionally,
with any of them. The most obvious form of plagiarism, of
course, is using someone else‟s writing and claiming it as
your own. Using another student‟s paper, or any portion of
another student‟s paper, and presenting the material as your
own is plagiarism. Using a paper or article or any section of
Your name
a paper or article taken from the web or elsewhere without
clearly referencing that material is plagiarism.
All past Pitt Swanson School of Engineering papers
are archived in such a way that any current paper can be
checked against them for plagiarism—so don’t be
tempted! Your writing and engineering instructors can
also easily discern, via the Web, what information in a
paper comes from other resources (books, articles,
student papers, paper-selling sites, etc.), and your
instructors can easily locate those sources. So, again,
don‟t be tempted to “take” information from another source
and present it as your own. It may be easy to find material
that can be copied, but it is also easy for your instructors to
demonstrate that the material has been copied.
Often, issues of plagiarism seem more complicated than
the overt copying of someone else‟s work. Questions about
what comprises “someone else‟s work” can arise. Must all
material taken from any source in any way be referenced in
order to avoid any appearance or charge of plagiarism?
Basically, the answer to this question is “yes.” If you
paraphrase material from a publication, you must provide in-
text citation and a corresponding reference. If you
summarize material from any publication, you must provide
in-text citation and a corresponding reference. If you quote
or paraphrase from a lecture or from class handouts, you
must provide in-text citation and a corresponding reference.
If you use material in any way from any web site, you must
provide in-text citation and a corresponding reference.
Maybe your engineering mentor wrote a paper on a subject
similar to yours. Can you use information from that paper?
Yes, but you must treat it as you would information from
any other resource, and provide an in-text citation and a
corresponding reference. It is expected that you will
familiarize yourself with definitions of plagiarism. Here are
two excellent sites that provide detailed information on what
plagiarism is and how to avoid plagiarizing:
http://www.pitt.edu/~englit/plagiarism.htm
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Your paper must have an Acknowledgements section. In this
section, you thank anyone who has contributed in any
significant way to the process of writing and completing
your paper. For example, if your engineering 0011 or 0711
instructor, and/or your chemistry instructor, and/or your
advisor, and/or your Writing Instructor provided you with
useful support or advice, you might thank that person or
those people. If you received guidance from the librarians at
the Bevier Engineering Library, you might thank them. If
your mentor helped you understand the assignment or stay
on task, you might thank him or her. If you had a good talk
with your engineer Uncle Travis, which helped you see the
value of completing writing assignments such as this, you
might thank him.