U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar: Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

9909802 Hunziker This award supports the participation of young American engineers in a U.S.-Japan seminar on the frontiers of engineering, to be held in Nagoya, Japan, in November 2000. The co-organizers are Janet Hunziker of the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C. and Hiroshi Sakurai of the Engineering Academy of Japan in Tokyo, Japan. Participants will be from universities, industry, and government. The four engineering areas that will be covered at the meeting are: 1) ceramics; 2) bioengineering, with some coverage of microbioreactors; 3) manufacturing, with emphasis on robotics, quality control, and/or micromachining/nanoprocessing; and 4) civil engineering with an emphasis on disaster mitigation and simulation techniques. Speakers will focus their remarks on cutting-edge research and innovation. They will be asked to address questions of the following kind: What are the frontiers in their field? What experiments, prototypes, and design studies are completed or in progress? What new tools and instruments are being used? What are the motivating factors for the work? What is the data that is being measured and seen? What are the major problems? What are the current limitations on advances? What is the theoretical, commercial, societal, and long-term significance of the work? The primary outcome of this symposium is the interaction it will facilitate among the best young American and Japanese engineers from different fields and sectors. Today's most exciting and powerful engineering developments are occurring at the intersections of disciplines. Thus, regardless of the nationality of the attendees involved, by creating the opportunity for sharing of research insights and techniques across a range of fields, this symposium facilitates leaps in knowledge and applications that otherwise would take longer to achieve. Second, because the attendees come from different professional sectors, the meeting will support more rapid knowledge transfer among researchers in academia, industry, government, and other research institutions. Finally, it is right for these times when advances in information technology, unprecedented political collaboration, and the integration of national economies have created the phenomenon of "globalization." The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in the engineering field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. It is anticipated that dissemination of information from the meeting will be published thru the National Academy Press.