2021 FRONTIERS OF ENGINEERING SYMPOSIA (US FOE AND GERMAN-AMERICAN FOE)

The Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Symposia, organized by the National Academy of Engineering, provide emerging engineering leaders from academia, industry, and government laboratories the opportunity to share research insights to facilitate an interdisciplinary transfer of knowledge and research methodologies. The nature of emerging technologies and how they fit together to create products and processes that drive economic growth makes it essential that engineers understand research developments, techniques and approaches beyond their own discipline.

The symposia serve as a catalyst to spur engineering innovation and foster collaborative networks of researchers within the United States and between engineers from the United States and partnering countries. The FOE symposia may also serve to increase the visibility of engineering and to highlight the key roles through which engineers serve society.

This award will provide partial support for two Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) symposia, to be held in 2021. These symposia, organized by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in concert with international partner organizations, are for early career researchers. The meetings to be funded by this award in 2021 are: German-American FOE (March, 2021; Oak Ridge, Tennessee); and US FOE (September, 2021; Boulder, Colorado).

The 2021 GAFOE will focus on Quantum Computing, Carbon Capture and Utilization, Manufacturing 4.0, and Biologization (defined as the creation of machines from biological units). Topics for the 2021 US FOE symposium are: Building Resilience to Pandemics, Cybersecurity of Infrastructure, Direct Air Capture for Climate Mitigation, and Engineering the Future of Space Exploration.

Approximately 100 outstanding young engineers for the U.S. symposium and 30 from each country for the bilateral symposium will participate. Each two and a half day symposium will include plenary sessions, break-out and poster sessions, and opportunities for developing collaborative research partnerships. Sessions will consist of presentations on cutting-edge research, innovations, and emerging research opportunities in engineering fields relevant to the symposium.

As the scheduled dates for each symposium approaches, pandemic status assessments will be conducted to determine whether to delay the meeting or convert to a virtual format. If meetings are held virtually, the online platform will be purposely designed to afford robust networking opportunities. FOE symposium papers, abstracts, presentation videos, and slides will be made available on the FOE website (www.naefrontiers.org).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.