The National Academy of Engineering in 2007 brought together a panel of leading people in academia, policy and business with the charge to identify a small number of grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century. This interdisciplinary group concluded that the following 14 areas would be the Grand Challenges of Engineering in the 21st century.
- Make solar energy economical
- Provide energy from fusion
- Develop carbon sequestration methods
- Manage the nitrogen cycle
- Provide access to clean water
- Restore and improve urban infrstaructure
- Advance health informatics
- Engineer better medicines
- Reverse-engineer the brain
- Prevent nuclear terror
- Secure cyberspace
- Enhance virtual reality
- Advance personalized learning
- Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
