Saying goodbye to 2021. As tough as 2021 was for many, it does stand as an incredible year for positive Engineering impacts. Some noteworthy mentions form a list of reflections.
- HEALTH: The “Lead” has to be the Engineering impact on fighting Covid-19: Mass production of novel mRNA vaccines (and other ‘traditional’ vaccine types too), development and launch of new anti-viral therapies, and an explosion of diagnostic tools. In ~5 years, there will be Business School case studies on success stories, with Engineering ‘can-do’ at their core.
- CLIMATE: while the march into global climate warming is disturbing, a renewed dialogue about country commitments and maturing use of computational-analytics models offers new hope that the understanding/forecasting/action will improve. (See Steven Koonin’s 2021 book “Unsettled?” for useful context on scientific facts, if you can sidestep his media-politix paranoia.) And ‘big-thinkers’ are getting more specific (and more +/- attention) on potential globe-engineering approaches.
- ENERGY: in the chaotic scramble to come up with practical cleaner alternatives, some engineers made progress on fuel-cell storage technologies and better processing (see Hybrit steel-making innovation) while others grasp at more <questionable?> extremes (mini nuclear reactors)
- INFRASTRUCTURE: with the backdrop of difficult working constraints (see Covid-19), amazing transportation and office/residence projects continue to be built, with notable vigor especially in China (DJI HQ in Shenzen) and India (Mumbai rail extensions). And of course, Mr Musk’s continuing impact (Tesla Gigafactory Berlin on the ground, and SpaceX Falcon/Dragon in the air).
- EQUIPMENT: Final build-out and launch of the James Webb Space Telescope reminds us that Engineering Earth includes extending our known horizon. Among other benefits of the JWST, our species will be able to ‘look’ further back in time, to better understand how all this matter and energy plays together.
Turning the page to 2022, let’s resolve to make that Engineering impact positive, not because we can, but also because we want to. And I’ll be cheering on my global colleagues. I know I’ll be reading about some of their accomplishments regularly in familiar places.
