Enabling American Innovation: Engineering and the National Science FoundationPurdue University Press, 1998 - 375 pages Engineering and science are often spoken of in the same breath, as almost interchangeable parts of a great national striving for technical excellence, achievement, and prestige. But science and engineering also live in a sort of antithetical intellectual rival, often argued in value-laden expressions of pure versus applied science. Enabling American Innovation traces engineers' struggle to win intellectual, financial, and organizational recognition within the National Science Foundation (NSF), a federal agency formed in 1950 to support basic scientific research. The tools and arguments of this struggle altered over time, but engineers continued to assert the value of their contribution, usually measured in comparative budgetary terms, and philosophical debates, as they were played out through organizational manipulation. By the 1980s, NSF leaders agreed that engineering and science should enjoy an equal and mutually beneficial relationship within the NSF. This fascinating story unfolds within the context of the evolution of the engineering profession, national politics, and the external pressures of the cold war and global economic competition. In spite of, and because of, these forces the NSF evolved and came to promote an interdisciplinary focus and systems orientation, thus becoming an active agent in supporting the acquisition of knowledge and putting it to use. |
Table des matières
| 24 | |
| 52 | |
| 76 | |
THE RANN YEARS FRUITFUL BESET AND BRIEF | 105 |
INTERREGNUM Searching for a Place | 124 |
BY ANY NAME ENGINEERING | 155 |
RESOURCES AND POLICIES FOR FULL PARTNERSHIP | 177 |
ACTING ON THE MANDATE | 211 |
National Science Foundation Heads of Engineering in Varying Organizational Configurations 195190 | 271 |
Engineering Research Centers to 1990 | 273 |
Engineers Serving on the National Science Board 195190 | 275 |
Statistical Figures NSF Spending | 277 |
ABBREVIATIONS | 281 |
NOTES | 285 |
NOTES ON SOURCES | 331 |
INDEX | 359 |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Enabling American Innovation: Engineering and the National Science Foundation Dian Olson Belanger Affichage d'extraits - 1998 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
academic Advisory Committee agency applied research Applied Science April Atkinson basic research Benjamin Henry Latrobe Bloch Branscomb Chemical Chemical Engineering Committee on Science Daddario earthquake engineering economic electrical emphasized Engi Engineering Education Engineering Research Centers Engineering Sciences engineering's Erich Bloch federal finite element analysis Foundation's funding gineering Goals Guyford Stever Haworth IEEE Spectrum industry Institute interdisciplinary IRRPOS January legislative Lomask materials McElroy mechanical Memorandum ment million mission National Academy National Needs National Science Board National Science Foundation neering November NSB Subject Files NSF Annual Report NSF Budget NSF engineering NSF's October Office AD/Eng organizational percent Policy political Press problems Project Mohole projects proposals RANN File RANN's reorganization Research Applications science and engineering Science and Technology scientific scientists sess Stever Subcommittee on Science superconducting technical Technology and Culture tion University Vannevar Bush Walker Washington Waterman WNRC
Fréquemment cités
Page 128 - National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976.
Page 288 - Alex Roland, Model Research: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 1915-1958, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1985), p. 2; "Aeroplanes to Be Put to a Government Test," New York Times, 28 June 1908, part 5, p.
Page 134 - At the same time, the National Research and Resource Facility for Submicron Structures...
Page 49 - Not only the nation's security but its long-term health and economic welfare, the excellence of its scientific life, and the quality of American higher education are now fatefully bound up with the care and thoughtfulness with which the Government supports research.
Page 59 - RESOLVED that the National Science Board considers that intellectual pursuits at educational institutions intended to advance significantly the basic engineering capabilities of the country are eligible for support by the National Science Foundation as basic research in the Engineering Sciences. Such work must be of a true scientific nature and not routine engineering practice, and must meet the usual NSF standards of originality and excellence.
Page 8 - We need, then, a school, not for boys, but for young men whose early education is completed, either in college or elsewhere, and who intend to enter upon an active life as engineers or chemists, or in general, as men of science, applying their attainments to practical purposes...
Page 186 - I am increasingly concerned whether our science and engineering education is adequate, both in quality and in numbers of graduates, for our long-term needs. Accordingly I would like you to carry out a review of our science and engineering education policies at the secondary and university levels to ensure that we are taking measures that will preserve our national strength.
Page 288 - Roger L. Geiger, To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities, 1900-1940 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 270-71. 35. Roger L. Geiger, "The 'Superior Instruction of Women...
Page 99 - State of the Union message on "harnessing 'the discoveries of science in the service of man.
Page 78 - Foundation is authorized to initiate and support scientific research, including applied research, at academic and other nonprofit institutions. When so directed by the President, the Foundation is further authorized to support, through other appropriate organizations, applied scientific research relevant to national problems involving the public interest.