This volume includes 16 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2005 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) Symposium held in September 2005. USFOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2005 symposium covered four topic areas: ID and verification technologies, engineering for developing communities, engineering complex systems, and energy resources for the future. A paper by dinner speaker Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is also included. The papers describe leading-edge research on face and human activity recognition, challenges in implementing appropriate technology projects in developing countries, complex networks, engineering bacteria for drug production, organic-based solar cells, and current status and future challenges in fuel cells, among other topics. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and a list of meeting participants. This is the eleventh volume in the USFOE series.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
ID AND VERIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES: Introduction
Ongoing Challenges in Face Recognition
Designing Biometric Evaluations and Challenge Problems for Face-Recognition Systems
Large-Scale Activity-Recognition Systems
ENGINEERING FOR DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES: Introduction
Challenges in the Implementation of Appropriate Technology Projects: The Case of the DISACARE Wheelchair Center in Zambia
Engineering Inputs to the CDC Safe Water System Program
Sustainable Development Through the Principles of Green Engineering
Science and Engineering Research That Values the Planet
ENGINEERING COMPLEX SYSTEMS: Introduction
Complex Networks: Ubiquity, Importance, and Implications
The Promise of Synthetic Biology
Population Dynamics of Human Language: A Complex System
Agent-Based Modeling as a Decision-Making Tool
ENERGY RESOURCES FOR THE FUTURE: Introduction
Future Energy
Organic Semiconductors for Low-Cost Solar Cells
Research and Development at the U.S. Department of Energy on Hydrogen Production and Storage
Fuel Cells: Current Status and Future Challenges
DINNER SPEECH: Engineering for a New World
Appendix: Contributors
Appendix: Program
Appendix: Participants