REDEFINING THE ME

摘要

Helen Cole may be the prototype of the new mechanical engineer. She has earned three ME degrees, including a doctorate in solid mechanics that involved optical measurements of physical properties. NASA's Marshall Space Flight. Center then hired her to perform optomechanical analysis in the optics department. She helped the lab build its micro-optics capabilities and collaborated with the U.S. Army on microfabrication. She is now developing applications within NASA for lab-on-a-chip microanalytical devices. Cole is only one of thousands who are stretching the definition of mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineers are actively involved in analyzing the workings of muscle, developing interfaces for artificial nerves, creating virtual reality environments, building nanomachines and medical nanodiagnostics, and even creating realistic physical rules for video games. Alice Agogino, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that mechanical engineers have coded more than half the world's industrial and simulation software. Increasingly, the profession is looking at these trailblazers as it seeks to redefine itself and train MEs for the future. It is perhaps the most intense discussion of its type in a generation. Like similar exercises in the past, it is a dialogue that began with a rising tide of uncertainty about the future.