NAE-AAES Convocation and AAES General Assembly Meeting

On April 24th, I had the privilege of attending the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) Convocation and the AAES General Assembly meeting in Washington, DC. I was at these events as a representative of the International Society of Automation (ISA). More information about the event, including a recording of the webcast, is available on the AAES website.

The National Academy of Engineering, a private, independent, nonprofit institution, provides engineering leadership. Its mission is to advance the well-being of the nation by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide the federal government with independent advice on engineering and technology.

AAES is a multidisciplinary organization of engineering societies dedicated to advancing the knowledge, understanding, and practice of engineering. Its mission is to serve as one voice for the U.S. engineering profession. ISA is a member of AAES.

The principal topic of the convocation was artificial intelligence and ethics associated with autonomous vehicles. Subra Suresh (President of Carnegie Mellon University) gave the opening keynote address. Two presentation sessions followed.

The first session addressed some of the technical challenges and recent developments. It included presentations from Boeing, Caterpillar, IEEE, and various universities. The developing subjects of IIoT and industrial security figured prominently in these presentations, and a major recurring theme was the potential implications for the automation profession.

We are all aware of the rapid pace of technology development in autonomous vehicles and related areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. There is a steady stream of articles, papers and other coverage of the technical aspects of this subject, but the convocation balanced this by examining some of the “soft” issues, such as the ethics associated with these developments and their application. This is very timely, since it is essential that our profession consider the implications of this technology, consistent with our ethical obligations.

The second session of the day was devoted to an examination of ethics and autonomous vehicles. It included presentations on subjects such as “Why Engineers Really Need Ethics to Design Automated Vehicles,” “Implications of Autonomous Vehicles for Trip–Making and Society,” and “Earning Trust and Evaluating Trustworthiness.”

An awards dinner followed. Each award recipient has made significant contributions to the engineering community and provide an excellent role model for those in the profession. These contributions have been in areas ranging from public policy to research, technology and technical journalism. The range of awards and the achievements recognized demonstrate the extent to which our profession contributes to society, both nationally and internationally.

Specific examples include:

• Vilas S. Mujumdar received the Kenneth Andrew Roe Award, in part for “…representing U.S. engineers to the World Federation of Engineering Organizations and as a member in the Pan American Academy of Engineers.”
• In the area of education, Dr. Ainissa G. Ramirez received the Norm Augustine Award in recognition of “… her clear passion to make engineering and science understandable to young people and the general public enabled by a splendid talent to communicate in an articulate, engaging, and meaningful manner via social media, the web, books, periodicals, and broadcasting.”
• The AAES Engineering Journalism Award was given to Mike Lindblom of the Seattle times, for “… educating the public on the critical role civil engineers play in managing a mega project…” I found this award to be particularly interesting, as it recognizes the importance of communicating to the public just how important the engineering profession is in our society.

It was gratifying to see how these organizations are working to advance and promote the engineering professions and their contributions to society. As with other professionals, engineers can benefit from having a professional “home” where they can interact with their peers and learn more about emerging practices and technologies. The National Academy of Engineering and AAES societies fill this need very well.