Dimensions of Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies provide the vitality that pervades modern engineering. In this century alone, we have seen the emergence of several new engineering fields—fields like aeronautics, astronautics, telecommunications and television, nuclear, microelectronics, and more recently microelectromechanical systems. Each of these technologies has made its mark both on society, with substantial changes to the very fabric of life itself, and on engineering, through the creation of new disciplines, new levels of understanding, and new approaches to the practice of engineering. The emergence of new technologies will continue, and engineers will adapt to them and change. They will change our approach to engineering education. They will change engineering practice. And they will change our perceptions of ourselves and humanity.