Fact Sheet
Engineers Week 2006: NSF Research Highlights

Today's engineers are inspiration for the future

Penelope SIS prepares for her surgical debut. Credit and Larger Version

February 23, 2006

Engineers Week 2006 has arrived, and with it a chance to look back on the breakthroughs and developments engineers delivered in 2005.

NSF has a long history of supporting engineering, devoting more than $550 million dollars last year alone. The results of those investments have been rewarding, as the following 2005 highlights reveal.

Mitigating Damage from Disasters

• Researchers to Present Findings on New Orleans Levee Breaches
  Details of preliminary results released
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104555
  
• Small, Unmanned Aircraft Search for Survivors in Katrina Wreckage
  Hurricane search and rescue is one of first domestic uses of such vehicles
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104453
  
• Earthquake Study Suggests Simple Building Fixes Can Save Lives
  Code enforcement may have prevented dozens of deaths in Turkish temblor
  http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104518
  

Enhancing Human Capability

• Ability, Not Disability, at Heart of Yacht Trek
  Student projects help physically challenged sailors competitively race across Pacific
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104291 (Original story)
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104322 (Team finishes competitively)
  http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_videos.jsp?cntn_id=105832&media_id=57270 (Sailor speaks at National Press Club)
  
• Robot Assistant Reports to Surgery
  Machine lets nurses focus on patient care
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104259
  

Improving Medical Technologies

• Nanoscale Diagnostic Sets Sights on Alzheimer's
  Experimental procedure detects possible traces of disease in cerebrospinal fluid
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100761
  
• Carbon Nanotubes Yield a New Class of Biological Sensors
  Glucose sensor provides real-time readouts without the need to draw blood samples
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100592
  

Promoting Sustainability

• Waves of Power
  New buoys convert the ocean's energy into electricity
  http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104183
  
• Waste Not, Want Not
  Bacteria-driven cell produces hydrogen for fuel while cleaning wastewater
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104098
  

New technologies and techniques

• From Fingerprints to Fiberprints
  Forensic technique leads to new method for creating nanofibers
  http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=105833
  
• Self-Assembling Nano-Electronics Turn a Corner
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104217
  
• Robots: An Exhibition of U.S. Automatons from the Leading Edge of Research
  Machines highlight the WTEC International Study of Robotics
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104421

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Joshua A. Chamot, NSF (703) 292-7730 jchamot@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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