Healing U.S. Healthcare
The United States spends more than twice as much per capita on healthcare as the average developed country. We have second-to-none teaching hospitals and researchers, and the world’s most advanced medical equipment. Yet Gallup polling since 2001 shows that roughly half of Americans hold a negative view of the healthcare industry. Enrollment in health insurance plans made possible by the Affordable Care Act is falling well below projections. Clearly, there’s a big gap between potential and performance in U.S. healthcare. Can engineers help? James Benneyan thinks so. He’s the founding director of the pioneering Healthcare Systems Engineering Institute at Northeastern University. Engineers are already making big contributions to diagnostics and treatment, as evidenced by the increase in biomedical engineering degrees over the past decade – including a doubling of doctorates. Benneyan’s institute adds another dimension, as Mary Lord’s cover story explains: It brings the tools and skills of industrial and systems engineering to the challenge of improving patient care while lowering costs. In the process, the institute and programs like it are mapping out a new career path for engineers in healthcare.
Most of the attention in making transport more energy efficient has focused on passenger vehicles and, to a lesser extent, aircraft. But big-rig tractor-trailers haven’t been ignored. In its drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is demanding substantially greater fuel efficiency in the years ahead. Tom Gibson’s feature, “Road Warriors,” takes us behind the scenes to research labs at West Virginia University, the University of Michigan, and elsewhere to examine what’s new in engine design, aerodynamics, rolling resistance of tires, and other technologies of the evolving SuperTruck.
While writing about West Virginia University, we couldn’t ignore its starring role in this fall’s big transportation story: the Volkswagen cheating scandal. Henry Petroski, whose Refractions column is a regular Prism feature, brings his gift for explaining technical subjects to Volkswagen’s “defeat device,” which WVU researchers helped to uncover.
We hope you enjoy the November Prism. As always, we welcome your comments.
Mark Matthews
m.matthews@asee.org