University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering: K-12 Programs: Changing the World

Engineers: Changing the World

Some people like to rank the latest songs or movies in a "top-ten" list.

What if you made a list of the top three inventions in the last 100 years? What would you include? Airplanes? TV remotes? The Internet? DNA testing? Microwave ovens? Artificial hearts?

There's an organization called the National Academy of Engineering that has created just such a list, with interesting information to help you understand how they made their choices. Their web site is called The Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century.

Do you agree with their selections? How do their ideas compare with yours? And what would you imagine as the top inventions for the future?

The Greatest Invention of All: The Engineer?
The important point is that all of these inventions change the way people live, and they all come from the same place—an inventor's imagination.

So maybe the greatest invention of all is the engineer: the person who is trained to invent.

Could you be an engineer? To get an idea, visit our Workshops and Summer Programs pages.

Discover Your Inner Engineer!

E@@UMD student with LEGO car

Exploring Engineering at the University of Maryland (E²@UMD) gives high-school women the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities hosted by the Clark School departments. In this experiment, students build a LEGO Mindstorms vehicle that is sensititve to light and touch, and program it to push cans out of a circle while avoiding a deadly drop to the floor!