contemporary issue

 
We will define a contemporary issue (CI) to be any unfolding story with an unclear future that engineers and scientists could influence. So, the CI has a technological component to it. Also, the CI has large scope: it could affect many Americans or even has global impact.

For this HW assignment, each individual student needs to do the following:

1. Go to the public library or use a search engine for the popular press to find a recent (this year) substantial article on a CI that interests you and read it. For our purposes, the popular press are magazines, newspapers, etc. devoted to a broad readership. Some examples would be Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Economist.

2. Using MS Word, write a one-page summary of the article. The line spacing, font size, and margins should be similar to this document. Your paper’s title would be “Summary and analysis of ….” and would give the name of the article, its author, and the publication details. Below the title give your name and the date.

3. After the summary, use one additional page to speculate on the future direction of the CI, i.e. what could be the impact to society, business and the economy, etc. Try to speculate on what role engineers and scientists might play in influencing that future.

4. Submit your 2-page document into the “Contemporary Issue” dropbox in D2L ahead of the deadline.

Here are a few examples of Contemporary Issues that seem to fit the bill, but these are not required for you to use. Find something that you find personally interesting.

Commercialization of drones (unmanned aerial vehicles).

Growing awareness of long term effects of concussions from sports

Growing concern of hospital-related infections

Emerging social media-based contract services like Uber and Airbnb