Design engineering at large

Engineers without Borders

We have started to talk a lot of engineers tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems involving health, agriculture, sanitation and education. And the more we dig, we more we find engineers applying their skills, talent and energy to solving humankind’s problems. One such organization I came across recently is the aptly named Engineers without Borders. Allied with the Rotarians (the folks who brought us Easter Seals), EWB has 200 chapters and 170 projects in 41 countries. Check them out.

Watch designnews.com for more information and stories about the work EWB and other organizations like it are doing. And if you know of engineers doing wonderful things, we’d like to know about it to help and and recognize them.

The DC-3's Connection to Bulldozers

The Wall Street Journal Saturday ran a fabulous piece on the DC-3 airplane, an estimated 500 of which are still flying. Tens of thousands were made, 3,000 during the war effort in the Soviet Union.  What struck my eye was the wing testing when the plane was designed. According to an interview in 1985 with chief designer Arthur Emmons Raymond to celebrate the plane’s 50th birthday,  bulldozers were run over the wings to test their strength. When was the last time you heard about stress testing like that? A cursory check of the web revealed no DC-3 ever crashed from structural failure.  I wonder if I should suggest bulldozers to the 787 stress test folks at Boeing. Famous for their relative size and strength, the DC-3 could glide back to earth even when it was under half power or without it entirely. Here’s one recent account of a crash after an engine failed.  All walked away without serious injury.

The legendary Raymond died at 99 in 1999 and his obituary reads like a veritable (and brief) history of commercial aviation in its formative years. PBS aired an episode on the venerable plane in a series on commercial aviation called “Chasing the Sun” a few years ago. The DC-3 more than any other plane ushered in the era of commercial air travel.

The Amazing Intelligence of Crows

You might have heard of the TED conference where some of the world’s greatest doers

and thinkers hob knob and speak every year in Monterey, Calif. It boasts speakers from Bill Clinton

to fascinating people you have never heard of. For the past two years, TED has posted free videos of the

presentations  and one of my favorities was from Joshua Klein who has studied

the “the amazing intelligence of crows.” Check it out. TED also has a Top Ten video list. That’s what I am working

on next.