About FOE

The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering program brings together through 2-1/2 day meetings a select group of emerging engineering leaders from industry, academe, and government labs to discuss pioneering technical work and leading edge research in various engineering fields and industry sectors. The goal of the meetings is to introduce these outstanding early career engineers to each other, and through this interaction facilitate collaboration in engineering, the transfer of new techniques and approaches across fields, and establishment of contacts among the next generation of engineering leaders.

Learn More About FOE    Getting Invited to FOE    Sponsors    Ligler-Wagoner Challenge

Latest NewsMore News
  • Evolution of Transportation
    Evolution of Transportation
    Thu, May 25, 2023
    Aimee Flannery (GAFOE 2002) with Jacobs Engineering discusses how transportation agencies and departments are looking beyond civil engineers to other skill sets and technologies to evolve transportation systems as they tackle social equity and previously unrealized challenges like extreme weather.
  • Reflected Light Reveals Bacteria in a Drop of Blood
    Reflected Light Reveals Bacteria in a Drop of Blood
    Mon, May 22, 2023
    FOE alum Jennifer Dionne at Stanford has engineered an innovative method that could lead to very fast, inexpensive, and more accurate testing, promising better and faster infection diagnosis, improved antibiotics, safer foods, enhanced environmental monitoring, and faster drug development.
  • The Future of AI
    The Future of AI
    Thu, May 18, 2023
    Computer science engineer Theodora Chaspari (USFOE 2019) at Texas A&M University writes about promising applications of artificial intelligence pertaining to the field of psychological well-being and mental health that must be tempered by ethical considerations.
  • Battery-free Smart Tag Technology
    Battery-free Smart Tag Technology
    Thu, May 11, 2023
    Patrick Mercier (CAFOE 2019) at the University of California, San Diego is engineering a system turns your smartphone into an RFID reader, saving costs and reducing e-waste.
  • This Injectable Biomaterial Heals Tissues From the Inside Out
    This Injectable Biomaterial Heals Tissues From the Inside Out
    Mon, May 08, 2023
    FOE alum Karen Christman at the University of California, San Diego is engineering a biomaterial that is expected to reduce inflammation in tissue and promotes cell and tissue repair following heart attacks, traumatic brain injury, and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
All Events
Upcoming Events
  • Upcoming
    Jul 17 2023 - Jul 20 2023
    The 2023 Japan-America Frontiers of Engineering symposium will be held July 17-20 in Tokyo, Japan. Sixty of the most promising early career engineers from Japan and the United States will meet for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium on developments at the cutting edge of ...
    Tokyo, Japan
  • Upcoming
    Sep 10 2023 - Sep 13 2023
    The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium will be hosted by the University of Colorado, Boulder, September 10-13. About 100 outstanding early career engineers will meet for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium to discuss cutting-edge developments in four areas: ...
    University of Colorado, Boulder
    Boulder, Colorado
  • Upcoming
    Oct 15 2023 - Oct 18 2023
    The 2023 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering symposium will be hosted by Nokia Bell Labs October 15-18 in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Sixty of the most promising early career engineers from the US and EU will meet for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium to discuss cutting-edge ...
FOE ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
  • University of California, Irvine
    Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

    We use tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies to repair or build tissues damaged by injury, disease, aging, or spaceflight. We combine synthetic and biological materials to create new biomaterials; for instance, ancient Mayan ...

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  • California Institute of Technology
    Professor of Chemical and Medical Engineering

    We develop technologies that enable biological research and cell-based medicine by using sound waves to allow cells to be imaged and controlled deep inside the body.

    FOE gave me a chance to hang out with some of the smartest, most inspiring ...

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  • Pennsylvania State University
    Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

    I study the physics of animal swimming at intermediate scales and the transport of large particles in turbulence, particularly in the environment. I am interested the way that animals and inertial particles (e.g. sediment, microplastics, or marine ...

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  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    Group Leader – Energy Systems Analytics

    I develop a digital platform for advanced manufacturing that uses modeling and simulation, real time sensor measurements, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and domain knowledge to ultimately control those systems and produce the next ...

    More More ALUMNI
  • Rivian
    Technical Program Manager

    I investigate transport mechanisms and improvement of electrochemical performance of advanced batteries employing metallic Li anodes, advanced characterization of battery materials, and mechanical properties of solid-state batteries for electric ...

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  • Boeing
    Technical Fellow

    My focus is primarily in high-intensity radiated fields and lightning strike protection. Additionally, I research advanced manufacturing in the age of digital transformation and innovation systems architecture.

    Frontiers of Engineering is ...

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Publications More Publications
  • The NAE typically dedicates the winter issue of The Bridge to papers from The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering US symposium, held in September each year. Because of the covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 US FOE was rescheduled to February 25–26, 2021. This issue presents a selection of papers from the 2020 and 2021 US FOE meetings.

  • This volume includes 12 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2019 US Frontiers of Engineering (US FOE) Symposium held in September 2019. US FOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding early career engineers to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2019 symposium covered four topic areas: Advanced Manufacturing in the Age of Digital Transformation; Engineering the Genome; Self-Driving Cars: Technology and Ethics; and Blockchain Technology. The papers describe leading-edge research on these topics, among others: next-generation robotic locomotion, using CRISPR to combat human disease vectors, the ethics of autonomous vehicles, and blockchain technology. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and participants. This is the 25th volume in the US Frontiers of Engineering series.

  • This volume includes 12 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2018 US Frontiers of Engineering (US FOE) Symposium held in September 2018. US FOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2018 symposium covered four topic areas: Quantum Computers: Are We There Yet?, the Role of Engineering in the Face of Conflict and Disaster, Resilient and Reliable Infrastructure, and Theranostics. The papers describe leading-edge research on these topics, among others: quantum computing, combining formal and informal structures in crisis response, infrastructure resilience, and immune theranostics. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and participants. This is the 24th volume in the US Frontiers of Engineering series.

  • This volume includes 12 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2017 US Frontiers of Engineering (US FOE) Symposium held in September 2017. US FOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2017 symposium covered four topic areas: Machines That Teach Themselves, Energy Strategies to Power Our Future, Unraveling the Complexity of the Brain, and Megatall Buildings and Other Future Places of Work. The papers describe leading-edge research on such topics as whether machines can spot diseases faster than humans, wireless charging of electric vehicles, brain-machine interfaces, and functional natural materials for high-rise structures, among other topics. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and a list of meeting participants. This is the twenty-second volume in the US FOE series. 

  • This volume includes 13 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2016 US Frontiers of Engineering (US FOE) Symposium held in September 2016. US FOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2016 symposium covered four topic areas: Pixels at Scale, Extreme Engineering, Water Desalination and Purification, and Technologies for Understanding and Treating Cancer. The papers describe leading-edge research on such topics as frontiers in virtual reality headsets, autonomous precision landing of space rockets, new materials for emerging desalination technologies, and engineering immunity against cancer, among other topics. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and a list of meeting participants. This is the twenty-third volume in the US FOE series. 

  • This volume includes 14 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2015 US Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) Symposium held in September 2015. USFOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2015 symposium covered four topic areas: Cybersecurity and Privacy, Engineering the Search for Earth-like Exoplanets, Optical and Mechanical Metamaterials, and Forecasting Natural Disasters. The papers describe leading-edge research on such topics as designing materials with unprecedented capabilities, building image-relaying mechanisms to better explore exoplanets, and improving medical device cybersecurity, among other topics. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and a list of meeting participants. This is the twenty-first volume in the USFOE series. 

FeaturesMore Features
  • NAE has teamed with USC Viterbi School of Engineering to launch “The Circuit,” a weekly social-forward news show dedicated to promoting engineering to the public, highlighting engineering stories from academia, industry, government, pop culture, and K-12. This segment's stories include Ant-Man, shapeshifting robots, mole crab robot, future cities, and "first lady of engineering" Yvonne Young Clark.
  • From novel applications of microbes to DEI in engineering to the potential for hydrogen energy, Frontiers of Engineering participants tackle today’s challenging world issues. The winter issue of The Bridge showcases research by early-career engineers as shared at the 2022 US FOE symposium.
  • In a podcast episode, FOE alum Shirley Meng at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago discusses the need to engineer different metals and elements that could last longer and charge faster than our current lithium-ion batteries.
  • NAE member Darryll Pines at the University of Maryland Global Campus and Gregory Washington (USFOE 2004) at George Mason University are assembling nonpartisan, data-driven, research-based faculty experts from engineering and other disciplines to educate our communities about gun violence.