富兰克林·罗斯福曾说:“我们不能总是为我们的青年一代创造美好未来,但我们能够为未来培养我们的青年一代。”这句格言和号召在今天看来再合适不过。当今引领科技的思想家和实干家们提出了14个雄心勃勃的目标,作为工程学的重大挑战。他们认为解决这14个重大挑战是可实现的,而且对维持人类和地球的可持续发展来说也是必需的。笔者有幸成为美国国家工程院研究小组的成员之一。我们的任务就是要认真寻找并确定亟待解决的重大挑战。就像美国工程院院长Mote先生说的,为了人类能 Franklin Roosevelt once said: “We can not always create a better future for our young generation, but we are able to train our young generation for the future.” The motto and call for action today seem to be appropriate. Today’s leading technology thinkers and doers have set forth 14 ambitious goals as a major engineering challenge. They believe that the solution to these 14 major challenges is achievable and necessary to sustain the sustainable development of mankind and the planet. I was fortunate to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering research team. Our task is to seriously look for and identify the major challenges to be solved. As Mote, Dean of the US Academy of Engineering, said for humanity