NORMAN AUGUSTINE Anticipating the Questions

Norm Augustine is of two minds about the role of engineers and engineering: “Engineering is certainly a very concrete endeavor, focusing on the here-and-now. It is also a future-oriented discipline. And that duality is reflected in the opportunities and challenges faced by the NAE and the National Academies generally,” he suggests.

The Academies do a good deal of work on current science and technology policy issues, a major portion of which is funded by federal agencies and philanthropic organizations. “But the work that may prove most useful and important involves future issues,” he notes. “It requires ‘thinking over the horizon’ and often means asking questions that federal agencies don’t want asked -- and thus won’t fund.”

As a former Chair of NAE Council and current Chair of the National Academies Philanthropy Council, Norm has a clear perspective on both the capacities and needs of the Academies. “Perhaps our organizations could make do with the funding available from traditional sources -- the federal agencies and foundations that underwrite specific studies; the corporations that provide generic core support. But I do not believe our mission is simply to ‘make do.’ Rather, it is to do our utmost to advance the potential of the science, engineering, and medicine enterprises.”

Given that perspective, it is not surprising that Norm made an early and very generous Campaign gift of $1 million. His gift has endowed a new Fellowship focusing on self-initiated programs at the NAE.

The first Augustine Fellow will be Jordan Baruch, a founding partner in Internet pioneer BBN Corporation, former faculty member at Harvard and Dartmouth, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology. He will help select, guide, and manage the NAE’s portfolio of studies addressing the potential impacts of emerging technologies.

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