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Committee on Assessing Corrosion Education
Summary
The National Materials Advisory Board is convening a committee to assess the level and effectiveness of existing engineering curricula in corrosion science and technology, including corrosion prevention and control, and recommend actions that could enhance the corrosion-based skill and knowledge base of graduating and practicing engineers.
Background
The U.S. industrial complex and associated infrastructure are essential to the nation's quality of life, industrial productivity, international competitiveness, and security. Each component of the infrastructure-such as highways, airports, water supply, waste treatment, energy supply, and power generation-represents a complex system requiring significant investment. Within that infrastructure both the private and government sectors have equipment and facilities that are subject to degradation by corrosion that results in a significant reduction in the lifetime, reliability, and functionality of structures and equipment, as well as posing threats to human safety--not least of all from undetected corrosion. As documented in the report Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States the direct costs of corrosion to the U.S. economy represent 3.2 percent of the U.S. GDP, and the total costs to society can be twice that or greater not to mention the costs of human health and national economic sustainability based on deteriorating infrastructure, equipment and machinery. Opportunities for savings through improved corrosion control are possible in every economic sector. [For further information see http://www.corrosioncost.com/home.html.]
Notwithstanding the critical issue of the nation's aging infrastructure, improved corrosion control and management practices fall victim to the shortfall between the required investment and available revenues. While improved cost-effective corrosion management procedures could significantly extend the service life of existing systems, and reduce maintenance costs and replacement requirements, the value of these preventive strategies has often not been recognized and the strategies remain unapplied. Two major barriers to realizing significant savings are a broad lack of awareness of corrosion costs and the potential savings, and a widely held misconception that nothing can be done about corrosion.
An essential element in developing improved corrosion control and management practices throughout the national infrastructure is better education of the nation's engineers. In this regard, an assessment of the corrosion education curriculum in undergraduate engineering schools is timely. Such an assessment should include an analysis of the curriculum's effectiveness and adequacy, and an identification of suggestions and strategies for improving the education of the engineers of the 21st century.
This need has been recently recognized in the FY2007 Department of Defense a. It states the following:
The committee directs the Secretary of Defense, working through the Department of Defense Corrosion Executive and the Department of Defense Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office, to commission a study by the National Academy of Sciences to assess undergraduate corrosion education in engineering programs and develop recommendations for curricula that could enhance the corrosion-based skill and knowledge base of graduating engineers.
Advances in durability, and the savings that accrue thereby, are more likely to be realized with an engineering workforce that is capable of understanding the fundamental principles of corrosion science and applying them using engineering techniques. There are great opportunities in three areas:
- Advance design practices for better corrosion management;
- Advance life prediction and performance assessment methods; and
- Advance corrosion technology through research, development, and implementation.
Systemic and programmatic changes are required at both the research and development phases, as well as in the technology and implementation phases. Strategies for making technological advances and developing best practices in technology and management will depend on:
- Understanding current design practices for corrosion control;
- Utilizing methods for predicting materials life and performance;
- Exploiting advanced technologies in the research, development and implementation of new, better corrosion resistant systems; and
- Developing strategies for realizing the savings.
The ability of the nation’s technology base to develop these methodologies and technologies depends on an engineering workforce that has a strong understanding of the physical and chemical bases for corrosion, as well as an engineering understanding of the issues of corrosion and corrosion abatement.
Study Plan
A committee of the National Academies will be convened to
1. Assess the level and effectiveness of existing engineering curricula in corrosion science and technology, including corrosion prevention and control, and
2. Recommend actions that could enhance the corrosion-based skill and knowledge base of graduating and practicing engineers.
In carrying out this charge the committee will consider issues such as
- Assessing the current knowledge base of recent engineering graduates in the United States working in corrosion prevention and control;
- Surveying the U.S. undergraduate environment with respect to corrosion prevention and control, including determining the location and level of teaching programs on corrosion prevention and control as well as on corrosion resistant technologies and materials;
- Reviewing the ABET (formerly Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technologies) curricular requirements for corrosion prevention and control;
- Considering whether the number of teaching programs and the total breadth of those programs are sufficient to produce adequate numbers of graduates with the required level of training; and
- Assessing the need for a stronger focus on corrosion prevention and control in undergraduate institutions.
The committee shall also consider previous work on this issue carried out by former NRC panels, NACE International (The National Association of Corrosion Engineers) and its foundation, the DoD Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office, and other appropriate agencies. It shall also draw upon previous reports such as U.S. Federal Highway Administration's 2001 report Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States and the proceedings of the NRC workshop on corrosion education to be held in early 2007. [For a copy of the report from the Materials Forum 2007 – Corrosion Education in the 21st Century see http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11948.] The committee’s final report is expected to be released by the fall of 2008.
Committee Membership
Wesley L. Harris, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chair
Ralph Adler, Army Research Laboratory
Gordon P. Bierwagen, North Dakota State University
Dianne Chong, The Boeing Company
George E. Dieter, University of Maryland
Fiona M. Doyle, University of California, Berkeley
David J. Duquette, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Gerald S. Frankel, The Ohio State University
Richard B. Griffin, Texas A&M
Sylvia M. Johnson, NASA Ames Research Center
Frank E. Karasz, University of Massachusetts
Ronald M. Latanision, Exponent, Inc.
Glenn N. Pfendt, A. O. Smith Protective
Lee W. Saperstein, Missouri University of Science and Technology
John R. Scully, University of Virginia
Gary S. Was, University of Michigan
The biographies of the committee can be viewed at the NRC’s Current Projects System.
Meetings
The first meeting of the committee on Assessing Corrosion Education (ACE) was held in Washington, DC on June 20 and 21 at the National Academies Keck Center.
The second meeting of the committee on Assessing Corrosion Education (ACE) was held in Detroit, Michigan on September 17-18, 2007 at the Sheraton Detroit Riverside.
The third meeting of the committee on Assessing Corrosion Education (ACE) was held in Irvine, CA on December 17-19, 2007 at the National Academies Beckman Center
The fourth meeting of the committee on Assessing Corrosion Education (ACE) will be held in Woods Hole, MA on April 29-30, 2008 at the National Academies J. Erik Jonsson Center.
The agendas for these meetings, as they become available, can be viewed at the NRC’s Current Projects System.
Community Input
The ACE study will actively pursue community comments and feedback. Please consider submitting your thoughts directly to the committee at corrosion@nas.edu. Please bear in mind that all information submitted to the committee in writing will be made publicly available.
The second ACE plenary meeting was held on the margins of the 2007 MS&T meeting in Detroit, MI on September 17-18. Sessions on September 17th after 9:45 am were open to the public. For more information email corrosion@nas.edu. The ACE committee will host a community town hall meeting at the 2008 Annual TMS Meeting in New Orleans on March 11th 2008 and at the NACE International annual meeting also in New Orleans the following week (date to be announced). For more information email corrosion@nas.edu.
Staff
Michael H. Moloney, Senior Program Officer and Study Director
Emily Ann Meyer, Program Officer
Teri Thorowgood, Administrative Coordinator
National Materials Advisory Board
500 Fifth Street, NW
Keck WS 938
Washington, DC 20001
Tel: (202) 334-3505
Fax: (202) 334-3718
E-mail: corrosion@nas.edu
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