PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University’s School of Engineering has joined over 120 institutions in a national initiative to train engineers expressly to handle some of the most pressing issues facing society in the 21st century.

These “Grand Challenges,” identified through initiatives such as the White House Strategy for American Innovation, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges for Engineering, and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, include complex yet critical goals such as engineering better medicines, making solar energy cost-competitive with coal, securing cyberspace, and advancing personalized learning tools to deliver better education to more individuals.

“Brown is in a perfect place to help lead this initiative,” said Lawrence Larson, dean of the School of Engineering. “We have strong and growing programs in biomedical, electrical, environmental, computer, chemical, mechanical, and materials engineering and an active research program in the area of alternative energy and fuels. The recently opened Brown Design Workshop and close interactions with faculty give our students the hands-on education they need to excel.”

A letter of commitment, with signatories from 122 institutions from the United States and Canada, was presented to President Barack Obama on March 23, 2015. The goal of the initiative is to train more than 20,000 formally recognized “Grand Challenge Engineers” over the next decade.