2024-2025 Topics
Each year our topics represent important challenges from business, civics, society, science, and technology.
Practice Problem #1
Food Security
How might food security issues of availability, access, and affordability essential for living a healthy life impact society in the future?
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Nutritious food is a basic human need. While global food production has expanded, approximately one in three people remain food insecure. Food availability – how much food exists – is the first hurdle to feeding the global population.
Food security is different in every place and yet impacts every society. Infrastructure, environmental conditions, and political stability can all have significant impacts on the production of food. Environmental events such as droughts and rising sea levels also impact existing food sources. Economic, legal, and social barriers may thwart access to available food. Political conflicts, for example, interrupt supply chains and divert food away from those in need. Even when there is enough food available, and people have access to it, their food security may be threatened by the safety of the food.
Practice Problem #2
Rising Sea Levels
How might rising sea levels impact our coastlines, industries, and people's lives in the future?
Two processes cause sea-level rise: thermal expansion (ocean water expansion as it heats up) and additional water flow into oceans from ice that melts on land. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports that sea levels have risen by 0.19m since the beginning of the 20th Century. Sea level rise will continue for centuries, if not thousands of years, after greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized due to the long lag times involved in warming the oceans and ice sheets’ response, possibly affecting over 400 million people.
Historically, human civilizations have responded to the risk of rising sea levels with retreat and adaptation. As our cities have become more permanent in modern times, defensiveness is the preferred strategy. The adequate protection of low-lying regions and coastal cities from flooding, land loss, water-logging, and groundwater salinity is costly and technologically complex. Small island nations are most vulnerable to the relocation of coastal communities. Sea level rise is already occurring around the globe at unprecedented rates. The challenges will only continue to grow in the next few decades. It is important for scientists and engineers to work directly with communities to create policies that work for the unique circumstances of each vulnerable coastline.
Qualifying Problem
Agricultural Industry
How might the agricultural industry adapt to the needs of feeding a growing world population in the future?
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Agriculture is a complex, multi-faceted industry which impacts societies worldwide via the economy, the environment, and most importantly human development. Agriculture is based on the science of cultivating plants, animals, and other life forms for food, fiber, and fuel.
For thousands of years, farming practices have evolved in the use of land, crops, and technology. Small farms, with farmers caring for the land and its inhabitants, are increasingly rare, as most of the world’s food is produced on an industrial scale. Industrial agriculture brings high-yield crops, often requiring extreme land exploitation and increased chemical applications. These advances in agriculture have made nutritious food more affordable and accessible. While the agricultural industry in place today is sufficient to feed the current population of planet Earth, it is also affecting the overall health of the planet.
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Agricultural industry is not only a vital component of global economies, but also a critical driver of environmental impact and social development. It encompasses a wide range of activities, from crop cultivation to livestock management. It provides food, textiles and biofuels to a growing population. While industrial agriculture has improved crop yields and increased accessibility and affordability, past and current farming practices have raised concerns related to sustainability. As the world’s largest consumer of water and land, agriculture must seek sustainable farming practices to ensure its survival. The excessive use of these resources raises questions about the long-term viability of current agricultural practices. Addressing challenges will require innovative approaches, sustainable farming practices, and lastly, an analysis of how we produce and consume food.
State Bowl
Nanotechnology
How might the use of nanotechnology in medicine, healthcare, and other industries affect humanity in the future?
Nanotechnology deals with dimensions and tolerances of less than 100 nanometers. A single strand of human hair, for scale, is typically 100,000 nanometers thick! At this scale, individual atoms of larger materials can be manipulated. Placing atoms as though they were bricks, nanotechnology has the potential to give control over the structure of matter, allowing us to build powerful, yet microscopic substances.
Nanotechnology is widely used in food industries, medicine, energy, automobiles, the environment, electronics, textiles, and cosmetics. Nanotechnology has direct benefits for medicine and the environment, but it may have unintended effects, like all technologies. Nanoparticles of typically unharmful materials, for example, can be toxic if inhaled. Not easily observed, nanotechnology poses risks to security and privacy.