ABSTRACT
President Clinton issued a statement for National Engineers’ Week of February 1999 that included the following comment: ‘American Engineers have made numerous contributions to our society . . . Yet, for all of its influence on our modern world, the engineering profession remains a mystery to many Americans.’1 This very brief comment makes two major points: engineers’ work has significant impact and to many the engineering profession is almost invisible. These points provide the rationale for the overview that follows.
