Theme 3: Engineering systems:

Critical infrastructure & logistics

Professor Laura Albert McLay

A system is a set of things—people, cells, molecules or whatever—interconnected in such

a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time.

—Donella Meadows

What is a system?

Transportation, critical infrastructure, power and energy, systems that connect people across cities, states, countries

We will focus on large-scale engineered systems

Critical infrastructure* meanssystems and assets so vital to the United States that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national and/or public health or safety

- Patriot Act

* it’s not just for civil engineers! My these has something for everyone, especially electrical, computer, industrial, mechanical, civil, and environmental.

Critical infrastructure has been around for a long time!

Aqueducts, concrete columns, and roads courtesy of Ancient Rome!

Our world is becoming increasingly urban and increasingly connected

http://www.megacities.uni-koeln.de/

Logistics

Logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers.

Logistics is about creating "people systems" rather than "machine systems"

Some of the engineering grand challenges are systems challenges

• Restore and improve urban infrastructure• Prevent nuclear terror• Secure cyberspace

• Advance health informatics• Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

How to move people around using a systems approach?

The Power Grid

Power systems are vulnerable!

Creating a smart grid:Every aspect of the power grid needs improvement

When things go wrong…Disasters & homeland security

Remember Theme 3: Engineering systems:

Critical infrastructure & logistics