2020: The year human ingenuity prevailed

Purdue College of Engineering
Purdue Engineering Review
2 min readJan 12, 2021

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The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines compares to landing the first humans on the moon, Neera Jain states in a Forbes opinion piece published Dec. 28, 2020.

What’s more, the Purdue assistant professor of mechanical engineering cites the vaccine feat as one of “many examples of our collective resilience as we have navigated the pandemic.” Other instances include an Italian hospital introducing a robot nurse to supplement staff communications with infected patients, as well as companies and institutions (such as Purdue) quickly incorporating automation to reimagine their operations.

An expert in automation and human-machine interaction, Jain says that “this year has validated a long-held truth: No matter how advanced our machines become, our unique ingenuity as humans is ultimately what drives our progress — a strength that should never be discounted.”

She concludes, “If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we can solve the monumental challenges facing humanity, together.”

Read the entire article here: 2020: The year human ingenuity prevailed

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