Science, technology, engineering employment

More than just intuition tells us how important materials are. In 1989 the National Research Council (NRC) prepared a report, Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s (7) that examined in detail the impact of materials science on our national competitiveness. The NRC study surveyed eight major industries that together employed 7 million people in 1987 and had sales of more than 1.4 trillion. Additional millions of jobs in ancillary industries depend on the materials industry. Despite the very different needs for particular materials, the NRC survey also showed a remarkable consistency in generic and technological needs. Every industry surveyed expressed a clear need to produce new and traditional materials more economically and with a higher reproducibility and quality than is currently possible. 

Filipovic has worked hard to break down barriers for women in the fields of engineering and business. In 1974, she became the first female professional engineer employed by a major chemical producing company. The National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, Ontario, has featured her work as part of an exhibit on women inventors. 

Spirits manufacturing is a sophisticated technology, but in general process operations are less complex and demanding as in the case of oil refinery operations. Often the technology may be described as being closer to an art as opposed to an exact science, but clearly engineering principles for distillation, filtration and batchwise type operations are meticulously employed. 

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