The Journal of Fluids Engineering (JFE), an archival publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), has made available online the accepted manuscript Centennial Celebration of the Fluids Engineering Division (FED), commemorating 100 years of the ASME FED. The wide-ranging manuscript brings together the Division’s institutional history, technical evolution, publications, conferences, professional activities, and future directions in a single comprehensive account of its first century.
The Centennial publication also reflects on the forces that shaped fluids engineering. Drawing together material from publications, conference proceedings, organizational records, and historical accounts, the manuscript traces a century of technical and professional evolution. Across that period, the field grew from its roots in hydraulics and machinery-centered practice into modern fluids engineering, transformed by advances in experimentation and computation and by the changing relationships among research, education, and engineering practice.
Having documented the Division’s first century, the manuscript turns in its final major chapter, ‘Future Trends in Technology Development,’ from historical record to future possibility. For its future-focused chapter, seven FED members were invited to provide perspectives in their respective areas of expertise on developments expected to shape fluids engineering beyond the Centennial year. Professor Ivana Milanovic of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Acoustical Engineering authored two of these invited perspectives, addressing the future of fluids engineering education and the expanding role of CFD as an engineering literacy.
In ‘Undergraduate & Graduate Education in Fluids Engineering,’ Milanovic examines how fluids engineering education has evolved alongside the discipline itself. The contribution traces the progression from the hands-on hydraulics laboratories and empirical tools of the early twentieth century, through the computational transformation of engineering education, to today’s simulation-rich curricula. Looking ahead, Milanovic considers the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, data-driven modeling, and multidisciplinary engineering while emphasizing the continuing importance of mathematical foundations, physical reasoning, communication, and engineering judgment.
Her second contribution, ‘CFD and the Emerging Literacy of the New Norm,’ coauthored with Professor Pratap Vanka of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, examines the changing role of CFD in engineering education. What began as a specialized research capability has become increasingly accessible in the classroom and in engineering practice. The contribution presents CFD as an emerging form of engineering literacy, enabling engineers to interrogate physical systems, test assumptions, and develop engineering understanding through simulation.
The perspective extends this idea toward cognitive literacy as engineers increasingly work alongside artificial intelligence. In this new environment, computational and AI tools expand the possibilities for engineering exploration while placing even greater importance on physical reasoning, interpretation, verification, and engineering judgment.
Together, Milanovic’s two contributions examine a central question for the second century of fluids engineering: how should engineers learn, reason, and work as increasingly powerful computational and intelligent tools become part of engineering practice?