Some of the most serious problems we'll face in the next century are ethical issues. In the past, we've built up our infrastructure without looking at long-term consequences. Now we need to consider ethical questions. They're a lot more difficult to answer. For example, take the problem of urban sprawl.
People go where roads are built.
That's why some cities have been placed on a road construction hiatus. Burns believes engineers will continue to play a key role in advancements in quality of life. Throughout history, whenever something needed to be done, engineers were the ones to do it. But those accomplishments are often invisible to the non-engineering community. It's not easy to explain, partly because it is such a broad field.