the draper prize is often referred to as the nobel prize of engineering. this year it went to four pioneers of the liquid crystal display. lcds are on your smartphone and tv. they use the energy much more efficiently than earlier display technologies did. lcds are a large part of the reason you can watch an entire movie on your hand held device without the battery dying. and the four draper prize winners were cited for their accomplishments in the 1960s and '70s. technology that's now utilized in billions of consumer and professional devices. for those accomplishments, i salute the winners, but they had to learn their skills somewhere and that's what the national academy of engineers gordon prize celebrates. they're being honored for leading innovation in engineering and technological education.