the mathematicians on the Board, Robert Simpson Woodward, was actually trained and early on practiced as a civil engineer. The Academy's response was to move forward with the idea of achieving Academy control over the provision of technical services to the Government by means of formal recognition of the role played by the National Research Council (NRC) established the next year in 1916. Later in 1918, Wilson formalized the NRC's existence under Executive Order 2859. Wilson's order declared the function of the NRC to be in general: "(T)o stimulate research in the mathematical. physical, and biological sciences. and in the application of these sciences to engineering, agriculture. medicine. and other useful arts. with the object of increasing knowledge, of strengthening the national defense, and of contributing in other ways to the public welfare." In 1960, Augustus Braun Kinzel, an engineer with the Union Carbide Corporation and a member of the Academy, stated that the "..engineering profession was considering the establishment of an academy of engineering..." confirmed by the Engineers Joint Council of the national engineering societies to afford themselves of opportunities and services similar to those the Academy provided in science. The question being, whether to affiliate with the National Academy or set up a separate Academy. During the past century of the Academy's existence, engineers had been part of the founding members and a sixth of its membership, the founding of the National Research Council in 1916 with the assistance of the Engineering Foundation, the contributions of the NRC Division of Engineering in the post-World War I period, the presidency of engineer Frank B. Jewett during World War II. In short, "...the ascendancy of science in the public mind since World War I had been partly at the expense of the prestige of the engineering profession." (See also.) The Academy worked with the Engineers Joint Council led by President Eric Arthur Walker as the prime mover, to make plans to establish a new National Academy of Engineering that's independent, with a congressional charter of its own. Walker noted that this moment offered a "...singular opportunity for the engineering profession to participate actively and directly in communicating objective advice to the government..." on engineering matters related to national policy. A secondary function was to recognize distinguished individuals for their engineering contributions. Ultimately, the initial organizers decided to create the Academy of Engineering as part of the National Academy of Sciences