Engineering Research Centers

1
Engineering Research Centers

• ERC Program Goals and Features
• and
• Student SWOT Process
• NOTE Use any portions that seem relevant to
  your center and substitute your own centers
  3-plane chart for Chart 8

2
Driving Forces for Creation of NSFEngineering
Research Centers Program

• U.S. industry under threat from foreign
  competitors despite leading scientific excellence
• Globalization of industry and markets
• Disconnect between academe and industry
• Academic engineering has lost its focus on
  systems, integration, and engineering practice
• Graduates took too long to be productive
• ERC Program initiated in 1985 at recommendation
  of the
• National Academy of Engineering and industry

3
Engineering Research Centers ProgramGuiding
Strategic Goals

• Develop centers to integrate disciplines,
  research and education to produce next-generation
  innovations in engineered systems
• Develop new generations of engineers, more
  effective in industry, better positioned to lead
  in a global economy
• Develop partnerships between academe, industry,
  and government to strengthen the competitiveness
  of industry and the Nation

4
Key Features of an ERC

• Strategic vision for advances in a
  next-generation engineered system and new
  generation of engineering leaders in a global
  economy
• Research synthesizing engineering, science, and
  other disciplines, from discovery to
  proof-of-concept
• Educational paradigm integrating research
  education producing new research/educational
  culture and curriculum innovations
• Partnership with industry strengthens the ERC and
  achieves a more effective flow of knowledge into
  innovation to benefit the Nation
• Effective leadership cohesive interdisciplinary
  team diverse in gender, race, and ethnicity
  infrastructure of space, experimental equipment
• Dynamic, flexible program for outreach involving
  faculty and students from other universities and
  colleges
• A commitment from the academic, industrial, and
  other partners to substantially leverage NSFs
  funds and sustain the ERC.

5
An NSF Engineering Research Center A Complex,
Interdependent System
Research
Leadership Management
Students, Faculty Staff
Graduates Knowledge Technology
Vision Strategic Plan
Education
Industrial Collaboration
Industry/ Users
Funds, Equipment, Facilities
6
Defining Characteristics of an ERC Research
Program

• Driven by a vision important for the Nation and
  industry
• Focused on advances in a next-generation
  engineered system
• Strategically planned to address barriers and
  achieve advances in knowledge and technology
• Synthesizes engineering, science, and other
  disciplines,
• Research cycles back and forth from discovery to
  proof-of-concept
• Collaborative research with industry to achieve
  knowledge and technology transfer

7
Role of Engineered Systems in ERCs

• Goals
• Deliver the Goods
• Involve students faculty in technological
  realities
• Ingredients
• Drives and organizes the research
• Requires integration of disciplines to deliver
• Explore through proof-of-concept test beds
• Why
• Prepares graduates for technological innovation

CalTechs Low-Power, Small-Scale Robotic
Sensing System

8
ERC Strategic Framework Its not an ERC if you
dont do all three
Environment/Marketplace
Swarms of Robotic Noses
Low-Power, Small Scale, Robotic Sensory Systems
Identify Societal/ Market Needs, Define System
and System Requirements
Systems Architecture
Integrate nose chip with wind vision sensing
Smell Bot 1
Smell Bot 2
Smell Bot 3
Interface Nose Chips on Robotic Platform
Technology Integration
Integrate Fundamental Knowledge into Enabling
Technology
Nose Chip
Low-power, wireless, robot technology

Plume Tracing Odor Localization Mapping
Technology Base
Sensor Response of Polymeric Materials
Develop Useful Insights from Fundamental Knowledge
Insect Animal Sensing Modalities
Integrate Elect. Chem.Sensing Materials
Knowledge Base
9
ERC Education Programs Goals

• Develop a change in the culture of engineering
  education through team-based research
• Infuse ERCs next-generation engineered systems
  research into the curriculum for students and
  practitioners
• Develop a new generation of leaders who are more
  effective in industry in a global economy
• Increase the diversity of the engineering
  workforce through increased enrollment and
  outreach to predominantly minority institutions
• Attract young students to engineering, advance
  the skills of the technical workforce, etc.,
  through selected outreach/connectivity with other
  institutions

10
Defining Characteristics of an ERCs
Research/Education Culture,Synergy Systems

• Students involved with a university/industry team
  guided by a vision and a strategic plan
• Undergraduates and graduates work in
  interdisciplinary teams
• Capacity to integrate knowledge from science,
  engineering, and other disciplines
• Experience with engineered systems and testbeds
• Capacity to formulate opportunities not just
  solve problems
• Time spent on site in industry, industrial
  mentors, joint projects

11
ERCs Impact on the Curriculum

• Infuse ERCs next-generation engineered systems
  research into the curriculum for students and
  practitioners
• Multi-University ERCs share curriculum and
  facilities as appropriate
• Impact with new or modified courses/course
  modules
• Develop new degree programs or options where
  needed
• Explore multimedia WWW as a delivery mechanism

12
ERCs offer Leadership Opportunities for their
Students

• Involvement with strategic planning
• Leadership Council for the ERC to organize the
  students to fulfill the full potential of their
  ERC
• Annual SWOT analysis of the ERC by students,
  the ERCs customers
• Participation in interdisciplinary teams of
  undergraduates and graduates with industrial
  association
• Mentoring other students
• Leadership, communication, and networking skills
• Self-organizing and self-education skills
• Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

13
Defining Characteristics of ERC Partnerships with
Industry

• A partnership where industry and academe gain
• Primary goals are information exchange,
  technology transfer, and student impact
• A balance between the longer-term strategic
  vision of the ERC and the nearer-term needs of
  industry
• Strong industrial involvement in planning,
  research, and education
• Financial and other support

14
ERCs Prepare Graduates to be Leaders in Industry

• Experience in a culture that integrates knowledge
  generation and technological innovation
• Opportunities for project management
• Opportunities to develop communication skills
  through presentations to industry and NSF site
  visitors
• Internships in industry and close contact with
  potential employers
• SWOT analysis of the performance of the ERC, good
  training for management

15
ERC Graduates Are More Effective in Industry

• Percent industrial supervisors who found ERC
  Graduates Better to Much Better than their
  Peers
• 89 Effectiveness in carrying out job
  responsibilities
• 87 Ability to grasp quickly key features of new
  opportunities
• 85 Depth of technical understanding
• 80 Ability to work in teams
• 71 Ability to integrate knowledge from
  different disciplines
• 70 Improved verbal and written communications,
  networking
• Derived from a survey of the supervisors of ERC
  graduates

16
The SWOT Analysis Process
17
Student SWOT Analysis Joins ERC Students NSF in
Partnership to Strengthen an ERC

• ERC Program uses post-award oversight to
  strengthen the ERCs and terminate weak centers
• Annual and renewal reviews through NSF site
  review teams are the primary source of
  information on the progress of an ERC
• Students meet with the site visit team to provide
  feedback on the progress of the ERC
• Student SWOT analysis is the tool for this
  feedback to NSF and an organized mechanism for
  feedback to the ERCs leadership team
• SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
  Threats

18
SWOT AnalysisAn Industry Tool for Improvement

• S - Strengths (Major)
• W - Weaknesses (Major)
• O - Opportunities (Needed New Dimensions)
• T - Threats (Internal to the ERC)

19
SWOT Analysis Process

• The SLC members convene ERC students to carry out
  a SWOT analysis
• Private meeting of the students
• Students analyze the strengths of the ERCs Key
  Features (Vision, Strategic Plan, Research,
  Education, Industrial Collaboration, Leadership
  Team, Mgt., Equipment/ Space)
• Determine the major strengths
• Determine the major weaknesses
• Determine if the ERC is missing an opportunity to
  capitalize on its strengths to deliver an
  innovation in some key feature
• Determine if there are any serious weaknesses
  internal to the ERC that will be threats to its
  ability to fulfill its vision and goals

20
SWOT Analysis Process/Format

• Narrow down to key key Strengths, Weaknesses,
  Opportunities, and Threats (if there are no
  missed opportunities or threats no need to put
  any down)
• Put them in priority order under each category
• Prepare four viewgraphs (one for each category,
  i.e. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
  Threats)
• Prepare a brief written report with more detail
  on the bullets
• Communicate SWOT findings to the ERC leadership
  team after the meeting and to the NSF site visit
  team during the annual review
• To update, show progress achieved in dealing with
  the prior SWOT findings