Mounting a successful application to NSF to establish an ERC is a major undertaking, requiring substantial coordination of many faculty from different disciplines. The faculty involved in developing the ERC may already have a vision for new interdisciplinary courses or even a new degree program, and the ERC can help solidify the interactions that lead to course development and administration. The role of the ERC is that of a catalyst; the resources provided by NSF are relatively small compared to those needed to develop and maintain an entire academic program. Still, the catalyst serves an essential role, and there are examples of ERC programs that have provided the necessary impetus for creation of new degree programs. Degree programs may start as minor degrees, specializations, concentrations, or certificate programs and then evolve into new BS degree programs as the academic infrastructure grows through addition of resources from outside the ERC. The role the ERC plays in developing new degree programs at an institution depends strongly on how intellectually developed the field already is at the time the ERC is funded. If the area is new and just evolving, the ERC may lay the foundation for development of a program that comes to fruition after the graduation of the ERC from NSF support. If the ERC is funded in an area where faculty members are already offering interdisciplinary courses, a degree program may evolve more quickly.

New degree programs require substantial long-term institutional resources and commitment. Institutions have a responsibility to ensure that students are well prepared for life after the degree, and thus typically want extensive intellectual justification for how new programs will allow students to adapt to jobs in industry or academia. A very important role of the ERC in the evolution of new degree programs is to stimulate the development of new courses, particularly interdisciplinary courses. These courses may provide the intellectual basis for a new degree program.

Finally, in addition to a formal curriculum, ERC staff can help with professional development of students by serving as sponsoring administrative units for undergraduate professional society activities, providing essential links to industry contacts, and helping arrange seminars and company visits.

4.4.1 New and Modified Courses

Developing new courses is the first step toward integrating the ERC research objectives into the formal education process. The philosophical and administrative aspects of course development vary widely from institution to institution. At some institutions it may be possible for an ERC staff member to serve as the prime mover. At other institutions, faculty members serve in this role. Ultimately, the university is responsible for paying faculty to teach the course, and for providing additional infrastructure if the course is a lab subject. Thus, courses must fit the overall educational objectives of the degree programs at the institution.

ERC nonfaculty staff, in developing undergraduate and graduate courses, should find the following tips helpful:

• Find an interested professor to be a champion for developing the new course.
  
• Pay the professor and a student helper to develop the course; or arrange with the professor's department chairperson to give the professor given teaching reduction so that he/she can develop the new course.
  
• Beta test course materials.
  
• Work on mechanisms to offer credit for students to take the course at other ERC universities if your ERC is a multi-university center.
  
• Find a vehicle, such as CD, web, or book, for wider distribution of course materials.

In institutions where ERC faculty bear this responsibility, faculty can take advantage of these suggestions, which build on years of hands-on experience:

• Discuss your idea for a new course with your department head or undergraduate curriculum committee. If the new course is an elective in a hot field and you can demonstrate that students will flock to this course, the department will likely be supportive of your plans to develop it. For untenured faculty, development of a signature course can be a very positive factor in your promotion case.
  
• If preliminary discussions are positive, determine whether you will be provided with long-term support for teaching the subject. Developing a new course requires a great deal of work, so one should make sure it can be taught several times.
  
• Find a mechanism for supporting your time in developing the course, and for providing appropriate support, such as teaching assistants. If there is no textbook available (likely), course development requires a substantially greater investment of time than teaching an established course does. Foundation and government grants are available for new course development, and can be identified by asking colleagues.

4.4.2 New Degree Programs

4.4.2.1 Undergraduate Minors

Minor degrees give students the opportunity to develop depth in areas outside their major degrees. The rules for offering minors, as well as student participation in minor programs, vary widely from institution to institution. At some schools interdisciplinary minors are a means to evolve the curriculum toward a new undergraduate major by providing a testbed for courses and development of student professional societies; other schools are not geared toward interdisciplinary minors. If the center is in a cutting-edge research area, and students are excited about a minor degree in the area, chances are it can develop a successful minor even if there are institutional barriers. The key is to build on student interest and enthusiasm. Here are some important considerations:

• The first step is to define the intellectual content of your minor-what is essential for students to learn, and how many subjects are required? Are there subjects already offered that could fit the minor, or do you need to develop several new courses?
  
• Determine which academic unit is the best home for the minor, whether a single department, a pair of departments, a school or college, or the whole university. An academic unit will be required to handle the administrative details if the minor appears as a degree designation, and the academic unit involved needs to be extremely supportive of the minor.
  
• The easiest minor to develop is for students from one's own school (e.g., engineering), because those students are likely to have taken the prerequisites (e.g., mathematics, programming skills, and biology) needed to take the more advanced courses in your minor. (Some academic institutions have firm requirements that any student should be able to complete any minor, and one must be cognizant of what your institution requires.)
  
• If one develops a minor for a diverse student audience (e.g., including both science and engineering majors), it is helpful to define a set of preparatory engineering subjects that provide the necessary background. For example, nonengineering students may need to take differential equations and a mainstream sophomore level engineering subject that uses differential equations to solve physicochemical engineering problems before they can enroll in the subjects in your minor. Alternatively, courses can be developed for non-majors, but this is usually a less attractive option over the long term. Engineering faculty are generally reluctant to develop a course for students who do not have engineering backgrounds, and cannot justify teaching such courses when teaching assignments are made.
  
• The minor should be well coordinated with the curricula of the major degrees. One must put appropriate advising in place to ensure that students are able to plan early in their academic careers to fit all the minor subjects into their schedules. It is helpful, for example, to write up a special advising document for freshmen and sophomores, to ensure they take appropriate background subjects early on. Conduct advising seminars once per term to get the word out to a broad audience.
  
• A minor degree curriculum, no matter how well planned, does eat into the unrestricted electives available to students. Some students may even overload on subjects in order to complete the minor. It is thus especially important to have good advising-students must appreciate that the minor is in some sense an honors program if it requires substantial technical work. It is a choice the student makes. Students who are weaker academic performers might be encouraged to focus on their majors first.
  
• Create a curriculum committee that meets regularly to review the content and administration of the minor, and invite all the advisors for the minor to serve on the committee.
  
• Create a community of students involved in the minor by having lunches with students and faculty once per term.

4.4.2.2 BS Programs

New bachelor's degree programs must be developed with a different set of considerations in mind:

• Find out what new degree program in engineering or science was most recently approved at your institution, and use that program as a benchmark. Some institutions are conservative and develop new degree programs only once every few decades in response to new disciplines.
  
• The faculty who teach the courses and who will be responsible for the degree program after the center's NSF funding expires must be key drivers in developing the new degree program. Be sure to get the support of key faculty members, who can provide sustained efforts to convince the chair, provost, curricular committees, and other decision makers.
  
• Identify the constituencies for your program, and make sure you have enthusiastic buy-in. Equally important, identify any other academic programs that will be significantly affected (positively or negatively) and discuss your plans with the faculty involved. For example, if you are developing a program that depends on core science classes offered by another academic unit (such as chemistry, math, or physics), they need to be involved if their enrollments are likely to increase as a result of your plans.
  
• Make sure to contact your university's appropriate office (e.g., the provost) to find out whether prior approval is required for a new undergraduate degree program. There is no point in developing an entire program if it will not pass this first hurdle.
  
• Work as closely as possible with the chairperson of your school's curriculum review/approval committee, as well as your university's undergraduate curriculum committee, before submitting all of the paperwork to those committees, to be sure that they buy into your new program. Doing so can save a lot of time in getting your new program approved, because these committees frequently deny or delay approval because of incomplete forms or unclear descriptions.
  
• Involve undergraduates in developing the new curriculum, to understand their interests and needs from the outset. This can be accomplished by presenting a proposed curriculum at a meeting of the professional society for the area related to the program. Some universities require participation by undergraduate students during the development and evaluation stages of your new program. Neglecting undergraduate input can cause very long delays in getting the new program approved.
  
• Be sure that your program satisfies criteria of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), if one of your goals is to have an accredited program. Review and update this program on a regular basis.

4.4.2.3 MS Programs

New master's programs present their own challenges. These suggestions should ease the labor of developing one:

• The easiest MS programs to develop are those that build upon an existing traditional MS degree, e.g., MSEE or MSCSci. They do so by adding an area of emphasis to the existing program, e.g., MSEE (Multimedia and Creative Technologies). Be sure to get departmental buy-in from the beginning of the development process for this kind of new MS program, because you will be tinkering with an existing departmental program.
  
• Include opportunities for students to do some directed research with ERC faculty and to receive credit for it. The uniqueness of your ERC will permit students to do directed research with ERC faculty. This can be a valuable selling feature for the program.
  
• To break down the barriers of existing traditional MS degree programs-which all have specific requirements that may be viewed as barriers-one usually must create a new degree program.
  
• If you do create a new degree program, you must also find an administrative home for it. Do not underestimate the importance of this requirement, because it has budget implications to the unit that accepts this new responsibility (e. g., a person must be identified to administer the program, space may be needed for student files, etc.).
  
• Be sure to have a group of faculty willing and ready to advise students for your MS program(s).
  
• One model for a practice-oriented MS program is a three-component program that includes (a) an engineering component, (b) a management and business component, and (c) an internship program. Students who complete the engineering component could also receive a certificate (e.g., in Microelectronic Packaging).
  
• Review and update these programs regularly.

4.4.3 Professional Certificate Programs

New professional certificate programs will be more effective if their developers follow the following suggestions:

• Conduct market surveys to evaluate industry interest and demand for short courses and topics.
  
• Advertise the short courses in trade publications and with mass mailings. Purchase mailing lists.
  
• Find commercial and industrial partners to co-sponsor courses.
  
• Use your center's industrial advisory board to champion and publicize offerings.
  
• A very effective way to reduce expenses is to offer short courses at conferences.
  
• Anticipate economic downturns (during which too few students may sign up to offer the course); demand for short courses is highly variable.
  
• Pay professors to offer (develop, organize, and teach) short courses.
  
• Seriously consider using the internet to deliver the short course. Such courses could be recorded and made available on demand.
  
• A certificate (given to a student for completing a certificate program) avoids some of the problems encountered with official degrees and can serve a center's objectives for recognition of its involvement and professional certification.
  
• Professional certificate programs should be created if they enhance the visibility of the center and make real contributions to the engineering profession.
  
• Short courses and certificate programs may be created based on a sound understanding of current professional demands, especially as they pertain to licensure issues.
  
• Certificate programs may be structured as terminal programs (which will not undermine the efforts of the department to draw students into graduate programs), or they could be given upon completion of part of a degree program.
  
• The developers of a short course or a certificate program should also look at pre-existing certificate programs offered by other departments or schools to see how they complement one another. If competition exists, it will be necessary to identify champions within the respective departments, and to develop a cooperative relationship so that each department sees a benefit from the program.

4.4.4 Center/Department/College Curriculum Relationships

Nonfaculty ERC staff should bear in mind the organizational relationships of academic units:

• Assure department chairs that your ERC is not an academic unit, so that your center is not competing with it for tuition revenue. (This may not be an issue at some universities.) NSF strongly encourages centers to develop new academic programs that reside in some department (or departments).
  
• Keep the department chair (and education associate chair, or faculty and administrators) in whose department the new program will reside aware of your plans. They will have to approve the program, so the program should not come as a surprise to them, especially since the new program will most likely mean additional work for departmental student affairs personnel, and may require some budget to administer.
  
• If your new program will require departmental resources (e.g., space, equipment, teaching assistants), involve someone from the administrative staff of the department hosting the new program as part of the development of the program, so that resource issues can be adequately addressed. In most ERCs, staff, and increasingly students, carry out the outreach functions.
  
• The basic concept should be to use NSF money as seed funds to help departments establish new courses or programs-not the other way around. The challenge is to convince the majority of the faculty members that the effort is worthwhile and will benefit them and the department.
  
• Keep in touch with the participating school chairs, undergraduate and graduate education committee chairs, and graduate coordinators.

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