Educational outreach efforts for an ERC must be designed to reach industry as well as the wider community. This section explores these topics, with examples featuring successful and original approaches and suggestions.

The center's relationship with its partners in industry is crucial and direct. Through it the ERC gains by learning about industrial perspectives, practices, and needs, which it can then incorporate in education and research. Industry gains by learning about new research and technology, by direct interaction with students (the best channel of technology transfer), and by the opportunity to work with and recruit highly trained ERC students and graduates. Industry and ERCs must cooperate closely to tailor programs that meet the interests and needs of the students, faculty, and industrial members of the ERC. The education coordinators/directors should keep abreast of industry programs in detail, and of trends and particular requirements and developments in the relevant industries.

The industry-education link has several goals. The process of learning in this relationship is a mutual one, in which the ERC and industry serve alternately as teacher and learner. Education programs provide opportunities for student-industry and faculty-industry interaction via mentoring, internships, co-advising on theses and doctoral programs, recruitment, employment, visiting scientist programs, seminars, workshops, and presentations. Industry may directly sponsor education programs or educational innovations relevant to industry needs and goals. As part of the lifelong learning aspect of their education programs, ERCs also sponsor seminars, workshops, and short courses to bring industry to the center (or take the ERC to industry), transfer technology and ERC research to industry, and encourage faculty exchanges with industry. Certificate programs (discussed in Section 4.4, "Curriculum Development") are an increasingly useful way to bring industry to the ERC (and take the ERC to industry). Many ERCs use distance learning to link both multiple ERC institutions and industry partners (see Section 4.7, "Delivery Systems for Education Programs").

Special community outreach programs aimed at specific groups can enrich the diversity and extend the impact of the ERC. Examples of such programs are those targeting at-risk groups, such as high school students or high school dropouts, or targeting dislocated workers via retraining programs, or targeting technical students via community college programs. Continuing education programs are also relevant for the wider community audience and the general public, as well as for academia. Educating the public about the value and meaning of engineering and science in daily life is a role that ERC education programs must increasingly address.

The ERC's education coordinator/director should have a close relationship with its industrial liaison officer, because the two activities overlap strongly and affect each other's results. The education programs should serve as student advocate, and the industry program as advocate for industry. Developing common goals and a relationship that ensures joint input into programs is essential to a strong education program that is relevant to industry and meets industry's demands and needs. The ERC director must aim to meet industrial needs while ensuring that ERC educational programs meet student needs, degree requirements, and educational goals.

The value of the industry-education link to ERC success and ERC sustainability cannot be overemphasized. The link between industry and education is one of the determining factors in the success of an ERC, and the strength of this link is a crucial element in the longevity of the center. It can also provide a strong base for a successful sustainability plan, and this element should be incorporated into ERC strategic plans at an early stage of the center (see section 4.2.4, "Strategic Planning," and 4.2.5, "Graduating Centers").

4.5.1 Student/Industry Involvement

Industry is involved in all aspects of the ERC education program. Industry representatives may serve as mentors to undergraduate, outreach, or graduate students. They may present lectures, course sections, or entire courses, or teach courses in partnership with ERC faculty members. Industry experts may serve on the student's masters or doctoral committee. Industry may sponsor undergraduate or graduate internships in industry, or sponsor students' undergraduate or graduate degrees in whole or in part. Industry input will help shape curriculum, develop original courses, and shape the very nature and approach of the engineering curriculum of the future. Industrial representatives may serve on review panels evaluating and shaping the ERC education program. Industry interaction with ERCs may result in new employment and internship opportunities for students, and even lead to the development of new research projects and thrusts for the ERC.

Many creative approaches have been developed to strengthen the link between industry and students in the ERC program and provide opportunities for industry to mentor students. Teams of students and faculty may travel to companies for presentations, meetings, and tours. Industry also may design projects or suggest problems for study by a team of students in the ERC. For instance, a team approach to industry problems is used at the University of Washington.

FEATURED EXAMPLE:
The Industry-Student Partners in Research (INSPIRE) program of the University of Florida's Particle Engineering Research Centerallows industry partners to propose an undergraduate project. If the project is accepted, undergraduate(s) given the project are provided with an industry mentor as well as an ERC faculty mentor.

Many ERCs offer industry a "membership structure" (a sliding scale of involvement based on the degree of a company's contribution or participation). Various levels of membership may include industry involvement with student projects, internships, and recruitment, as well as attendance at workshops, seminars, and short courses. The membership structure plan is discussed in detail in Chapter 5 of the ERC Best Practices Manual, "Industrial Collaboration and Technology Transfer." For example, the Center for Power Electronics Systems at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University offers a range, depending on the company's contribution: summer undergraduate and graduate internships in industry, an industry-in-residence program, and finally an industrial fellowship program for $30,000 per year in which the sponsor specifies a research area and works closely with a graduate student.

Education coordinators/directors may provide advice on the structure of industry participation, and may suggest changes in the plan as an ERC matures. One important issue is the nature and amount of student interaction that corresponds with various levels of the membership structure (since industry often comments that ERC students are the most important product of the ERC.) As the ERC grows, balancing supply and demand can prove challenging. The education coordinator/director may wish to consult with the education coordinators/directors and industrial liaisons at other ERCs regarding these issues of balancing industry demand for students with the ERC's ability to supply them.

One of the most valuable mechanisms of industry-education interaction is the student internship experience, in which the student is sent to the industry site. The student may be an undergraduate, an outreach student such as a Research Experiences for Undergraduate fellow, or a graduate student. The industrial internship formalizes industrial collaboration and ensures that the fellows' education prepares them to contribute effectively upon graduation. The student gains from exposure to the real world of industrial product development and access to industrial researchers, and the company benefits from direct access to the student/technology inventor. There is no better mechanism for technology transfer than this direct personal contact. Industrial advisors of these interns commonly report innovative products, shortened development cycles, leveraging of industry resources, and joint research projects. This experience also has several benefits for the student. The relationship with an industry engineer provides a unique and essential educational experience. Work in an industrial environment provides the base for a student's career in industry or academia, enables him/her to experience a team/systems approach to research and development, and cements professional relationships. This process also extends the influence of the ERC into the industrial sector.

Almost all ERCs offer or require a graduate student internship experience, ranging from a few weeks to six months or longer, as part of the student's predoctoral experience. Every ERC reports that the industry internship is enthusiastically received by industry. It gives companies the opportunity temporarily to employ students who are highly trained in new technologies, and also offers recruitment opportunities for longer-term employment at a reasonable cost. For students, internships give training in industrial methods and approaches. Students learn to work with industry, to present and defend their work in a professional way, to work in teams, and to set and meet goals and timetables. Many centers require internships as part of students' doctoral programs. Frequently, the industry mentor is a member of the student's PhD thesis committee. Clemson University's Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films offers an Industrial Residency Program for in-plant research for graduate students, a highly successful method of technology transfer. Some centers offer industry an opportunity to support the doctoral candidate for a fellowship, such as the three-year fellowship program at the now-graduated University of Maryland at College Park's Institute for Systems Research (where, in return, the company could name the fellowship for the sponsoring company and appoint a technical liaison to mentor and maintain close contact, identifying significant research results of value to the company, guiding the student, recruiting the student, and receiving public acknowledgement of company support in all publications).

FEATURED EXAMPLE:
The Industrial Projects Program offers an alternative channel for student-industry interaction at the University of Florida's Particle Engineering Research Center. Industry may submit specific research projects focused on specific industrial partner needs and problems to ERC students and faculty as short-term research projects, which can range from several weeks to one year in length. This program is supplemented by the Center's Industrial Mentors Program, which provides experience in the real world of industry. An online student directory helps industry recruit these trained students.

To ensure that students meet their degree requirements and to help the industrial internship mesh with the ERC's education goals, the education coordinator/director and staff should work with each student's major department and degree-granting school or unit, and with the ERC's industrial liaison, to coordinate the industry internship. In addition, he or she must work with housing, relocation, travel, and payment staff to ensure the student's safety and comfort (particularly important for students with disabilities), and help smooth the transition from internship to school and back. Proper handling of these practical details will avoid disruption and ensure enthusiastic student involvement.

Industrial interactions involving undergraduates, while less common, provide important opportunities for younger students to gain perspective on industry. These students often have considerable creativity and energy to offer industry, in lieu of experience. Some creative approaches to industry-undergraduate interactions involve class projects, team approaches, and co-op education.


FEATURED EXAMPLE:
The Industry-Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (I/UROP) at the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (CenSSIS) at Northeastern University gives an undergraduate whom a member company is interested in hiring for the long term the chance to complete a co-op program of at least one quarter, and then be supported by the company for six months of school. Students work 10 hours a week on a company research project, with two mentors (one from the faculty and one from industry). The company also provides money for supplies to the faculty mentor and direct payment to the student.

Industry involvement in education can also include "outreach undergraduates," who are not from the ERC's home institution. For example, at the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films at Clemson University, industry members jointly develop Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) projects and co-advise students.

To attract industry membership and support, every ERC actively promotes the possibility that industry sponsors can recruit ERC graduates. ERC graduates are sought after by industry; industry surveys show that graduates are 18 months to two years ahead of the traditional engineering graduates in job skills and experience. The opportunity to recruit ERC outreach, undergraduate, masters, or doctoral students is the strongest force to keep industry involved in ERC education programs.

Industry plays a strong role in shaping and directing curricula and education programs at ERCs. The ERC program is distinguished by curricular innovation; ERCs are often campus leaders in incorporating industry's input and needs into the graduate and undergraduate curricula.

One example, among many, can be found at the "education ERC," Vanderbilt's VaNTH ERC for Bioengineering Educational Technologies. That center includes in its industrial action plan the engagement of industrial partners in identifying needed bioengineering skills and knowledge and areas of continuing education. A summer 2000 conference identified skills in regulatory issues, management training, sales, international business/culture and language training, technical communication, and professional standards, writing skills, documentation and organizational skills, project management knowledge, and validation issues, among others, as areas needed for inclusion. VaNTH actively seeks such detailed input into educational reform and design, and is exploring computer-based learning with various partners and performing detailed surveys to determine needs for continuing education and short courses on-site as well as at the center.

Industry's specific input into curriculum development is also illustrated by the Particle Engineering Research Center, at the University of Florida. In 2000 the center sponsored a Cross-Disciplinary Particle Science and Technology Education and Advanced Training Workshop, in which academic and industrial leaders explored their industry and its needs, to shape curriculum and the future educational program. One identified need was a meeting of advanced students and experts to focus on specialized topics in the field. This meeting became the "Particle Science Summer School in Winter," held in February 2001; students from 20 universities and nine departments and 29 faculty and industry experts met for classes, seminars, poster sessions, panels, and networking opportunities.

Industry can be the focus of a class or section of the curriculum, and this class can provide important training for future researchers. Special class training in industrially relevant areas such as team research, leadership, and project management can greatly facilitate students' progress at the ERC, in their industrial internships and, after graduation, in their industrial or academic careers.

FEATURED EXAMPLE:
Duke's Center for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies (CECT) developed a formal course in leadership training, which was made a requirement for all graduate students, and was also open to any Duke graduate student. This course, "Principles of Management in Research," was an innovative addition to the center's leadership training program, which carried over into students' careers-whether in academia and or in industry. The objective was to teach CECT fellows to more effectively organize their research projects and to develop an understanding of mutual responsibilities in the research team. The course provided a survey of topics in modern methodologies of effective leadership and research management techniques. Industrial and academic speakers were invited to present issues of leadership, project organization, personnel management, ethics, and levels of responsibility in research, academic, and business environments. This course was required for all CECT predoctoral fellows.

Another curriculum approach is to develop and present industrially relevant classroom projects, which can include smaller team projects in a projects class, or whole classes devoted to a specific project. Industry may design the project or present a problem for ERC researchers to tackle.

FEATURED EXAMPLE:
The Montana State Center for Biofilm Engineering, which graduated in 2001, offers its testbed concept to provide students with learning in the field in a course involving direct interaction and development of research strategies by industry and researchers. The course is "Environmental Engineering Investigations," in which an "industrially relevant setting" is used for field research on remediation technologies, linked to laboratory and fundamental research and industrial needs and interests.

A visiting scientist or industry researcher on campus program can provide intensive, longer term industry-student interaction. The industry scientist may divide his or her time between the research laboratory and teaching duties in the laboratory or the classroom. He or she may also serve as a student mentor or a member of a thesis or doctoral committee. Many ERCs have programs for visiting scientists under various names. For example, the Packaging Research Center of Georgia Tech has an "engineer on campus" program, and the Biotechnology Process Engineering Center at MIT offered a "visiting scientist sabbatical." The value of an industry representative on site at the ERC makes the effort to arrange these visiting scientists' tenures on campus well worth the effort to the ERC.

Visiting scientist programs must include mechanisms for determining and handling administrative details such as salaries, responsibilities, and payments; relocation expenses and issues; housing and family placement; office space; computer access; and university privileges such as parking and athletic facilities. Additional issues (such as visas) apply to visiting scientists from foreign countries.

4.5.2 Seminars and Workshops5.2 Computer-based Instruction

ERCs' education programs, like their industrial programs, promote faculty exchanges with companies via visits, seminar series, workshops, degree and certificate programs offered on campus or at industry sites, or in professional meetings and events attended by ERC faculty and relevant industries. Every ERC holds an industry meeting at least annually, and this meeting is an important arena for faculty-industry and industry-student exchanges at poster sessions, meetings, and panels. (See Chapter 5 of the ERC Best Practices Manual, "Industrial Collaboration and Technology Transfer.")

Seminars and workshops are among the quickest, most efficient, and most economical ways to promote industry-ERC interaction involving students and faculty. These events can involve students presenting research to their peers and faculty and/or industry; ERC faculty giving formal or informal presentations to industry and vice versa; invited distinguished speakers from academic or industry; and poster sessions for students to present work to industry, among many other variations. A customized workshop at the request of industry is often one of the benefits of industry involvement with the ERC, with fees for special topics determined on a project-by-project basis. Many ERCs provide this service. Students and faculty may be involved in workshop development and presentation. These workshops are an excellent way for the student to obtain specialized training in specific industry topics of interest.

Many ERCs present formal seminar series, which vary in format. Seminars and seminar series are sometimes videotaped and cataloged for industry use as part of the industry sponsorship package, or even for purchase by the public. The graduated Duke Center for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies has held an ongoing videotaped seminar series since 1988, and maintains a large library of tapes accessible to industry and students. In every ERC, ERC graduate and undergraduate students present in these seminar series, along with industry, faculty, and business experts. One innovative approach is the weekly teleconferences of the ERC for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing at the University of Arizona, which is accessible to ERC faculty and students and is structured to allow instant feedback from industrial partners.

4.5.3 Lifelong Learning Programs

Lifelong learning, or continuing education, is an important outreach channel for ERC education programs-particularly significant in view of the interdisciplinary, industrially relevant research of ERCs and its goal of a diverse, multicultural workforce. It is not enough for an ERC to train students and send them out into industry and academia. The center's mission also includes educating the public in the developing frontiers of science, engineering, and technology; retraining engineering and industrial workers in new technologies and research areas; and designing programs to reach new audiences with new engineering and technological innovations. Continuing education is central to many ERC industrial and education programs. For example, Clemson University's Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films offers short courses for industry personnel through continuing education programs, and the Packaging Research Center of Georgia Tech offers continuing education to employees of its industry partners.

Many ERCs develop short courses or workshops for industry, often co-taught by ERC faculty and industry. For instance, the Particle Engineering Research Center, at the University of Florida, typically offers four to six such short courses yearly. The Packaging Research Center offers two-week modularized courses every May, co-taught by faculty and industry. The Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research at the University of Buffalo offers its Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) series of short courses for professionals, to inform them of advanced technologies in earthquake engineering.

Professional programs offer lifelong learning, particularly for career development and presenting ERC educational innovations to impact the young or established industrial engineer. These programs are attractive to industry as means of keeping their work forces up to date and minimizing retraining time loss. With constantly changing technology and current trends towards industrial downsizing, the professional engineer is more and more pressured to be aware of current and relevant research trends. Industry needs the best quality and most efficient continuing education possible, and ERCs are well positioned to deliver this service.

FEATURED EXAMPLE:
The Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) offers a Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) program, which provides engineers with practical knowledge about current and emerging technologies and design procedures that will enhance their career skills, while improving the safety
of the built environment from earthquakes and other hazards. Since MCEER has five participating universities, courses can be offered at locations around the nation. MCEER launched PACE in the fall of 1996 with a short course on Passive Energy Dissipation for Seismic/Wind Design and Retrofit, which was offered in Seattle, San Francisco, and the Los Angeles/Irvine area. The second course session was held in the Los Angeles/Irvine area, in February 1997. Past and potential course participants can subscribe to a mailing list for upcoming courses.

ERC education programs, in conjunction with industry, have developed certificate programs and distance learning models. Courses developed for university credit can be offered as distance learning classes. For example, the ERC for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing at the University of Arizona offered a distance learning class in Microelectronics Manufacturing and the Environment in spring 2001, via the University's distance learning program and the National Technological University (NTU). In 2002 a series of web-based modules, each on a single topic relevant to industry and taught by experts, is being piloted by the Particle Engineering Research Centerin conjunction with the distance learning department of the university's College of Engineering. The Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues is working with the Center for Distance Learning and the Interactive Media Technology Center, both at Georgia Tech, to develop an internet course in tissue engineering for graduate students at other universities and for industry. The Packaging Research Center of Georgia Tech offers several web-based courses accessible worldwide, in a joint program with the IEEE Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology Society.

The trend toward globalization and internationalization has affected ERC education programs, particularly in the industrial area. Many ERCs bring in visiting foreign scientists and engineers and provide mechanisms and assistance for this process. The now-graduated ERC for Net Shape Manufacturing at the Ohio State University offers a visiting scholar's program for international engineering students, resulting in a master's thesis on an industrially relevant research project, which is recognized by the student's home institution. In working out international exchanges of students, faculty, or industry representatives, special planning is needed to manage issues such as immigration, visas and work permits, international travel, and security. The education coordinator/director may need to work with industrial liaison and administrative director on various aspects of this planning and coordination.

4.5.4 Special Community Outreach

As the impacts of education programs grow, increasing numbers of ERCs are designing programs for community outreach (broadly defined as the general public or specific targeted groups, such as dislocated or unemployed workers, at-risk high school students, or high school dropouts). The goals of these community outreach efforts range from raising the scientific interest and understanding of the general public, to specific aims to retrain a group of unemployed workers or to provide career training and career potential for high school dropouts or at-risk students.

FEATURED EXAMPLE:

Several of the most innovative and comprehensive community outreach efforts among ERCs are offered by the Integrated Media Systems Center of the University of Southern California. These offerings include degree and certificate programs for worker retraining and at-risk students:

• The Multimedia University Academy is an "educational incubator and training program for out-of-school youths who may or may not have completed high school" and who are at risk because of poverty, academic deficiencies, and lack of career goals. The two-semester program in multimedia and office computing tools serves as an employment training program, and includes an apprenticeship with a potential employer, along with advanced employment or educational training. Graduates of the 900-hour program earn certificates and 15 to 30 credit hours transferable to community colleges or other institutions.
  
• The center offers three retraining programs: a program for dislocated engineers and computer scientists (degree programs), and two programs for dislocated local people who are unemployed and who have limited computer skills. Upon completion of training, participants receive certificates in internet development or multimedia skill development. All three of these programs are offered depending on external funding from government or state sources.

Community outreach for educating the general public is another important part of the ERC educational program. ERCs are increasingly accepting a role in raising the general interest in science and in helping the public understand the value, role, and necessity of science in their lives. The ERC's role is part public awareness, part public education, and part recruitment of the next generation of scientists by raising awareness among both young people and their parents.

For example, the Mid-America Earthquake Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sponsors a variety of community educational events, ranging from involvement with the National Teachers Association and Convention, the Girl Scouts, the Illinois State Fair (with a display there reaching thousands of children and adults), to an exhibit for Earthquake Awareness Week for the state of Missouri. The center is working on a prototype display exhibit that can be used at different sites as an interactive or stand-alone display, or used as part of a website. When testing is completed, display plans will be available for public duplication by museums, science centers, or schools.

The ERC for Reconfigurable Machining Systems at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is planning two community outreach projects involving broad public education. The first is an interactive software demonstration for installation at national museums, on issues in systems-level and machine-level design. The second is a traveling demonstration of an automated reconfigurable manufacturing cell, initially for use in a robotics competition, but eventually for use in science fairs, expositions, conferences, and National Engineer's Week.

Community college students-a vital source of technological workers-are the target of an outreach effort by the Optoelectronic Computing Systems Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder (a "graduated" ERC). The center has produced a new Center for Advanced Photonics Technology (CAPT), which has an educational component, working with Colorado's community college system to train students in this area.

As the ERC matures and graduates from the ERC Program, it may focus more specifically on specially targeted groups relevant to its research area. Many graduated centers have evolved into permanent laboratories or facilities for training working engineers, students, and faculty in specific technologies. Two examples are the Microelectronics Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS) ERC at Lehigh University.

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