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Columns::April 29, 2002
It’s a girl!
Trumpet virtuoso Fred Mills named first Prokasy Professor
Vehicle registration begins May 1 for university’s new parking system
Academic Assistance changes its name to Academic Enhancement
Convocation opens new academic year
Setting the agenda
Executive director of international education closes out ‘abroad career
Animal, dairy complex named for Rhodes, former regents chairman
Kudos
Whither the humanities?
A better mousetrap
Campus News
Faculty members look ‘Towards 2010’ an annual symposium
By Danielle Robinson
dcrob@engr.uga.edu
UGA faculty members and state leaders from government, industry and higher education gathered to explore trends and opportunities in interdisciplinary engineering at the April 18 symposium “Towards 2010: The Faculty of Engineering at UGA.” The event was the second in the annual “Towards 2010” series. Last year’s symposium generated a number of engineering initiatives, including the Faculty of Engineering, UGA’s interdisciplinary engineering unit composed of 77 members from some 24 departments in eight schools and colleges across campus.
In the day’s opening remarks, President Michael F. Adams delivered an encouraging outlook for the future of engineering at UGA. He noted that the university has social and charter responsibilities as Georgia’s flagship institution to provide innovative services for the economic development of the state. Engineering is a key linchpin in this effort. Technology has changed today’s playing field and UGA’s research and outreach endeavors cannot be as successful in the future without a general engineering component, he said. A broad engineering program based on UGA’s existing strengths will create more extensive opportunities for students, the university and the state. He pledged the administration’s continued support for a general engineering degree at UGA.
Following the president’s remarks, Lindsay Thomas, president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, moderated a panel discussion on new models for comprehensive engineering at research universities. Panel members included Russell Medford of Atherogenics, John Nemeth of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Nina Sawezuk of Zygogen, Greg Sheldon of ChoicePoint, and Mike Cassidy, president of the Georgia Research Alliance. The panel addressed questions regarding the engineering needs of the state, industry-university partnerships and the Faculty of Engineering’s approach to advancing comprehensive engineering at UGA.
The morning session also included a presentation by Margaret Wagner Dahl, director of research development and technology alliances at UGA. Dahl, an expert on the role of university research in regional economic development, is the founder and manager of UGA’s BioBusiness and Synergy Centers, two incubators for university-related high-tech start-up companies. She presented several examples of how other states with aggressive economic development plans involve their flagship universities--all of which have comprehensive engineering programs. Among the examples given were the University of Texas and the University of Washington, two institutions at which Dahl worked before coming to Georgia.
Duke University Engineering School Dean Kristina Johnson, in the keynote address, praised UGA’s “fresh and innovative approach” to interdisciplinary engineering. She stressed the importance of comprehensive engineering at today’s research university, stating that it is “incomplete and obsolete without engineering.” She candidly admitted to envying UGA’s chance to develop a new engineering program without the constraints of an established school or college, and urged the Faculty of Engineering to focus on UGA’s existing strengths as they develop programs and curriculum. “If you focus on a couple of areas where you are best, pretty soon you will be the best,” Johnson said.
The afternoon sessions began with faculty presentations on the status of Faculty of Engineering initiatives, including nanoscale science and engineering, marine engineering, ecological engineering, pharmaceutical engineering and engineering education. Rob Williams, senior fellow at the Fanning Institute for Leadership, moderated small-group discussion sessions that generated a list of action items, including an increased focus on exposing students to emerging technologies, research into the engineering needs of the state’s key industries, instituting a leadership component in UGA’s engineering curriculum, fostering relationships with UGA’s BioBusiness Center and other businesses around the state to generate internship and co-op opportunities, and establishing a one-year professional master’s degree in engineering.
Provost Karen Holbrook concluded the symposium by echoing the support pledged by Adams at the beginning of the day. “We are dead serious about doing [engineering]. We really are doing it, and it really is happening,” she said. “This is UGA, our way. We are not modeling ourselves after anybody else, and one of the best examples is engineering.”
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