COMPREHENSIVE ENGINEERING: A STRATEGIC INSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE

Submitted by
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
University of Georgia

Prepared by

Brahm P. Verma
E. Dale Threadgill

May 5, 2000

There are moments in history when change is exponential rather than incremental. At such times, all bets are off and the rules of business, even the grounds for competition, shift fast, furiously and forever. Andy Grove¹, Chairman Emeritus of Intel, calls these strategic inflection points. We observe that the State of Georgia and its flagship university are at such a moment. At this juncture, we must ask what strategic initiative must the University of Georgia invest in during the First Decade of the 21st Century that will leapfrog the University of Georgia into a preeminent university in the world? And how will the University of Georgia invest to achieve this?

State supported universities are increasingly having to demonstrate their relevance to the citizens and the impact of their work on development that improves the quality of life. In forging the postwar doctrine, Vannevar Bush² in his report entitled Science - the Endless Frontier, set the U.S. science agenda for the second half of the 20th Century on two aphorisms: 1) "basic science is performed without thought of practical ends" and 2) "those who invest in basic science will capture its return in technology as the advances of science are converted into technological innovations." The U.S. university research direction has been captive of these aphorisms and in many fields there was very little connection between a university and users. This linear model (Figure 1) is clearly insufficient today. Increasingly, there is a call for forging university-users partnerships, "two way streets, defined by mutual respect among the partners for what each brings to the table" says Martin Jischke³, President of the Kellogg Commission. We are being asked to attain new levels of responsiveness in all areas of teaching, research and service to embrace, "a new conception of the connectedness of land-grant and state universities with the larger society."

Figure 1

The end of the cold war and advances in information technology have brought users to the realization that universities can more directly contribute to economic development and the cycle of knowledge-innovation-use can be drastically shortened when users more directly impact science and technology. The old paradigm using linear thinking of basic research, applied research and development as three distinct and separate activities is no more true. The new model (Figure 2) is a continuum which is responsive to user needs and does not view a science, e.g., physics or chemistry or mathematics or engineering, to be the sum of discrete parts, one pure and the other applied. Stokes⁴ says, "It is the organic whole, with complex interrelationships throughout." In this continuum, "user-inspired" fundamental research, applied research and development of technology directed towards identified user needs, and outreach for deploying advances for sustainable economic development to benefit citizens is an integrated view. For the University of Georgia to meet these challenges of the future, it must become strong in the entire spectrum of this continuum.

Figure 2

In this context, we asked, "Does the University of Georgia have the dimensions to complete the spectrum?" or, "Does the lack of a complete continuum make the University lame to meet its social contract with the citizens of Georgia?" In February 1999 Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) faculty had a dialog with the then newly appointed Provost, Dr. Karen Holbrook. The Provost was of the like mind on this issue. A faculty-led BAE strategic plan completed in October 1999 recommended that the primary strategic goal of the Department should be to affect the establishment of a college of engineering at the University of Georgia. The rationale, recommendation and approach presented herein is a synthesis of faculty and administrative views. Creative approaches developed by a Task Committee⁵ appointed by the Department Head to develop an implementation plan for the Department's strategic goal are incorporated in the framework of this recommendation. This recommendation has an unconditional support of our faculty.

THE RECOMMENDATION

We recommend:

The University of Georgia establish comprehensive engineering, a bridge between knowledge and meeting the needs of society, as a strategic institutional initiative for the First Decade of the 21st Century.

This initiative will position the University at the strategic inflection point where ways of conducting our daily business, grounds for competing for quality faculty and students and for extramural funds, and our focus on meeting the needs of citizens will change fast, furiously and forever. Overall, this strategic institutional initiative will

• Add to the University's science, mathematics, professional programs and humanities dimensions which have been impeded but are important to meeting the University's mission and vision,
• Provide a more comprehensive educational experience to all UGA students,
• Enhance UGA's ability to partner with industry and other institutions,
• Enable the University to contribute in the technologically savvy 21st Century,
• Position the University to contribute worldwide in education and sustainable development,
• Expand the opportunity for the University to secure development funds,
• Attract great educators, researchers and students, and
• Chart a course for the University to be one of the few mega-universities in 2020.

MEETING THE NEEDS OF GEORGIA

The University of Georgia is a Georgia-focused university. That is, its worldview is constructed through the vision and needs of the citizens of Georgia. When we contemplate current actions with the goal of leading the University to be a 2020 mega-university of international dimension and stature, our vision is that it is Georgia and its citizens who are actively impacting education and sustainable development worldwide. A prime role of the University is to enable Georgia's citizens to have the desired impact.

With the current revolutionary change, the world will increasingly rely on technology for development and quality of life. Three enabling technologies (information, advanced materials and molecular biology) are targeted to have major influence. By bringing together these three forces, the University of Georgia can impact the role of Georgia in the 21st Century. The recommended strategic initiative: Establishment of comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia, will greatly enhance the University's ability to meet the following needs:

• Fulfill demand for an expanded technological workforce.
• Over 2 million new jobs, mostly in high tech areas, will be created in the metro Atlanta area alone in the next 20 years.
• The number of engineering graduates from Georgia's universities will be 18% less than the State's demand for the period 1996-2006.
• Enhance the technological literacy of all University graduates.
• Educate engineers and related professionals who "make technology work".
• Fulfill demands for sustainable development.
• Provide appropriate eco-environmental technologies to insure sustainability, that is, sustainable environment, economic development and quality of life.
• Maintain the competitiveness of Georgia's current industries.
• Start up new companies based on university developed and university assisted technologies.
• Attract sustainable industries to locate in Georgia.
• Connect with the needs of Georgia's citizens.
• Link seamlessly knowledge creation, education, innovative technology development and economic development in partnerships with government, industry, and the private sector.
• Leverage state's investment in science and technology.
• Expedite the translation of knowledge into economically viable products and processes.
• Expand the state's knowledge base.
• Become a leader in international trade and policy.
• Integrate technology considerations with trade issues and policy development.
• Partner with foreign countries in technology transfer.
• Integrate technology, policy and user-inspired needs at the earliest stage.
• Sustain Georgia's food and forest industry base.
• The food and forest industries comprise Georgia's largest economic sector.
• Address demand for health care.
• Connect social, behavioral and technology dimensions for holistic solutions.

REINVENTING THE LAND-GRANT

Nearly a century and a half ago the land-grant model was conceptualized during the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. It was a unique social contract between public universities and American society to provide educational opportunities for the "working" class and to conduct studies in agriculture (the predominant industry of the times) and engineering for improving the quality of life, while committing to extension of knowledge and technology and public service.

We are in the midst of another profound transition. In less than two decades we have gone from computers as a novelty and an instrument of "brainy" engineers to being a commonplace in the first grade class; from several days delivery time for messages via mail to just a few seconds via email; and from a trip to the store to a click of the mouse to buy books; and have added E-mail, E*trade.com, E*bank.com and E*news.com to the vocabulary of a 4-year old.

Today, in the midst of this transition, the need for a social contract between public universities and American society is even greater than it was 150 years ago. In reinventing the land-grant, we keep the basic premise that calls for a social contract. Some say that the contemporary equivalent of land as an asset for producing food is the telecommunication broadband as an asset for accessing information for producing knowledge. And the equivalent of training which was to provide abilities to use natural resources is now education to reduce needs for natural resources, and the equivalent of industries for manufacturing products is now "industries" for developing the abilities and talents of people to provide services. James Duderstadt⁶, President Emeritus of the University of Michigan, in a recent UGA Forum called for universities to transition from land-grant to learned-grant and to foster a knowledge-based society by developing people's skills in problem solving.

The University of Georgia is a land-grant university and is also a sea-grant and space-grant university. Thus, the recommendation to have the University of Georgia commit strategically to establish comprehensive engineering is even more compelling for fulfilling the University's charge. In fact, not doing so will make it nearly impossible for the University of Georgia to meet its social contract in the 21st century. On the other hand, comprehensive engineering will add an essential dimension to the University of Georgia and transform it such that it is enabled to more fully meet its mission and contract with the citizens of Georgia. Examples of these benefits to the University are the following:

• The University of Georgia is the flagship institution of Georgia and it educates citizens and leaders of tomorrow. By placing premium emphasis on technology, the University will educate leaders for a technology-savvy society of the future. Norman Augustine,⁷ retired Chair of Lockheed Martin and a member of the engineering faculty at Princeton University writes: "... A recent National Science Foundation survey showed that fewer than half American adults understand that the Earth orbits the sun yearly, . . . and about 11 % know what a molecule is. "... A portion of the problem is due to the fact that there is widespread scientific illiteracy among those who hold high-level decision making positions. For example, only 20 (4.6%) out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives ... only 2 (4%) Senators ... and of 50 U.S. governors, nine (18%) have a science or engineering degree. "...Americans (will) survive - and thrive - in the technologically driven 21st Century." Americans have long argued, and implemented in engineering curricula nationwide, the need for engineers to be "educated" in social conscience and to value the works of art. Citizens of the 21st Century must similarly be educated in technology to appreciate its marvel and the foundational role it plays in the building of infrastructure and community that provides security and enjoyment to their daily life.
• The University will rapidly advance in the dimensions of applied science and applied mathematics which will enable UGA to develop solutions to contemporary problems and increase UGA's image to the citizens of Georgia as an institution that is directly engaged in benefitting the State.
• Having engineering students on campus in the same classes and in extracurricular activities with students from sciences and arts will enhance the undergraduate experience of all UGA students as they will understand and interact with students in a profession that is likely to be a part of their life-long work environment.
• The University's culture will transform in which development of technology and its availability and use on campus is integrated in the fabric of daily life similar to what is projected for the 21st Century society at large.
• Engineering students at the University of Georgia experience the richness of liberal arts and humanities. These engineers will be educated in the value of integrating cultural and societal values in their design and use of technology.
• The University will more rapidly transform knowledge from basic sciences to technology and transfer the technology to the benefit of society.
• The application pool of students will diversify and benefit non-engineering disciplines of the entire University.
• The University's position to attract outstanding faculty candidates will be greatly enhanced. Too often we loose outstanding candidates who select another institution because engineering is integral to their work. The quality of the University's faculty, stature and work will be enhanced.
• The University will make marked advancement in attracting extramural funds from government, industry and foundations. Significant increases in potential funding are in those areas which connect with visible problems and these areas are best addressed and supported with advanced engineering research and development work.

AN APPROACH FOR THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVE

We recommend not to pursue a "boilerplate" model with pigeonholed departments, but rather to implement an evolutionary approach which is primarily driven by and focused on meeting societal needs. In this approach, engineering programs should demonstrate two attributes: 1) the needs being addressed are real, and 2) the desired excellence for potential success is achievable. By expanding program by program, comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia will evolve over the next few years into engineering areas addressing a wide range of needs in research, teaching and outreach. Additionally, implementation actions should insure that the governing structure for these programs provides a degree of adhocracy and promotes adaptability to align and capture opportunities for meeting changing needs. Thus, we should build from bottom up and make the governing structure subservient and adaptable to program needs.

Based on the above stated considerations, on projected advances in sciences, applied sciences and computational methods, and on input received by Brahm Verma⁸ from several current faculty and administrators at the University of Georgia, six areas of excellence are identified as opportunities for the University of Georgia to meet needs of the First Decade of the 21st Century. The following two sections present the envisioned functions and form of comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia during the initial stages of its implementation.

SCOPE OF OPPORTUNITY

The University of Georgia is poised to establish many engineering teaching, research and outreach activities, and to organize activities with a common intellectual theme under a program. For example, engineering activities for designing drug development systems, transporting systems and screening systems can be organized under a pharmaceutical engineering program. The many program opportunities are shown in Figure 3. Furthermore, by clustering intellectually coherent programs the University should form areas of excellence which demonstrate a level of performance that shows clear promise of meeting identified needs. Six envisioned areas of excellence are outlined below with a brief listing of engineering programs and engineering activities.

Figure 3

1. BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

Establishment of engineering programs are recommended that use advances in biological sciences, material sciences and applied computational methods is a unique opportunity for the University of Georgia. These programs may be clustered under a biological engineering area of excellence. We envision several programs emerging from collaborative work of engineering and other faculty of the University. The following programs were identified with the input of UGA faculty.

• Pharmaceutical Engineering
  • Designing systems for drug development
  • Designing systems for transport, screening and overcoming barriers in drug delivery
  • Designing systems for understanding impact of drugs and methods for evaluation of toxicity on non-target systems
• Metabolic engineering
  • Develop useful products from engineering metabolic pathways
  • Industrial microbiological and enzyme engineering
  • Develop fermentation technology for developing useful products
• Biomechanics
  • Animal and plant mechanics
  • Repair, transplant and rehabilitation of soft and hard tissues
  • Designing prostheses and automation of functions for humans/animals
• Bio-Medical and Veterinary Engineering
  • Engineering needs for developing technology for human and animal health.
• Biomaterials and Biomimetics
  • Quantitative understanding and representation of properties and structure of biological materials
  • Designing materials by mimicking properties of biomaterials
  • Designing materials from composition of genetically designed biomass and synthetic materials
• Engineering from genetics
  • Quantitative analysis and representation of information from Genome mapping
  • Bioinformatics for guiding genetic manipulations for designing products
  • Engineering physiology
  • Designing for the environment
• Educational Degrees
  • M.S. and Ph.D. in Biological Engineering focused on the programs listed above
  • B.S. in Biological Engineering as currently offered with no areas of emphasis

2. MARINE ENGINEERING

The University is uniquely poised as a Sea-grant University having research and outreach facilities and resources on the Georgia Coast. We recommend establishment of engineering programs for designing sustainable marine systems and providing useful methods for harvesting materials and products, Engineering activities will complement an already recognized program in marine sciences and address critical needs of Georgia's coastal communities.

• Marine Engineering
  • Designing systems for exploring and harvesting marine organisms and products of oceans for human and industrial use
  • Quantitative understanding and simulation of marine environment
  • Designing test beds for mimicking marine environment for research as well as producing useful marine organisms
  • Designing for the environment
• Educational Degrees
  • M.S. and Ph.D. in Marine Engineering focused on the programs listed above.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Georgia must develop responsible solutions that address both the competing demands for limited natural resources by industry and increasing populations and the growing concerns of citizens for the environment. The University pioneered the modern ecological perspective. Engineering programs should be established with ecological and environmental expertises existing within the University. This will provide a powerful combination for developing sustainable technologies. Additionally, Georgia will attract new industries related to environmental technology which will contribute to economic growth.

• Hydrogeological Engineering
  • Designing for problems related to surface and sub-surface water resources
  • Quantitative understanding of the availability and flow of surface and sub-surface water and the quality of water
  • Quantitative understanding of water use
  • Designing to improve efficiency of water use by rural and urban communities, and industries (agriculture, forest, food and hard industries)
  • Designing for the environment especially for unique and fragile ecosystems, e.g., coastal zones, marshes, marine environment, wetlands and others
• Ecological Engineering
  • Designing systems that are in harmony with ecological perspectives
  • Designing for urban and rural ecology
  • Designing for sustainability which concurrently address constraints of ecological limitation for preservation, economic development and equity - making advances with a sense of balance
• Atmospheric Engineering
  • Quantitative understanding of particulate dynamics under a range of atmospheric conditions
  • Designing for managing/modifying emissions impacting air quality
  • Designing systems for modifying atmospheric conditions for improving air quality
• Educational Degrees
  • M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering focused on the programs listed above.
  • B.S. in Environmental Engineering with emphases in Hydrogeological Engineering, and Ecological Engineering.

4. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Establishment of engineering programs are recommended which exploit biosciences-applied chemistry interactions and the University's biomedical and environmental initiatives, thereby contributing new technologies, products and processes. These programs may be clustered under the chemical engineering area of excellence. The following programs have the potential for excellence in research and graduate studies and they will meet the needs for advanced materials and process technologies.

• Materials Engineering with structural biology and applied chemistry program in polymer chemistry and materials science
• Thin film layer materials science for developing unique materials for biosensor and perhaps for computer technology
• Biochemical Process Engineering for designing systems for
  • food and textile products
  • bioremediation
  • utilizing byproducts of food and other industries
  • for the environment
• Educational Degrees
  • M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering focused on the programs listed above.
  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering in bioprocessing for food and textile areas.

5. ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Network theory, flux dynamics, transport processes and others engineering sciences provide the framework for developing quantitative understanding for modeling advances in biological and ecological sciences. Additionally, advances in computational methods is another important dimension for developing these representations. These dimensions are also critical for much needed sensors and controls for biological and environmental systems from the macro-level to the nano-level. The University should view establishing electrical and computer systems engineering as an exceptional strategic initiative to add an important dimension to more fully capture its already high commitment to biosciences.

• Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering
  • Quantitative models of biological, environmental and natural systems useful for designing pharmaceutical products, environmental technology, forest systems, agricultural systems, and products and man-made systems for animal and human health
  • Designing sensors and instruments that contribute to discovery in biological sciences
  • Developing electronic sensors for biological, agricultural, forest, marine and environmental systems
  • Developing electronic controls for implementing desired management strategies (inputs and environment) for optimizing the designed system
• Educational Degrees
  • M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering
  • B.S. in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering

6. GENERAL ENGINEERING

The current engineering program in agricultural engineering is indeed a general engineering program. This area is mostly focused on academic programs and addresses an important class of issues which serves an important constituency that integrate various engineering disciplines and industries. We recommend adding a new dimension of industrial management and decision systems through collaboration with the UGA business faculty. This program should continue to serve the following general engineering needs:

• General Engineering
  • Designing and developing electrical and mechanical systems for rural and small industries
  • Designing and developing residential and industrial structures for rural industries
  • Designing and developing for agricultural and forest production needs
  • Industrial management, business and finance and decision support systems
• Educational Degrees
  • M.S. in Engineering
  • B.S. in Engineering without emphasis areas
  • B.S. in Engineering with emphasis areas in Agricultural Systems, Forest Systems and Engineering Management.

In summary, establishing these areas of excellence will add the much needed engineering dimension to the University and will lead to the development and rapid deployment of technology to meet Georgia's needs. Furthermore, they will educate students for the new economy driven by a technology-savvy generation.

GOVERNING STRUCTURE

We recommend a governing structure rather than an administrative structure to emphasize the desire to have a very low administrative overhead and to protect those properties and features that contribute to the evolutionary approach for establishing comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia. In this context the structure should embody the following characteristics:

• Identification of real needs and opportunities. These needs could be in research and development, teaching and/or outreach.
• Flexibility for redirecting or ending programs that have served their use.
• Faculty with desired expertise from all parts of the University to form program groups to satisfy identified needs. Since real problems are not discipline specific, groups are likely to have both engineering and non-engineering faculty.
• Response to opportunities with very low bureaucratic overhead.
• Emergence of leader by the group itself, that is, a leader emerges by the action of the group.
• Engineering faculty to organize and become visible on our Campus and elsewhere.
• Regular presentation and discussion of engineering opportunities in decision making forums at all levels of the University.
• Identification and presentation of materials for extramural funding.
• Feedback from users and faculty for adapting future course of engineering.
• Recruitment of star faculty and students.

We recommend establishing a "Faculty of Engineering" at the University of Georgia with the responsibility for engineering research, teaching and outreach programs. The Faculty of Engineering should have an appointed Director who reports to the Office of the Provost. All faculty members in units with primary engineering responsibility will become members of the Faculty. Other units of the University may become affiliate units of the Faculty of Engineering by a Memorandum of Understanding between the head of the unit and the Director of the Faculty of Engineering. An individual faculty member from the University may become an affiliate member of the Faculty of Engineering when her/his unit is not an affiliate unit. Affiliation of a unit or a faculty member is appropriate when there is a significant allocation of EFT in the Faculty of Engineering. The head of each affiliate unit and of the affiliate faculty will report to the Director on behalf of the unit's faculty for those responsibilities that are administered through her/his office. To insure regular input from private sector, citizen groups, agencies and peers an Engineering Advisory Board should be established to provide periodic counsel to the Faculty of Engineering through its Director.

Upon the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering, a program leader should be selected by the faculty in each program and she/he should report directly to the Director (see Figure 4). All program leaders and the Director will constitute the Faculty's administrative council. In the initial stage an area of excellence may be formed informally by program leaders sharing information and results of their program and identifying new engineering opportunities and actions.

Figure 4

The University of Georgia has strength and also some engineering expertise in several of the areas shown in Figure 3. Unfortunately, there is currently insufficient faculty capacity to initiate activities in many of these areas. Strategically, engineering programs should initially be targeted in some of these areas with support from within the University and industry. Many programs have the potential to successfully compete for extramural funds. With good leadership these programs will succeed in attracting funds and will become largely self supporting in a relatively short time.

CONCLUSIONS

• We conclude that the establishment of Comprehensive Engineering is a most significant Strategic Institutional Initiative of the University of Georgia. The University of Georgia is positioned to take a great leap forward in the 21st Century in which higher education will be more directly user-focused.
• The State of Georgia needs engineering programs that are focused on those opportunities for which the University is well prepared,
• The State of Georgia needs to provide an alternative for high school graduates who wish to study engineering in a university that provides a strong liberal arts education,
• The State of Georgia needs more engineering graduates to meets its needs,
• Georgia is destined to become a leader state and developing leading programs is an inescapable responsibility of the University,
• The University will greatly benefit by increased capabilities to recruit star faculty and students and to compete for extramural funds, and
• Adding engineering to the University's strong liberal arts and highly respected science and business programs will strengthen the University for meeting its social contract.
• Implementation of Comprehensive Engineering at the University of Georgia is feasible and achievable in the First Decade of the 21st Century.
• The user-science-engineering-technology-outreach continuum will define future preeminent universities. It is a reinventing of the proven land-grant concept which built communities over the last 150 years. The "modernized" land-grant university will fulfill its social contract to transition U.S. society into a knowledge-based and technology-savvy 21st Century community.
• The University of Georgia will be Georgia-focused and at the same time will build communities beyond the U.S. borders and reach the world. In this way it will become a 2020 mega-university and will achieve this stature through the citizens of Georgia.
• Currently, the University of Georgia is lame without comprehensive engineering, a bridge between knowledge and meeting the needs of society. Without mending this impairment, the University is far too disadvantaged and will fall short of fulfilling its mission.

Sources:

1 Grove, Andrew S. 1997. "ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE - How to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company." Doubleday, New York, NY

2 Bush, Vannevar. 1944. "SCIENCE - The Endless Frontier: A Report to the President on a Program for Postwar Scientific Research." (Reprinted by National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. 1990).

3 Jischke, Martin. 1994. "THE MODERN LAND-GRANT UNIVERSITY: Looking to the 21st Century." Journal of Engineering Education, 83(1):19-21

4 Stokes, Donald E. 1997. "PASTEUR'S QUADRANT - Basic Science and Technological Innovation." Brookings Institute Press, Washington, D.C.

5 A Task Committee appointed by the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department Head is charged to develop a plan for implementing the BAE Strategic Recommendation on college of engineering. The Committee is focusing on the question, "What should we do to create a college of engineering at the University of Georgia? Committee Members are: Manjeet Chinnan, Mark Eiteman, David Gattie, Brian Kiepper, Calvin Parry, Mark Risse and Brahm Verma (Chair).

6 Duderstadt, James J. January 14, 2000. "A SOCIETY OF LEARNING: A Vision for the Future of the University in the New Millennium." Presented at the Year 2020: The Research University in a Global Society, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.

7 Augustine, Norman R. November 1998. "WHAT WE DON'T KNOW DOES HURT US - How can the engineering community help Americans thrive in the technology-driven 21st. Century?" PRISM, American Society of Engineering Education, p.48

8 Brahm Verma, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, recently interviewed several UGA deans, department heads and faculty members. He asked them, "In what dimension your discipline, department, college and/or university is unable to grow because of lack of comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia that is relevant to the mission of the University?" Unanimously, everyone identified several similar aspects and listed a few specific programs. Comprehensive Engineering, A Strategic Institutional Initiative

May 5, 2000