Forces Shaping the U.S. Academic Engineering Research Enterprise (1995) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
A View from the Front Lines of Academic Engineering Research
A View from the Front Lines of Academic Engineering Research
Pages 23-36
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From page 23... ...
I have modified the subtitle of my paper because I did find at least two reports (National Research Council, 1987; National Science Board, 1992) that express views that are very similar to mine.
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From page 24... ...
, engineering research was introduced in the universities and it has become an important part of the educational enterprise. After World War II, as the United States assumed the role of a superpower, it was apparent that the nation's defense and economic and social well-being depended directly on engineering.
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From page 25... ...
Criticism has also been leveled at academic research: it is said to be only self-serving for the faculty to have publication records and that it is irrelevant for industry. The end of the Cold War, with the associated reduction in defense budgets, the significant decreases or elimination of research in industry, and the policy that research must serve national goals -- a policy promulgated by the new government administration with the support of influential members of Congress -- all presage even more major changes for engineering research, in particular for such research performed in universities.
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From page 26... ...
The new curricula did produce engineers who were flexible, versatile, and adaptable and who functioned well during the many and rapid changes that have occurred in engineering since the war. Engineering research was intended to confront a student, for the first time, with a complex problem that was not well specified, would need defining, and would require synthesis of all the student's knowledge for its solution.
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From page 27... ...
Industry To determine the appropriate role of engineering research in industry, it is first necessary to recall some changes in engineering practice that have occurred in the past half century. Almost all industrial and manufacturing processes were developed empirically, as was the related equipment.
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From page 28... ...
To accomplish this, it is necessary to "research" the industrial processes, that is, to gain an understanding of the phenomena involved in the process and the factors on which they depend. Vigorous and comprehensive engineering research programs that are directly related to real problems are necessary to develop the knowledge base and physical principles on which advances in design and production can be based.
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From page 29... ...
However, basic engineering research that provides the underlying competence on which applications or applied research is based is often cross-disciplinary, whereas basic science research is mostly constrained by scientific disciplines. Some basic engineering research does not directly involve the laws of nature but addresses the functional characteristics of large systems consisting of intricate components.
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From page 30... ...
Current Views Birnbaum (1994) states the university's position as follows: "Unfortunately, it has become all too common to place the onus for the supposed failure of basic research to contribute to economic competitiveness on the basic research sector." At a recent meeting on "World Leadership in Basic Science, Mathematics, and Engineering" sponsored by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, there was throughout a tacit assumption that industry was waiting impatiently for research results, which were not forthcoming.
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From page 31... ...
Whether what they used is basic research or "engineering" is arguable. The fact is that they started fresh with mid-twentieth-century knowledge and an openness of mind to try new ideas, which is in sharp contrast to U.S.
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From page 32... ...
It is unlikely to move an industry forward when that industry does no such relevant research and, more important, when it does not employ a sufficient number of highly educated engineers to use existing relevant knowledge and extend it as needed. As pointed out by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Some of the cultural differences that have long surrounded industrial re search and university research have had the unfortunate effect of unneces sarily inhibiting the most effective interaction between industry and uni versities.
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From page 33... ...
As the National Research Council's Engineering Research Board wrote in 1987, This research is essential because all creative technological development in an intensely competitive world rests on it; yet it is undersupported because its central role in the development of productive goods and services is not clearly understood or recognized. Despite the recent awareness of the increasing cross-disciplinary nature of engineering research, there is little overt support for such activities.
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From page 34... ...
Report of the Engineering Research Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
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From page 35... ...
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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