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Developing the Next Generation of Technology Leaders in Challenging Times: the ASEE-NSF Industry Research Fellows Program

Abstract

This paper describes the motivation, steps and description to establish an industry research fellow pilot program for US engineering post docs. The idea was conceived and brought to the attention of the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate Engineering Education and Research Centers and established August 2009 with US ARRA stimulus funds. The program will sponsor forty (40) one-year fellowships for engineering post-doctoral students in corporate research labs. For the first time, the engineering post-docs in the program are jointly supported by NSF and corporate hosts labs. By providing collaborative research programs to faculty and post-doctoral students, participants can experience real-life industry entrepreneurial experiences for turning inventions into products and services as well as understanding the skills needed to practice the engineering profession.

I. Introduction

Innovation and invention represent the livelihood of companies in a flat world. Companies must innovate or perish. Both advances in technology, and the entrepreneurial culture that is well ingrained in the mindset of successful companies and their research labs, need to find a way into science and engineering higher education systems to help to develop talent that can not only use technology, but also help create it and develop new business opportunities with it.

Universities are usually the preferred venue/place for post doctoral candidates to spend 2 to 3 years further expanding their research interests, experience and networks before formally initiating their careers with a company, university, or self-owned business. Nevertheless, industry can also provide various means to engage faculty and students in innovation and in the transfer of state-of-the-art research results and emerging technology areas into new businesses. By providing collaborative research programs to faculty and post doctoral students, these students can experience real-life industry entrepreneurial programs for turning inventions and innovation into products and services.

Many engineering and technology companies have competitive external research programs that support research and innovation. These programs allow world-class researchers, professors, and their graduate students to tackle some of the most challenging scientific and technical problems today.

II. Corporate labs and open innovation

According to Henry Chesbrough, “Open innovation is the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively. [This paradigm] assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as

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Morell, L., & Trucco, M., & Friedrich, R. (2010, June), Developing The Next Generation Of Technology Leaders In Challenging Times: The Us Nsf Asee Industry Research Fellows Program Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--17017