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I Session 2242 ‘

Forging Links Between Engineering Education and Industry: The Research Connection

Donald E. Strickland*, Nirmala Kannankutty**, and Robert P. Morgan** Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville*/Washington University, St. Louis**

The mutual needs of society, industry and universities are creating opportunities for closer ties between industry and academia. Many new, and old, forms of university-industry collaboration are emerging or re- emerging, particularly in the area of research. Yet the views of engineering faculty on these issues have received scant attention as these important changes are taking place. In this paper, we report the results from a survey of a national probability sample of ----’---- -“--- several-- -’ -- --’- mausmy engmeermg Iacuq on ‘1-- “ aspecw or -r” ‘ ‘ involvement in the academic research enterprise.

Background

The demise of the Cold War, concern over cutbacks in federal funding for university research, public calls-for more accountability in the outcomes of research, global challenges to U.S. competitiveness, and the scaling back of industry R&D budgets all have brought the relationship between industry and universities into new focus. 1-3 While federal funding has been the largest driver of academic engineering research, the historical relations between universities and industry have played an important role in the development of 4 technology in many industries and the development of many engineering fields. As these new challenges begin to reshape these historical relationships, many policy-relevant questions are emerging about the role of industry in university research. A recent 1995 National Academy of Engineering report recommended that “universities and companies commit themselves to relationships that couple industrial technology and practices with the leading edge of research and advanced education in engineering” as a way of enhancing 5 the nation’s social well-being, our industrial competitiveness and the quality of our technical talent pool. -. Much discussion and debate has taken place among public policy scholars, university administrators, government policy-makers and students of science, technology and education policy over the proper role of industry in higher education. Noticeably absent has been the voice of engineering faculty on these industry- university linkages. While most data used in these debates consist of macro-level input indicators, such as aggregated research expenditures, enrollments, and the like, some work is beginning to emerge from the G micro-level point of view. Rahm recently studied the technology transfer process from universities to industry from the perspectives of faculty and university administrators. Recent studies of university organized research centers, including National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Engineering Research 7 8 Centers (ERCs), have also collected data from participating faculty and administrators. ’ Lee has completed a national survey of faculty in several science, engineering and social science disciplines on the roles 9 academics play in economic development and industrial innovation. Slaughter and Campbell have investigated the perceptions of scientists and administrators on the benefits, conflicts and mechanisms of . industry-university collaboration. 10 While many of these studies are case studies, are based on select groups

$&’-’ 1996 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings } ‘?+,~yyc; .

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Morgan, R. P., & Kannankutty, N., & Strickland, D. E. (1996, June), Forging Links Between Engineering Education And Industry: The Research Connection Paper presented at 1996 Annual Conference, Washington, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--6059