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Session 3375

Synergy of Applied Research and Education in Engineering Technology Rainer J. Fink, Jay Porter, James A. Ochoa, Richard M. Alexander Texas A&M University

Abstract

Engineering technology programs at Texas A&M University are housed within a College of Engineering that enjoys ever-increasing success in research productivity. Faculty across the country who serve in engineering technology programs are often attracted to those programs primarily because of their desire to devote most of their time working with students in the classroom and laboratory, while minimizing the time devoted to research. An important question that must be continuously addressed is: how do engineering technology faculty, who live in an environment of research expectation, combine their classroom and laboratory teaching interests with research interests? This paper will discuss a process for bringing together what many faculty feel is a dichotomy between teaching and research. How engineering technology faculty might develop a rewarding career in both teaching and research will be outlined.

I. Introduction

Many engineering technology faculty in the United States are employed at universities where research is an integral part of the university’s mission. Faculty performance at those schools is measured in various combinations within the triad of teaching, research and service. In engineering technology the word research is often replaced with the words applied research to distinguish between engineering and engineering technology types of research. Typically, applied research is done in response to an industry need and involves the application and synergy of existing knowledge and technology. In contrast, engineering research generally tends to focus on the creation of new knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to describe some successful processes through which engineering technology faculty at Texas A&M University are combining their teaching and research activities. That process has led to the outline of a model that might be applied in other programs. It should be pointed out that at present there are no graduate engineering technology programs at Texas A&M. In this discussion, "teaching" activity includes: classroom and laboratory instruction, curriculum and laboratory development (to include the acquisition of new resources), the scholarship of teaching, and the dissemination of results through publications and presentations. "Research" activity includes: acquisition of resources to support the work, the creation of new knowledge, the synergy and application of existing knowledge, working with teams of students, and the scholarship of research through publications and presentations1.

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Alexander, R., & Porter, J., & Ochoa, J., & Fink, R. (2001, June), Synergy Of Applied Research And Education In Engineering Technolgy Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9835