A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research (2017) / Chapter Skim
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ERCs are credited with producing more than 12,000 engineering graduates2 with interdisciplinary training and entrepreneurial skills, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars of regional and national economic benefits.3 However, NSF is well aware that the world has changed in dramatic ways in the past 30 years and will increasingly do so in the future. To ensure that the ERCs continue to be a source of innovation, economic development, and educational excellence, NSF commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to undertake a study to articulate a vision for the future of NSF–supported, center-scale, multidisciplinary engineering research.
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Grand Challenges,8 4 K Schwab, 2016, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland.
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workforce where engineering graduates understand and apply these skills will allow the United States to continue to lead in the creation of new, high-value global innovations. The committee defines the phrase convergent engineering as a deeply collaborative, team-based engineering approach for defining and solving important, complex societal problems. All necessary disciplines, skills, and capabilities are brought together to address a specific research opportunity. It is distinguished by resolutely using team-research and value-creation best practices to rapidly and efficiently integrate the unique contributions of individual members and develop valuable and innovative solutions for society.
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the best opportunity to achieve their goal of deep research collaboration toward solving grand-challenge-like problems, the National Science Foundation should ensure that CERC leaders are accomplished and recognized leaders of large, complex programs and are skilled in the application of best practices in team research and value creation. A recent National Academies report devotes a chapter to strategies appropriate for leading diverse science teams.26 24 Billand Melinda Gates Foundation, "Challenges," http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenges, accessed September 23, 2016.
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CERCs would also give students a deeper exposure to team-research and value-creation best practices, which will serve them well throughout their careers. Diversity and Public Outreach Studies have shown that research teams with broader cultural knowledge and perspectives can produce more innovative and robust solutions to science and engineering problems.28 A more diverse engineering workforce is imperative when addressing complex problems with worldwide societal impacts, and the diversity of the U.S.
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Over time, one indicator that a center has delivered societal benefit is that the results of the center are picked up by industry, and then industry makes economic advances that can be traced back to the centers. Thus, one can use economic value delivered as one metric -- but not the only one -- to determine if a CERC (or the NSF centers generally)
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The convergent engineering research centers should use state-of-the-art web-based collaboration platforms, such as performance dashboards, to amplify team collaboration and simplify reporting requirements. Appropriate performance metrics will vary according to the stage of maturity of the centers and on whether the chosen research problem is related more to direct economic benefit or to broader societal benefit.
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From a city or state's point of view, the partnership would take advantage of not only the cachet of NSF funding but also its support for the talent and capability in a given engineering area and its ability to guarantee the quality of the "product" through an independent review process that focuses on value added or impact on local economic development for the state investment. The example the committee chose is a CERC that would develop practical approaches to dealing with the joint issues of sea level rise and extreme weather events for coastal cities.
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governments, states, the private sector, or foundation support. One basic structural model Experimentation with various structural models Students benefit from interaction with center faculty from Students gain experience with best practices in convergent multiple disciplines and industry mentors.
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The CERC diversity and education outreach programs must integrate into the host university infrastructure. Similarly, the CERCs need not be expected to re-invent courses in student innovation, entrepreneurship, and ethics, which are expected to become part of the standard curriculum in engineering schools nationwide.
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