2012 Student Leadership Council Retreat

Submitted by Michael Nolan on Sun, 2013-09-01 11:07

Lynn Preston
Leader of the ERC Program

ERCs – Joining Discovery to Innovation for 27 Years

ERC Program Goals

Create a culture to join scientific discovery to technological innovation through transformational engineered systems research and education
Build partnerships with industry to strengthen the innovative capacity of the U.S. in a global context
Produce diverse engineering graduates who are effective in industry and creative innovators in a global economy

Guiding strategic vision for transforming engineered systems and the engineering workforce
Strategic plans to realize the vision
Cross-disciplinary research program – from fundamental research to proof-of-concept systems testbeds
Education program to:
- bring engineering concepts to the pre-college classroom to attract students to engineering careers
- produce creative and innovative engineers who understand industrial practice and become the next-generation innovators
Innovation Ecosystems:
- Rest on partnerships with members from industry/user organizations
- Accelerate technology transfer, translational research and innovation
Infrastructure
- Leadership, cross-disciplinary and diverse team, management, university commitment, and facilities

Knowledge/technology transfer through member firms
ERC graduates take ERC technology to industry through internships and employment
Translational research through member firms’ support of sponsored projects
ERC Translational Research Fund supports small firms in partnership with ERCs, when member firms fail to license ERCs IP
I-Corp – award to develop business plan and get entrepreneurship training – faculty, student entrepreneurs and business mentors (non-ERC solicitation on the web)

Leading and working in cross-disciplinary teams
Organizational leadership through SLCs
Project team management
Strategic planning
Advancing technology and building testbeds
Improved communication skills - precollege outreach, poster sessions, and the Perfect Pitch Contest
Internships in industry and close contact with potential employers through IAB
Collaboration with small start-up firms
Research in foreign laboratories

Organize ERC student activities to:
- Integrate research across projects and into testbeds
- Share knowledge (Seminars and outside speakers)
- Achieve strong and active collaboration with ERC industrial/practitioners members
- Promote entrepreneurial efforts for high risk technology beyond the vision of current industry
- Engage ERC students to participate in pre-college student outreach and teach pre-college teachers about engineering
- Sponsor social activities to build a cohesive ERC team
Manage SWOT analysis process to determine how well the ERC is achieving its goals from a student perspective - organizational leadership
Work with Director and others on ERC Leadership Team to convey the SLC’s SWOT and determine how to deal with weaknesses/threats
Meet with NSF site visit teams to present the SLC’s SWOT analysis and progress in addressing weaknesses and threats

Survey ERC students (define ERC goals in survey)
Narrow down responses to major Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
Put them in priority order under each category
Prepare a few viewgraphs: (one or two for each category, i.e. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)
Prepare a brief written report with more detail on the bullets for the ERC’s Leadership team
Update annually, show progress
SLC President should serve as a member of the ERC’s Leadership Team and present SWOT analysis for discussion for organizational improvement
SLC should have a budget
SLC President presents SWOT findings to the NSF site visit team during the annual/renewal review
- Summarize the SWOT and actions taken in the past
- Prepare copies of the SWOT for the SVT members
- Prepare students to talk openly with the site visit team as partners in improving the ERC

Tags/Keywords:

Short Description:

Presented at 2012 ERC Annual Conference.