Chief Architect of the ERC Program, Lynn Preston Retires

On April 1, 2014, Lynn Preston retired from the National Science Foundation and her position as Deputy Director of the Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) Division.  Although in her 42 years at NSF she accomplished many important things and achieved recognition within and beyond NSF for her leadership and innovative management skills, she was best known for her 25 years as Leader of NSF’s Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program.  When Ms. Preston stepped aside from that role in October 2013, it brought to a close what was, by Federal government agency standards, an extraordinarily long and dedicated commitment by one official to the success of a single program. During that quarter-century, she developed the ERC model of academic engineering research and education—one based on strategically planned cross-disciplinary research focused on a next-generation engineered systems goal, education involving students at all levels along with faculty and industry researchers on project teams, and close partnership with industry aimed at moving technologies into industry that can transform industrial practices and strengthen US industrial competitiveness.  With a cumulative federal investment of a little over one billion dollars, the total return on that investment through commercialization of industrial products and processes derived from ERC-developed technology is estimated at well over $50 billion. The return on investment in terms of graduates who have founded and/or led companies or major research labs is inestimable—for example, through FY 2013 a total of 171 startup firms have spun out of ERCs, many of them founded by ERC graduates.  

Ms. Preston was one of two founding directors of the ERC Program, which was initiated in 1984 at a time when U.S. competitiveness was beginning to be impacted by global challenges not experienced before.  She assumed leadership of the ERC program in 1988. These pioneering organizations, 61 of them to date, have pushed the boundaries of knowledge across a broad spectrum of technology fields while transferring to their industrial partners a continuous stream of cutting-edge technologies and graduates better prepared for engineering practice. The original National Academy of Engineering blueprint for ERCs envisioned that these centers would “change the culture” of academic engineering research and education, providing an alternative to the narrowly specialized, analytical, “pure science” approach to engineering that prevailed in universities at that time. Under Ms. Preston’s leadership, the ERCs achieved that ambitious goal, driving a revolution in the way that faculty envision and conduct their research, mentor their students, and partner with industry. In the process these centers have also greatly impacted the education and training of engineering students to produce a new and diverse generation of graduates who are creative, highly adaptable, adept at innovation, and primed for technology leadership.

Ms. Preston was a highly creative manager. Among several management innovations she developed to facilitate the execution and evolution of the ERC program are: the cooperative agreement as the award instrument, which is now used throughout NSF for large, goal-driven awards; a three-plane visualization employed to structure ERC research strategic planning, which is now used world-wide in academic research institutions; and the post-award oversight system with reporting, data collection, and performance criteria. Her leadership was instrumental in strengthening the education component of ERCs and broadening the involvement of pre-college teachers and students, as well as the diversity of ERC staff, faculty, and students. Her vision of an “ERC Family” was not a mere ideal, but over time became a reality as hundreds of ERC participants came to view themselves as part of a large and important undertaking with shared goals and mutual respect and cooperation across the Program.

”There is no question about the tremendous contributions and impact that Lynn has made over the years,” said EEC Division Director Dr. Theresa Maldonado.  “These centers are truly a gold standard at NSF and in the academic engineering community. All universities want an ERC; it is a badge of honor. And after all these years, industry continues to come to the table hoping to partner in exciting research; to recruit students with ERC experience; and to commercialize ERC achievements in technology.”

Ms. Preston’s achievements have not gone unnoticed. In large part due to her leadership of the ERC Program, in 1999 the President of the United States recognized her service by conferring on her the rank of Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service.  In 2000 NSF bestowed its prestigious Distinguished Service Award on Ms. Preston for her leadership of the ERC Program and its role as a model program for industry/university collaboration in NSF and around the world. In 2003, she was honored by the National Society of Professional Engineers as NSF’s Engineer of the Year for her contributions to engineering research and education.  In 2006, she was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering for her leadership in developing and sustaining NSF support for the field of bioengineering. And in March 2014, she received the D.I.C. Wang Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering, presented jointly by the Society for Biological Engineering, the American Institute for Chemical Engineering, and the American Chemical Society.

”Amazingly, while Lynn was busy crafting the entire ERC program and evolving it over time,” says Maldonado, “her mind was also immersed in the new National Nanotechnology Initiative as it was about to be launched in 2000. Lynn had the foresight to anticipate the real need for modeling and simulation capabilities in this nascent field, and hence, she funded six teams in FY2000 to begin building this capacity.” As a result of that early work, Ms. Preston initiated the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) in 2002. NCN and its cyber platform, nanoHUB.org, each year serve over 260,000 users worldwide as a vital resource for nanoscience and nanotechnology computational tools and educational materials.  

NSF’s Assistant Director for Engineering, Dr. Pramod Khargonekar, commented on Ms. Preston’s leadership of the ERC program, saying, “Lynn has served in the role of ERC Leader for nearly three decades since its inception. During this time, the ERC program has become a flagship program for the Engineering Directorate. With her creative, strong, and dedicated leadership, she has grown it into a nationally recognized and highly prestigious program. She leaves a tremendous legacy for the engineering community and will be acutely missed.”

Throughout her long career, Lynn Preston was a creative and inspiring leader and a highly dedicated public servant. With the ERC Program, she built and led an enterprise that over the past quarter century has changed the face of academic engineering and added significant value to the U.S. economy. This is an uncommon achievement and a legacy that will certainly endure.

Lynn can be reached at lynnpreston14@gmail.com.