Summary Notes on "Integration of Engineering Education and Research: Perspectives from the NSF Civil and Mechanical Systems 1998 CAREER Workshop," by Niemeier, D., Boulanger, R. W., Bayly, P. V., Schmid, S. R., Muraleethraran, K. K., and Barros, A., Journal of Engineering Education, April 2001, pp. 199-202.

Summarized by J. T. P. Yao, 1/4/02

"In 1998 the Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems (CMS) of the NSF sponsored a two-day workshop on the 'Integration of Engineering Research and Education'… Approximately 100 CAREER awardees, NSF staff, and invited speakers from government, industry, and universities assembled to discuss such issues as the most effective teaching strategies, methods for evaluating educational activities and initiatives, and the ways in which faculty members were interacting with industry. …"

"… There are also some early warning signals suggesting that without a strong institutional framework, the integration of research and educational activities can be very difficult, if not impossible. In this educational brief, we offer our perspectives on the pattern of success we observed, as well as a few cautionary warnings, on how educational practices, mentoring, industrial collaboration, and the role of the institution can affect long-term success in developing integrated research and education activities."

"Most participants agreed that integration was achieved when students could initiate a process that enabled the discovery of new knowledge. … Many awardees discussed implementation of 'active' and 'collective' learning techniques in their classroom, but few knew of recent educational research on these techniques. … Most of the awardees invested significant time and energy in bringing technology… into the classroom. However, the majority knew little of the prior use or successes of many of these techniques. …"

"Although university professors are professional educators and experts in their subject, many have had little to no formal training in teaching. … Faculty also reported interest in developing new assessment tools, but seemed to rely little of the existing assessment literature… There is clear pressure to achieve an ever-escalating level of success in research at many institutions… Good teachers and good researchers are not mutually exclusive, and there was widespread belief that even a modest research program makes an engineering professor a better teacher. …"

"Many CAREER awardees placed significant importance on the role of mentoring for undergraduates, particularly mentoring of women and members of under-represented groups. Again, few were familiar with the literature in this area. …"

"Increasing collaboration between industry and universities is generally advocated, although there are many differences in opinions about how this collaboration should be realized… About 20% of the awardees at the workshop explicitly referred to matching industrial support in their 'white papers'; the actual percentage of awardees receiving the match is somewhat higher."

"… With increasing scrutiny, there has been at least a philosophical shift toward a balancing of teaching and research, but the reward system has remained largely one-dimensional. … The promotion and tenure processes at research universities are viewed as still dominated by research accomplishments, while innovative educational contributions are usually not particularly well rewarded or recognized."

"One important warning note was also sounded at the CAREER workshop: the expectation of truly innovative activity in both teaching and research may simply contribute to the ever-escalating definition of success for new faculty members. … Some workshop attendees worried overly about what they saw as increased expectations of innovations in both research and teaching, especially in light of their lack of formal training in education. The potential necessity to gain familiarity with an additional set of literature (i.e., in education) is formidable and should not be underestimated."

[Readers who are interested in this article are encouraged to read the original paper in its entirety. Other summary notes on faculty reward systems are available on the Internet at http://lohman.tamu.edu under the heading "Summaries of Papers ..."]