3 May 2001
Copyright © 2001 World Expertise LLC – All rights
reserved
A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders,
edited by Russel C. Jones, PhD., P.E.
International developments
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany has proposed that
foreign students be granted the right to stay in Germany and work there after
completion of their studies. According to an article by Burton Bollag in the Chronicle
of Higher Education, the proposal is aimed at solving Germany’s severe
shortage of technical specialists, particularly in information technology.
German universities would like to increase the number of foreign students, both
to maintain the size of their student population in the light of falling numbers
of domestic students and to develop a more international environment for their
educational programs. The technical workforce problem is exacerbated by an
outflow of qualified graduates to other countries – 14% of the PhD graduates
going to the US each year, for example. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001042505n.htm
As exchanges between South and North Korea increase,
academics in South Korea are pondering how some sort of reunification or
confederation might impact them. According to an article by David Cohen in the Chronicle,
both countries put a high priority on education, but the South Korean system
is much more advanced. For example, South Korea is one of the world’s most
wired societies, with information technologies well integrated into college
learning; but North Korean colleges have not been keyed to understanding the
modern world, with an emphasis instead on maintaining revolutionary fervor
within the country. As a first step, academics from the North and the South are
discussing exchange programs in such areas as agriculture and information
technology. The longer range problem, however, will be how the South could
manage an inflow of large numbers of students from the North, and how such
students will cope with being inundated with ideas, facts and references that
are totally alien to their existence thus far. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i32/32a06001.htm
The University of Tokyo will begin using international
English tests in its admissions process, according to Alan Brender writing in
the Chronicle. Students will be required to take either the Test of
English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the Test of English for International
Communication (TOEIC) as part of entrance requirements. The University has
previously used a locally produced English test. This move by Japan’s premier
university may stimulate other Japanese universities to follow. See http://chronicle.com/2001/04/2001042007n.htm
The move towards a common European higher education system
is happening faster than many people realize, delegates to the Conference of
European Higher Education Institutions were told in Salamanca last month.
An article by Francoise Come in the Spring 2001 SEFI News describes
how Salamanca 2001, attended by some 600 rectors, students, government and union
officials, built upon similar meetings in Bologna in 1999 and Sorbonne in 1998.
Recommendations from this series of conferences will be presented to a meeting
of European education ministers in Prague, 18-19 May 2001. Output
recommendations from Salamanca 2001 are in six areas: freedom with
responsibility, empowering universities; employability on the European labour
market; mobility in the higher education area; comparability, a common but
flexible qualifications framework; quality assurance and certification
(accreditation); and competitiveness at home and in the world. For an
engineering perspective on these deliberations, see the ‘SEFI Position Paper
on the Bologna Declaration’ at http://www.sefi.be
Details of the conference are at http://www.salamanca2001.org
The European Commission has adopted s $ 13.3-billion plan
to promote online education by European universities. According to an article in
the Chronicle by Karen Birchard, the “eLearning Action Plan” is a
three-year effort aimed at broadening digital literacy in Europe and at reducing
the continent’s shortage of trained information technology workers. The plan
envisions a larger role for communications technologies such as digital
television and satellite delivery systems, in both higher education and in
continuing education. Universities in economically deprived areas will be given
financial and practical help to develop the infrastructure they need to use
modern technologies. For universities already well equipped with information
technology, the plan is to provide research funds to their computer and
education departments. The plan follows a recent declaration by the European
Commission, intended to challenge the US: “Improving basic skills,
Particularly IT and digital skills, is a top priority to make the European Union
the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001041601u.htm
The US Department of State has warned scholars and others
of the threat of detention on trips to China. According to a note in the Chronicle,
the State Department said that it “cautions Americans, especially
Americans originally from China, that there may be a risk of being detained upon
returning to China if they have at any time engaged in activities or published
writings critical of Chinese government policies”. Several US citizens, some
of them scholars, have recently been detained on visits to China. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001042004n.htm
Critics in Australia are complaining that Australian
universities, desperate for funding for research, are compromising their
public-service missions by taking corporate money with little thought to the
conditions that are attached. Writing in the Chronicle, Geoffrey Maslen
describes how recent government pressure on universities to become more
self-sufficient has driven them to seek industrial funding for research and
endowed chairs. Half of all government funds for research in Australia now
require an industry or government partner. Some see such support as partnerships
for mutual benefit, while others see them as alliances of exploitation.
Supporters of such external support note that it provides better research
opportunities for young, bright academics who would otherwise go overseas. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i33/33a05401.htm
The French
Minister for Education has presented a plan for new orientations in that
country’s higher education system, according to a note in the April 2001 SEFI
News. The main change will be reorganization of the system into modules, in
accordance with guidelines from the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This
move is expected to facilitate student mobility, to broaden and diversify
education, to keep training periods to reasonable lengths, and to develop skills
for lifelong learning. Students
will be able to apply to a university at any time during the year, and will more
readily be able to follow multidisciplinary programs. The reform, endorsed by
the Conference of University Presidents, requires that faculty members in each
discipline develop new modules. See http://www.lemonade.fr/education
Japan’s
Education Ministry has announced plans to spend $ 12-billion over the next five
years to construct new buildings and renovate current space at state-run
universities. According to a note by Michael Chan in the Chronicle, much of the
current space (some 20 million square meters) has not been renovated for
decades. Buildings that were built more that 30 years ago will get top priority,
with upgrades to include meeting current earthquake safety standards. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001042308n.htm
The University of
Oxford and Princeton University have announced that they are significantly
expanding their academic and research collaboration, according to an article by
Karen Birchard in the Chronicle.
The program will include the fields of humanities, social sciences, engineering,
mathematics, and science. It will result in an increased number of faculty and
students crossing the Atlantic in both directions, as well as more joint
research projects and the sharing of expensive resources. The collaboration is
expected to enhance research by bringing together scholars with various
perspectives and approaches, and to improve teaching by increasing interaction
among students from different cultures. See http://chronicle.com/daily/200l/04/2001042503n.htm
Foreign technical
workers who have entered the US under the H-1B visa program face an uncertain
future, according to an article by Leslie Wayne in the 29 April 2001 New
York Times. The visa program has been supported by high tech companies that cannot
find enough high-level employees with computer skills, due to the cooling of
interest in computer science and engineering education by US students. Late last
year these employers convinced Congress to increase the number of H-1B visas
granted annually to 195,000. Currently about 20% of high tech workers in the US
are foreign born, with about half of those coming from the H-1B visa program.
Some 47% of recent entrants under this program have been from India, with the
next largest group, 9%, coming from China. The program admits foreign workers
for a six-year period, during which they may apply for permanent resident status
– ‘Green Card’. But waiting periods for Green Cards are long, and many H-1B visa entrants are bumping up against
the six-year limits. In addition, with the slowing of the US high tech economy,
visa holders are concerned that if they lose their jobs they will be deported.
See http://www.nytimes.com
In the wake of the
presidential election vote counting fiasco in Florida last November, computer
scientists and political scientists at Caltech and MIT have offered their
services to help repair the voting process. In an article by Florence Olsen if
the Chronicle, efforts
by a team of political science and engineering professors at the two
institutions are described. To date they have found that the problem is not a
well-defined engineering problem, but is the sum of many administrative
shortcomings in precinct polling, absentee balloting, and voter registration.
They are also analyzing voting system technologies used in the last four
presidential elections – punch cards, optical scan, and direct electronic
recording. Problem ballots range from 2% to 3% in current systems. The teams are
exploring possible new technological voting systems as well as possible
improvements in currently utilized systems. See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i32/32a05101.htm
College graduates
are facing a softer market this spring, according to a note in the 24 April 2001
Wall Street Journal. College
placement officials say that this year’s graduating class will not have as
many opportunities as last year’s, and that students will have to put a little
more effort into their job searches. Apparently, though, even big employers who
are cutting jobs are still seeking talent. Dot-coms may have trouble attracting
such new talent, however, as layoff headlines have students spooked. See http://www.wsj.com
A group of
Senators has offered a bill to spur technology training in the US, with tax
credits and scholarships. Writing in the Chronicle,
Andrea Foster describes the
Technology Education and Training Act. It would provide businesses with up to a
$1500 tax credit per employee for information-technology training, and make
people enrolled in non-degree information-technology training programs eligible
for scholarships and tax credits. A similar bill was introduced in Congress last
year, and failed to make it to the floor of either the House or the Senate.
Supporters say that this year the prospects are better, due to bipartisan
support and industry group lobbying. Cost would be $ 700-million over five
years. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001042502t.htm
Nuclear power may
be poised for a revival in the US, as certain parts of the country grow short on
electric power. The Bush administration’s energy plan is expected to include
support for new nuclear reactor construction, according to an article by Matthew
Wald in the 24 April New York
Times. It is likely that new plants
would be built around existing plants, where neighbors are used to a nuclear
presence. Newer plants would differ significantly in size and design from older
plants, with 60% fewer moving parts. Supporters contend that new reactors would
be less expensive that other energy sources. See http://www.nytimes.com
. A similar article by Rebecca Smith in the 2 May Wall
Street Journal states that three
new nuclear designs that represent evolutionary improvements over existing
reactors have been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and that a
completely different design (the pebble-bed modular reactor) is under review.
But there are concerns about whether the public is ready for more nuclear
plants, given huge cost overruns in the previous generation which were passed on
to consumers, and lingering concerns about safety after Three Mile Island. There
is also the lingering problem of disposal of nuclear wastes. See http://www.wsj.com
For public
colleges, a decade of generous support is over – according to an article in
the Chronicle by
Sara Hebel and Jeffrey Selingo. Many institutions are planning to enact hiring
freezes, cut travel budgets, and delay equipment purchases and building
maintenance. Some higher education officials fear that a cycle of bad budget
times will weaken higher education, as did a similar downturn in the early
1990’s which widened the quality gap between selective private universities
and top-notch public institutions. Some analysts believe that states and
colleges missed opportunities during the good times to adopt policies that would
reduce the pain of tight budget years. So far about 20 states have cut the
budgets they enacted last summer by from 1% to 5%, primarily due to falling tax
revenues and increased costs in areas such as energy. See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i32/32a01002.htm
‘The Future of
Engineering’ is featured a special
issue of EE Times. In
predicting ‘what’s next?’, the publication states that the biochips era,
the nanotechnology age, and quantum computing will cross-fertilize with the life
sciences for a new age of imagination. Technologies covered as coming rapidly
include gigabit fabrics, beamed circuits, online collaboration, display
integration, cellular computing, wireless confluence, and extrapolated teams.
See http://www.eetimes.com/special/special_issues/millennium/future
The average pay of
faculty members in the US grew by 3.5% in 2000-01, just edging out the 3.4%
inflation rate, according to Scott Smallwood writing in the Chronicle.
The data, from a study by the American Association of University
Professors, indicates that the average pay for a full-time faculty member grew
from $58,350 per year to just over $60,000. It is the seventh time in the past
eight years that faculty salary increases have outpaced inflation. The average
numbers reveal less than statistics that differentiate between types of
institutions: for example full professors earned an average of $78,900 this
year, but that ranged from $89,800 at all doctoral institutions, to $57,800 at
two-year colleges, to $107,600 at private doctoral institutions. The survey
omits the salaries of medical school professors and those of part time
instructors. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001041301n.htm
The US National
Academy of Engineering has announced a new education award, the Bernard M.
Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. The award
was created to honor those who are advancing the fields of engineering and
engineering technology by creating novel teaching methods to motivate and
encourage the next generation of practicing engineers. The Prize will carry a
$500,000 cash award, and will be awarded biennially – with the first prize
presented in February 2002. Nominations are due by 15 June 2001. For more
information see http://www.nae.edu/awards
The percentage of
part-time faculty in colleges held steady in recent years after several years of
large increases, according to an article in the Chronicle by Robin Wilson.
A report released by the US Department of Education covering statistics through
1998 indicates that 43% of the 1,074,000 faculty members and instructors in
colleges and universities worked part time, compared with 42% in 1992. This
leveling off is in contrast to large increases in prior years – the part time
portion in 1987 was only 33%. The report also indicates that more of those
employed full-time are working off the tenure track, some 18% in 1998 (up from
8% in 1987). The report is available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001152.pdf
and the article at http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001042301n.htm
NASA is developing
more sophisticated software for its own use, and plans to attract companies and
universities to join it is making software more dependable and smart enough to
heal itself. According to an article by David Wessel in the 26 April Wall
Street Journal, NASA is motivated
by losses such as the Mars Polar Lander, which got confused and crashed in
December 1999 when two sensors gave conflicting data and the software was unable
to straighten the problem out. The computer programs that NASA uses are so large
and complex that they cannot be thoroughly tested before use, and the current
software is unable to cope with the adversity that errors produce. Certain that
other users of large computer systems have similar problems, NASA is inviting
companies to join in development efforts at its Ames Research Center in
California to produce a new generation of self-correcting software. Part of the
motivation for seeking partners is the funding crunch that NASA is in. See http://www.wsj.com
“Enter Internet
Two”, an article by Warren Cohen in the April 2001 issue of ASEE
Prism, states that this powerful new network will be able to move mountains of
data at dazzlingly fast speeds. The new initiative, a
university-government-corporate collaboration, will be 100 to 1000 times faster
than the current Internet. This will enable users to do such things as
transmitting 3-D and high-definition images, and entire digital libraries of
rich audio and video files, in the blink of an eye. Two test cases are already
up and running – at North Carolina State University at Raleigh construction
equipment is being operated remotely, and at Stanford University faculty are
working with colleagues in other countries to share visually detailed building
plans. See http://www.asee.org
for the article, and http://www.internet2.edu
for more on Internet2.
Meeting
fundamental human needs while preserving the life support systems of planet
Earth is the essence of sustainable development. According to an article by
Robert Kates, et al, in the 27 April 2001 issue of Science,
a new field of sustainability
science is emerging to seek to understand the fundamental interactions between
nature and society. Core questions posed for researchers in this new field are
listed in the article. They include: ‘How are long term trends in environment
and development reshaping nature-society interactions’, and ‘What systems of
incentives can most effectively improve society toward sustainable
trajectories’. This discussion is being fueled as scientists prepare for the
“Rio + 10” conference to be held in South Africa in 2002. See http://www.sciencemag.org
A group of
universities has begun designing a course-management system that will be free,
and whose source code will be made publicly available, according to an article
by Jeffrey Young in the Chronicle. The
‘Open Knowledge Initiative’ is born partly because of frustrations with
commercial course-development software, but its developers hope to supplement
rather than replace commercial products already installed on many campuses. The
effort is being led by MIT and Stanford, and other universities are signing on.
The aim is to develop software modules that will function together to help
professors teach online courses or enhance their classroom teaching. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001041701u.htm
In the May-June
2001 issue of Foreign Affairs, James
Adams addresses ‘Virtual Defense’ – how the information age is
revolutionizing warfare for the 21st century. The author points out
that the US, with its overwhelming military superiority and leading edge
information technology, is the country most vulnerable to cyber-attack. And the
US military is going even further in applying digital information technology in
both operational and strategic areas. Adams states that information attacks are
the new terrorism of the 21st century, and that computer hackers can
currently attack US computer networks with impunity. He believes that US
taxpayers are paying billions of dollars for a cyber-defense program that leaves
the country largely unprotected. See http://www.foreignaffairs.org
As distance
education evolves, the cultures of institutions shape their programs. Dan
Carnevale, writing in the Chronicle,
describes the approach taken at two
particular institutions. At Mercy
College in New York, every general-education course that students can take
online is also available in traditional face-to-face format. But at Farleigh
Dickinson University in New Jersey, none of the online courses offered have
face-to-face counterparts; students take them online or not at all. Officials at
the two institutions say that their patterns serve the needs of their particular
students and faculty. One reason that colleges limit online offerings is the
concern about retaining students – they are more likely to drop out of online
courses than out of traditional ones. Online courses are seen as assisting
students in developing the skills to use the Internet – where they also should
be organizing team projects and conducting research. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001041301u.htm
Word that
researchers for Peterson’s Guide
to Distance Learning Programs are
now collecting information from unaccredited colleges has administrators at
mainstream institutions worried that unaccredited colleges may be listed in
future editions of the guidebook. According to an article by Sarah Carr in the Chronicle,
Peterson’s officials say that the guidebook set to come out this fall
will list only accredited institutions – but that the information on distance
learning programs of unaccredited institutions could be the basis for a second
book. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001041801u.htm
The National
Education Association, the country’s largest teacher’s union, has issued a
manual asserting that online instruction is almost always more expensive that
traditional, in-person instruction. According to an article by Sarah Carr in the
Chronicle, officials
at the association hope that faculty members will use the manual in bargaining
over distance-learning issues – taking a tough line as universities expand
into online learning. The manual states that for a course that can be offered in
only one section “the in-person class will be less costly than the IT course
of comparable enrollment because both preparation time will be less for the
in-person course, and delivery of instruction will also take less time in-person
than interacting individually with 200 students each week via e-mail”. Critics
of the NEA posture say that the manual has the smell of Ludditism, and that
their defense of teachers is actually a defense against change. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001042301u.htm
In a brief note in
the Chronicle, Scott
Carlson reports that the job outlook remains strong for new graduates. According
to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, plans by
employers call for hiring 18.8% more new college graduates this year than they
did last year. Despite this overall increase, however, almost half of the
companies surveyed said they had lowered their predictions since last August.
Employers in the Northeast, South and Midwest were most stable in their
projections; businesses in the West, hit harder by the flagging economy, said
they would hire fewer graduates this year. The survey indicated that the job
market remains competitive for employers, and that more than 68% of the
respondents said they would be offering signing bonuses this year. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001041603n.htm
People who work
abroad, whatever their field, almost invariably describe the experience as life
defining. Some say it helped them define career goals, while others say that
living elsewhere offered a fresh perspective on their own culture. The web site
‘Monster Work Abroad’ describes five top reasons to work abroad: adventure;
global perspective; career growth; self-understanding; and foreign language
skills. See http://international.monster.com/workabroad/articles/reasons
Assessment has
taken center stage in online learning, according to an article by Dan Carnevale
in the Chronicle. Distance
educators are currently in the process of proving that they can accurately
assess anything, and few distance education programs are actually participating
in the development of new testing strategies. One complicating factor is that
distance education courses are often geared toward students already in the
workforce, which often involves learning by doing. In many such cases students
complete projects to show that they not only understand but can also apply what
they have learned. Standardized tests are also a key part of assessments in
distance learning – typically administered online in proctored environments.
All of higher education is moving towards outcomes-based assessment, with online
education leading the way. Institutions have found that assessment is
particularly popular with private companies whose employees take university
courses. Regional accreditation agencies are working on a list of ‘best
practices’ to serve as guidelines for institutions building online programs.
See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i31/31a04301.htm
The May/June 2001
issue of Change has
three feature articles on assessment. One by George Kuh cites a survey of
students which provides evidence about the nature and degree of the impact of
college on students. A second article, by Ernest Pascarella, describes research
that shows that within-college experiences tend to count much more than the
between-college characteristics (such as resources and selective admissions)
that are featured in national magazines that rank institutional excellence. The
third article, by Scott Evenbeck and Susan Kahn, reports on how two national
level projects involving urban public universities demonstrate that
inter-institutional “communities of practice” focused on student learning
can help universities create environments and develop practices to enhance
learning. See http://www.heldref.org
A study reported
at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association suggests
that group assignments often leave college level students dissatisfied. As
reported in the Chronicle by
Peter Monaghan, researchers at the University of
Missouri at Columbia and Concordia University in Canada are examining how
group activities should be designed at the graduate level, as opposed to earlier
school levels. Activities that encourage students to define and solve problems
through group interactions have long been thought to have cognitive and social
benefits in elementary and secondary schools, but the researchers say that the
benefits are unclear at undergraduate and graduate levels. They have found that
factors like student’s personal schedules, responsibilities and motivation
play a much larger role in the success of group activities for college students
– particularly at the graduate level. Students often thought that group
learning assignments was a laborsaving strategy by professors, and deprived them
of their professor’s expertise. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001041606n.htm
The lead article
in the May 2001 issue of Engineering
Times, by Jennie Ganz, describes
how engineering college curricula are becoming broader at some institutions.
Engineering students can be found taking courses in art, speech, organizational
behavior, English composition, and a myriad of other subjects. Some of this
broadening is attributed to the new ABET criteria which promote communication
skills, ethics, teamwork, hand’s on design, and other components of a modern
engineering education. But many engineering school programs are still relatively
rigid, due to the traditional four-year constraint and the perceived need to
cover large amounts of technical material. See http://www.nspe.org
A study financed
by the College Board has bolstered the reliability of the Scholastic Aptitude
Test (SAT), according to an article in the Chronicle by Jennifer
Jacobsen. The study done by the University of Minnesota, billed as the largest
ever analysis of the SAT exam, states that the exam reliably predicts
student’s academic performance not only as freshmen but also throughout
college. Critics say, however, that the fact that the study was financed by the
College Board (which owns the SAT) raises doubts about its validity. The SAT has
come under attack in recent years from critics who say that it is biased against
some minority groups and women, and that colleges weigh SAT scores too heavily
in admissions processes. The new study is a ‘meta analysis’ of more than
1700 studies on the subject, and represents more than a million students. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001042701n.htm
Business leaders
have urged colleges to give less weight to standardized tests in admissions,
according to an article in the Chronicle
by Eric Hoover. In a strongly
worded letter to college presidents, corporate leaders urged academic officials
to place less emphasis on the SAT and other standardized tests when evaluating
applicants. Executives from companies like Shell Oil and Verizon Communications,
joined by members of the National Urban League, stated in their letter that
entrance exams do not measure the qualities most crucial for success in the
business world. The letter did not recommend abandoning the SAT altogether, but
urged colleges to develop tools that measure applicant’s creativity,
leadership skills, and commitment to their communities. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001041201n.htm
South Africa’s
Universities are moving beyond educational apartheid, according to an article by
Linda Vergnani in the Chronicle. Seven
years after apartheid ended in South Africa, the proportion of black students
has increased by 18 percentage points to 71% of the nation’s student
population – but 80% of the academic staff members are white. The
government’s recently released National Plan for Higher Education aims to
forge a unified, racially integrated higher education system out of the old
pattern of institutions that were deliberately fractured and duplicated by
apartheid. It is hoped that the resulting system will reflect the racial mix of
the 43 million people who live in South Africa: 77% indigenous African, 10%
white, 9% mixed race, and 3% Asian. Since apartheid ended, black students have
voted with their feet, with thousands moving away from the once strictly
segregated, financially strapped, rural black universities and into the
wealthier, academically more selective urban universities. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i33/33a05201.htm
The National
Science Foundation has funded a major new effort aimed at workforce diversity in
the science and engineering fields, according to an article by Jeffrey Mervis in
the 20 April 2001 issue of Science.
The project, funded by $
2.3-million from eight federal agencies, is
to create a new entity called Building Engineering and Scientific Talent
(BEST). BEST hopes to become a national clearinghouse on diversity in science
and engineering, studying what works and publicizing its findings. The Council
of Competitiveness, which will house the project, has pledged to raise an
additional $ 7-million or more from corporations and foundations to get BEST off
the ground. See http://www.sciencemag.org
Writing in the
April 2001 issue of ASEE Prism, Alvin
Sanoff addresses closing the digital divide between technology haves and
have-nots – where the have-nots are likely to be black and Hispanic. The
author states that although digital access is growing among all racial and
ethnic groups in the US, black and Hispanic households are far less likely to
have access to the Internet than white and Asian-American households. Only three
of the historically black colleges and universities are on Yahoo’s list of the
100 most wired campuses, and only 25% of students at those colleges personally
own computers, compared with 49% at all institutions of higher education.
Initiatives that are underway to correct this imbalance are described in the
article, but the author concludes that the gap between technology haves and
have-nots will confront engineering schools and the nation for years to come.
See http://www.asee.org
A study recently
reported at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association
suggests approaches to keeping women in engineering programs. According to a Chronicle
article by Peter Monaghan, female engineering students place a high
value on out-of-the-classroom support activities like field trips, guest
speakers, tutoring services, study groups, and career programs. The research,
conducted at the private Goodman Research Group, indicates that female
engineering students’ perceptions of how supportive their departments are have
a marked effect on whether they remain in the programs. The research is part of
a larger, national longitudinal study – supported by NSF and the Sloan
Foundation – of women’s participation in engineering education. The
researchers have administered extensive surveys to 21,000 female students at 53
schools of engineering. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001041205n.htm
The Spring 2001
issue of Issues in Science and
Technology has several articles of
interest, including major groupings of articles on “Energy Resurfaces an a
Major Concern” and “ New Approaches to Environmental Regulation”. In the
first article on energy policy, by John Holdren, the author states that answers
will be found in improved technologies and incentives to use them, not in the
Artic National Wildlife Refuge. The second energy article, by Peter Fox-Penner
and Greg Basheda, deals with the short honeymoon for utility deregulation –
arguing that although the California crisis has shaken public faith in
restructuring, it is still the best route to follow.
The three articles on environmental regulation explore the EPA agenda and
private-sector environmental management. See http://www.nap.edu/issues
The May/June issue
of the electronic journal TechKnowLogia has been posted on the web at http://www.TechKnowLogia.org
. The thematic focus of this issue is Technology for e-Learning in the
Workplace. Some 23 articles explore technologies at work, planning for
technology, profiles in development, and technologies today and tomorrow.
From the 27 April 2001 Chronicle of Higher Education:
Ø
Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of
Massachusetts – Dartmouth
From the 4 May 2001 Chronicle:
Ø
Dean, Engineering and Applied Science, Naval Postgraduate Academy,
CA
Ø
Provost, University of San Diego, CA
Ø
Vice President for Research, University of North Dakota – Grand
Forks
From the April 2001 ASEE Prism:
Ø
Chair, Mechanical Engineering, University of Vermont
Ø
Chair, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of
Technology
Ø
Chair, Chemical Engineering, Michigan Technological University
Ø
Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Florida International
University
Ø
VP Academics, Milwaukee School of Engineering, WI
Ø
Chair, Engineering Sciences and Mechanics, Penn State
Ø
Chair, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
Ø
Dean of Engineering, American University of Dubai
Ø
Dean, School of Engineering and Mines, University of North Dakota
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