9 July 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.
The British newspaper The Guardian has ranked the
research quality of universities and other institutions around the world,
according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Susannah
Dainow. A study conducted by the paper ranked universities according to how many
papers their faculty publish, and how often such papers are cited in other
publications. The study focused on countries that are the top producers of
research papers: Britain, Canada, Germany and the United States. American
universities fared the best in the physical sciences, with the top five
institutions being: Scripps Research Institute, University of California at
Santa Cruz, Rockefeller University, Harvard University, and Brandeis University.
See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062101n.htm
Canada and Qatar have announced a 10-year joint project to
set up a new college of technology in Qatar, according to a note in the Chronicle
.The new college, funded by a $326-million grant from a foundation in Qatar,
will have 3000 students taking courses in 30 undergraduate subjects. The College
of the North Atlantic, an 18-campus institution in Newfoundland and Labrador, is
providing course development, personnel, and degrees for the new college. The
first students are to start in September 2002. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062106n.htm
Chinese students seeking visas to study in the US are being
rejected by the US Embassy in Beijing in much greater numbers than they were at
this time last year, according to an article in the Chronicle by Beth
McMurtrie. US State Department officials say that applicants are being turned
down for legitimate reasons, and that they expect denials to decrease as the
summer progresses. More students come to the US from China than from any other
country – with 54,466 enrolled in the US during the 1999-2000 academic year.
US universities which have admitted Chinese students are complaining about the
increased rate of visa denials. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062703n.htm
The research commissioner of the European Union, Phillipe
Busquin, is trying to develop the “European Research Area”, a broad effort
to better coordinate the continent’s rich but scattered scientific
strongholds. According to an article by Robert Koenig in the 29 June 2001 issue
of Science, the central instrument of the ERA is the next 4-year EU
research program, Framework 6. This program will nurture big-ticket
collaborations, and double the funding for researchers to country-hop.
Additional initiatives are aimed at coordinating cancer and aerospace research;
solidifying the Continent’s genomics research; and helping to set up a forum
to bring together leaders of seven major research labs. See http://www.sciencemag.org
Chinese officials have barred Taiwanese and non-Chinese
academics from a July conference in Beijing in a new indication of suspicion of
researchers with overseas connections. According to an article in the Chronicle,
the International Conference on the Chinese Economy was to have had speakers
from Australia and the United States as well as overseas Chinese – but the
foreign registrants have been advised not to attend, and overseas Chinese will
be screened by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The move comes during a
crackdown that has bewildered and frightened overseas Chinese academics. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001061805n.htm
Indian academic leaders are protesting a new government
rule that requires many foreign scholars to obtain official permission before
they can be invited to participate in conferences in India. According to an
article by Martha Overland in the Chronicle, the government directive
prohibits invitations to foreigners if a conference relates to politics, human
rights, communalism, or religion – with any exceptions to be pre-approved by
the Ministry of Home Affairs. In addition, academics visiting from certain
countries must get permission to attend any conference, regardless of subject
matter. Indian academics have complained about the rules, and expressed fear
that conference organizers might decide not to invite scholars with unorthodox
opinions, fearing repercussions. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062005n.htm
US Congress members have asked the US State Department to
intensify its pressure on China to release American scholars who have been
detained. According to an article by Dan Curry in the Chronicle, China
has detained at least five scholars of Chinese ancestry – two US citizens and
three permanent residents. Four of them have been formally charged with spying
by the Chinese government, but the Chinese will not discuss the allegations of
espionage. Congressmen suggested that pressure be applied on China, such as
denying visas to Chinese diplomats, canceling President Bush’s planned visit
to China, or withholding US support for China’s entry to the World Trade
Organization. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062002n.htm
In the UK, the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency is
stepping out from under the Ministry of Defence to become the country’s
largest independent science and technology company. According to an article by
Andrew Watson in the 22 June 2001 issue of Science, the new $1.05-billion
entity, called QinetiQ, will be owned by the UK government but directed by an
independent board. Its mandate will be to develop and market ideas and
technology for customers around the world. The company comprises three-fourths
of the current DERA, with a scientific staff of 6500. The privatization is
intended to unfetter DERA’s scientific workforce from its military masters,
who have cut research spending in half over the last decade. See http://www.sciencemag.org
Venezuela’s top University is the scene of a clash over
values and control, according to an article in the Chronicle by Michael
Easterbrook. Students occupied the office of the Rector several weeks ago, and
began blasting the administration for being anti-democratic and elitist.
Protests at Central University, founded in 1721, are nothing new – but the
unusual part in this protest is that it was backed by the government of
President Hugo Chavez Frias. Mr. Chavez, who had already crushed opposition
parties, rewritten the constitution, and dismantled Congress and the courts,
appears to be sowing chaos within the university in the hope of controlling what
many consider the last important center of state opposition. Teachers fear that
Mr. Chavez wants to indoctrinate young people with his ideology, a hodgepodge of
anti-elitist, anti-imperialist beliefs intended to imbue students with national
pride. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i42/42a03801.htm
Japan’s Education ministry plans to place 700
“scouts” in its national universities over the next five years, with an aim
of commercializing promising research projects. According to a note by Michael
Chan in the Chronicle, the scouts will identify promising areas of
research and help professors and other researchers apply for patents. They will
also give advice to academics hoping to start companies. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/07/2001070504n.htm
Media Lab Europe, an MIT spinoff, arrived in Ireland last
year to considerable fanfare. But according to an article by David Armstrong in
the 5 July 2001 Wall Street Journal, it has gotten off to a slow start,
and the Irish government is being criticized for its substantial support of the
startup. Irish academics accuse the lab of siphoning off national resources,
while research has barely gotten off the ground. Only 6 research scientists, 8
research associates and 16 graduate students are now working – in space
prepared for a staff of 250. One holdup is that MIT faculty members have been
cool to leave the US to work in Ireland. These problems may have broader
implications, in that a similar setup is being developed in India, and another
is being considered for Latin America. See http://www.wsj.com
Vietnamese officials have announced a plan to send more
students overseas, according to a note in the Chronicle by Marc Lopatin.
Ho Chi Minh City will send 300 students a year to study for advanced degrees at
overseas universities, and will also attempt to place more foreign academics in
teaching positions in the city. Of the city’s five million residents, only
7800 have graduate degrees and 230,000 have undergraduate degrees. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001061806n.htm
Britain’s Open University will this fall become the first
higher education institution in the UK to enroll high-school students in
undergraduate courses, according to a note in the Chronicle by David
Walker. The university will admit students from a selected group of high schools
into undergraduate programs in foreign languages, mathematics, science, and
technology. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/07/2001070605n.htm
After a long vacancy, President Bush has nominated a
Presidential Science Advisor. According to an article by Andrew Lawler in the 29
June 2001 issue of Science, Dr. John H. Marburger III has been designated
to become Director of the Office of Science and Technology in the Bush White
House. Marburger is a 60-year old physicist, a former university president, and
currently head of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Marburger vows to bring
scientific rigor to the Administration’s decisions, but warns that he will be
only one of many voices offering advice on hot-button issues such as ballistic
missile defense, stem cell research, and global warming issues. Marburger, who
is a lifelong Democrat, served as President of the State University of New York
at Stony Brook for 14 years prior to becoming a national laboratory head in
1998. Science policy officials greeted Bush’s choice with plaudits, and with
relief. Many were pleased that the White House will now get a boost in technical
competence, after worrying that the President has made some key R&D related
decisions without adequate science advice. See http://www.sciencemag.org
US
educators now seem less likely to lose their broadcast frequencies, according to
an article by Goldie Blumenstyk in the Chronicle. The Federal
Communications Commission seems less inclined to reassign the portion of the
radio spectrum used by schools and colleges since the 1960’s. A number of
colleges use that part of the spectrum to broadcast distance education courses.
The FCC is searching for bands of airwaves to serve new Third Generation
wireless devices, such as cellular telephones and other small devices capable of
surfing the web as fully as computers do today. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/07/2001070301u.htm
Academics, science lobbyists, and government officials met
recently in Washington to discuss ideas for reviving Congress’s Office of
Technology Assessment, a science advice agency that lawmakers killed in 1995.
According to an article in the 22 June 2001 issue of Science by David
Malakoff, however, the meeting did not develop a consensus on what might
convince Congress to change its mind. Created in 1972, OTA was known for
organizing diverse panels that reported on hot policy topics such as genetic
engineering. But some lawmakers felt that OTA had become a bastion of Democratic
bias, and that it took too long to complete expensive studies. When Republicans
took control of Congress in 1994, one of their first moves was to eliminate the
$22-million office. Ever since, science community leaders have complained that
lawmakers lack a trustworthy, neutral source of expertise on emerging issues
such as stem cell research and nanotechnology. See http://www.sciencemag.org
US carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels rose
by 2.7 percent in 2000, according to preliminary estimates from the US
Department of Energy. The 2000 growth rate was the highest since 1996, when it
was 3.6 percent. The increase is attributed to a return to more normal weather,
decreased hydroelectric power generation that was replaced by fossil-fuel power
generation, and strong economic growth. Carbon dioxide emissions account for
over 80 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions and are a good indictor of the
changes that can be expected in total US greenhouse gas emission. The
preliminary estimates are at the Energy Information Administration web site at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/flash/sld001.htm
President Bush, recently returned from meetings with
European leaders, is backing spending for a “global problem”, according to
an article by Richard Kerr in the 15 June 2001 issue of Science. Playing
up uncertainties about global warming causes noted by scientists in recent
top-level reports, Bush called for new research and technology initiatives to
combat what is clearly a “global problem”. Bush’s response is a 5-year US
Climate Change Research Initiative, which appears to be a repackaged version of
the existing US Global Change Research Program begun a decade ago by his father.
See http://www.sciencemag.org
Salaries for the highest paid bracket of information
technology managers have fallen for the first time since 1985, according to a
new survey. Benchmark salaries for chief information officers at large
corporations are down 37 percent from last year, according to the survey
recently released by management consulting firm Janco Associates. See http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-6264472.html?tag=mn_hd
Reports from the Cheney energy task force and one from
national laboratories present sharply different views of the US energy future,
according to an analysis article by William Sweet and Elizabeth Bretz in the
July 2001 IEEE Spectrum. The article contains excerpts from the Cheney
report and from a report prepared by researchers at several national labs, which
was released last November, so that readers can draw their own conclusions.
While recommending more development of oil and gas resources, the Cheney report
also recognizes that big gains in efficiency will continue to be achieved. The
national lab’s report, “Scenario for a Clean Energy Future”, presents a
very different picture than the Cheney report on what the country’s energy
sector may look like in 20 years. Instead of an enormous and inexorable increase
in reliance on fossil fuels, it believes that coal and oil consumption can be
held close to current levels. See http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in a recent speech, said that in an increasingly technological society, the nation’s educational system must be flexible in order to help workers meet new challenges. The days when a high school or a college education would serve a person throughout his working life are gone, according to Greenspan, and “learning will increasingly need to be a lifelong activity”. He also said that it is important to maintain the lead American universities have as research centers where new innovations can be developed. “If we are to remain pre-eminent in transforming knowledge into economic value, the US system of higher education must remain the world leader in generating scientific and technological breakthroughs and in preparing workers to meet the evolving demands for skilled labor”, he said at a summit on the 21st century work force sponsored by the US Labor Department. See http://www.dol.gov/dol/21CW/Summit.htm
US scientists anxious about next year’s federal research
budget have been getting some good news. According to an article by David
Malakoff in the 22 June 2001 issue of Science, several congressional
panels have approved preliminary 2002 spending bills that restore research
programs targeted for cuts by the Bush administration, while others are
considering channeling part of larger budget allocations to science. Pentagon
officials also signaled that they may request a significant boost for defense
R&D. Congress still has a long way to go, however, before and numbers become
final for the fiscal year that begins 1 October 2001. See http://www.sciencemag.org
African professors are learning online how to teach online,
according to a report in the Chronicle by Sarah Carr. A course offered at
the University of Namibia, “Teaching in the Online Environment”, teaches
professors how to use technology and the Internet in teaching. It focuses on
such issues as online grading and testing, in addition to surveying the
different types of learning resources that are available online. It is delivered
online with one live session at the beginning, when students and professors can
communicate through a high-speed video connection. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/07/2001070201u.htm
Merrill Lynch and MIT are claiming success in their
distance-learning program, according to an article in the 18 June 2001 Financial
Times. Twenty-eight top officials from Merrill-Lynch took a graduate level
course taught by an MIT professor. Taking a fresh approach, the course did not
include real time interaction and flashy media; students often signed on during
off hours to complete their work, and accessed course material on a CD instead
of online. Motivation was kept high by having supervisors review the
presentations of the students. The organizers reported that the distance
education approach did not result in cost savings, as might have been assumed.
The US National Governors Association has released two
reports that together offer a ringing endorsement of distance education,
according to an article by Sarah Carr in the Chronicle. One report,
“The State of E-Learning in the States”, provides an overview of state
efforts in distance learning. The authors of that report note that the chief
concern of state policymakers is the quality of online courses. The second
report, “A Vision of E-Learning for America’s Workforce”, suggests that
state governments should seek to form more public-private partnerships in online
learning because the economic incentive for investment is so strong. The report
states “High-quality e-learning creates an economic advantage for both
individuals and organizations by improving ‘speed to capacity’ – or
shortening the amount of time it takes to get workers up to speed on new
products and processes”. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001062001u.htm
The Internet has the potential to enhance collaboration at
a distance among researchers by facilitating rapid dispersal of information and
the coordination of numerous complex, real-time interactions, according to an
article by Stephanie Teasley and Steven Wolinsky in the 22 June 2001 Science.
The most frequent currently used applications of the Internet support
asynchronous transfers of static text files and images from large publicly
available databases. But the authors state that distributed work will ultimately
require a fundamental transformation of scientific practice. A growing number of
projects allow researchers to control experimental equipment remotely in
real-time. The Internet also has the power to support scientific collaboration
by linking investigators who can then interact with each other in real-time
while dynamically manipulating data. See http://www.sciencemag.org
The Internet2 consortium of research universities will try
to build a Web directory of millions of people in higher education, according to
an article by Florence Olsen in the Chronicle. It would be a
‘white pages’ of faculty and students and staff members, with
information on how to communicate with them electronically over the internet.
The directory, which officials hope to have operational this summer, would be
accessible to all users. The directory will have different ways of searching
across multiple campus directories, for example allowing people to be found
according to their role on campus. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001062001t.htm
Many colleges are now offering their graduates lifetime
e-mail addresses, according to an article by Scott Carlson in the Chronicle. In
addition to allowing colleges to keep tabs on alumni, it is a constant lure back
to their web pages. Although a free permanent e-mail account often amounts to
little more that a basic web-based account, it can be a valuable tool for
soliciting donations, for keeping alumni involved in an institution’s
evolution, and for tracking student’s careers after graduation. Some
institutions, such as MIT and Williams College, offer forwarding accounts –
e-mail addresses that forward messages to graduate’s primary accounts. For
prestigious schools such as Stanford, the free e-mail service can be an online
status symbol for alumni. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001061901t.htm
Seeking to ensure that the most selective institutions
maintain a commitment to needs-based financial aid, the presidents of 28 private
colleges have endorsed a set of common standards for measuring a family’s
ability to pay for college. According to an article in the Chronicle by
Eric Hoover, their recommendations include creating a uniform system for
assessing the need of divorced or separated families, and establishing a formula
that reduces the financial contributions of parents with more than one child in
college. The group also proposed counting home equity in the overall evaluation
of a family’s financial strength. It
is expected that adoption of these standards will “significantly affect parent
contributions in the aggregate and, in many cases, expected family contributions
will be reduced”. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001070601n.htm
The Educational Testing Service has announced changes in
the format of the Graduate Record Examinations General Test for the first time
in 20 years, according to an article in the Chronicle by Susannah Dainow.
As of October 2002, one section of the standardized multiple-choice test will be
replaced with a writing section. The G.R.E. will then consist of verbal,
quantitative, and analytical-writing portions. The writing section will replace
the current analytical section of the test, which involves the solution of
verbal logic problems. The writing samples are meant to measure test-takers’
abilities to argue logically, a skill the rest of the test does not measure.
Applicants to master’s and doctoral programs in the arts, humanities,
sciences, and engineering take the G.R.E. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062901n.htm
“Balancing Acts—Designing Careers Around the
Scholarship of Teaching”, by Mary Taylor Huber, is a major article in the
July-August 2001 issue of Change. The author notes that many faculty seek
‘balance’ in their professional lives, but few believe that they can achieve
it without serious risk to their academic careers. She states that higher
education’s teaching and service performance will be strengthened if faculty
are encouraged to approach their work in classroom and community with the same
care and curiosity that they bring to library, laboratory, studio, or field. The
article reports on four case studies that the Carnegie Foundation is developing
as part of a larger inquiry into cultures of teaching in higher education today.
The case studies map several routes into scholarly careers that include
significant work in the scholarship of teaching and learning. See http://www.heldref.org
As student cheating incidents continue to make headlines,
many colleges are beginning to equip all of their professors with high-tech
tools designed to detect plagiarism. According to an article in the Chronicle
by Jeffrey Young, some professors say that checking papers for cheating may soon
become a routine part of grading. Some schools are turning to commercial sources
such as Turnitin.com to scan student papers to see if the material has been
copied, while others are relying on search engines such as Google to look for
unique phrases appearing in papers that they suspect have been copied from
Internet sources. See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i43/43a02601.htm
The debate over whether a licensed civil engineer should be
required to obtain a master’s degree remains unresolved, according to an
article by Cathy Murphy if the July 2001 issue of CE News. While the
American Society of Civil Engineers actively supports the idea, many others are
firmly against it. In its most recent salary survey, CE News found that
of the more than 500 people who responded, 80% felt that a master’s degree
should not be required for a P.E. license, while 12% supported the idea. Those
who favor the master’s degree requirement cite the need for civil engineers to
have a broader education, and also the need for increased education in specialty
areas such as structural engineering. Opponents argue that practical experience
is just as important as formal education, and that there is nothing wrong with
the current system.
President Bush has picked a nominee to become assistant
secretary of education for civil rights who has sharply criticized affirmative
action in college admissions, according to an article in the Chronicle
by Scott Jaschik. Gerald Reynolds, formerly president of the Center for
New Black Leadership, has written newspaper columns that say that affirmative
action is wrong, and does not help minority students. In one article, Mr.
Reynolds stated: “I would like to suggest that solving the spiritual and
economic problems that are devastating many black communities is far more
important than maintaining racial preference policies whose benefits are
restricted to blacks who possess ‘middle class’ values”. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/06/2001062601n.htm
MIT has received
two grants, totaling $11-million, for its project to post course materials
online, according to an article by Jeffrey Young in the Chronicle.
Many see MIT’s project as an important statement that course materials
should be considered scholarly publications, not commercial products. The grants
include support for an effort to develop software for online courses that other
institutions could use free. The first phase of the project, which is funded by
these grants, will last 27 months, and will include development of 500 course
Web sites. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001061801u.htm
The July/August
2001 issue of Foreign Affairs contains
at least two articles of interest. “China’s Coming Transformation” by
George Gilboy and Eric Heginbotham, notes that the path China’s leaders have
taken over the past decade – rapid economic reform while stifling political
change – is likely to be modified by new leaders to accelerate political
reform. And “The Missile Defense Debate” by John Newhouse argues that the
threat the Bush administration sees is trivial, and that its approach will only
anger China and Russia while alienating US allies. See http://www.foreignaffairs.org
The June 2001
issue of European Journal of
Engineering Education contains a
group of papers on “Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications: New Tools
for Engineering Education”. It also has interesting
papers on “Self Training through the Internet” and on “Implementation of
engineering product design using international student teamwork – to comply
with future needs”. The final section of the Journal
has two papers about accreditation, as applied in Portugal and in
developing countries. See http://www.tandf.co.uk
The International
Journal of Engineering Education has
published Volume 17, Number 3, 2001. It contains three papers on engineering
education policy and research, plus a series of papers on developments in
several disciplinary areas of engineering education.
See http://www.ijee.dit.ie
This Journal has recently been
selected for inclusion in the Science Citation Index, and will be listed in the
Current Contents/Engineering, Computing and Technology.
The July/August
2001 issue of the online journal TechKnowLogia has been posted at http://www.TechKnowLogia.org
The thematic focus of this issue is technology for social action.
Featured articles are concerned with economic globalization, information
technology and poverty, and e-dialogue and social policy.
From the July 6 and July 13 issues of the Chronicle of
Higher Education:
Ø Electrical engineering faculty, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Ø Dean, College of Engineering, University of Rhode Island
Ø Director, Minority Engineering Program, University of Missouri – Rolla
Ø Dean of Academic Affairs, DeVry Institute of Technology, CO
Ø Vice Chancellor/Academic Affairs, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Ø Vice Chancellor and President, University of New South Wales, Australia
Ø
President, Utah State Board of regents
See: http://chronicle.com/jobs
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