Powering the Knowledge Economy in turbulent times

A message from Dean Ron Adams

These are turbulent times—here in Oregon, across the nation, and around the globe. The recent national tragedy touched all of us, and the current economic conditions are challenging. However, now more than ever, we must forge ahead with our mission to build a better, brighter future. One degree at a time, we must offer young people from around the world the opportunity to realize their dreams, so that they can help create a better world, and illuminate the future. The demand for well-educated, work-ready engineers who can team with others to creatively solve the world’s problems has never been greater and will not diminish in the coming years.

This is why the OSU College of Engineering plans to stay our course as we ascend to a Top-25 engineering program. We will continue to build for the future, and thereby weather the current economic soft spot. As the Knowledge Economy spreads around the earth and the need for investment in engineering is more important than ever before, I am pleased to report that individuals and organizations are stepping forward in record numbers to support our commitment to building a better future for Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and the world. Private and public leadership have embraced our Top-25 goal by committing almost half of our $180-million fundraising goal.

We are moving forward armed with a clear and realistic vision, a sense of passion rooted in the entrepreneurial spirit, and a strategy that is rock solid. From this combination comes an unbeatable strength that will fuel us during these tenuous, turbulent times.

By innovating our teaching and attracting applications-focused research, the College of Engineering is powering the Knowledge Economy by developing talented engineers with the fresh ideas that will drive innovation and ultimately improve the world. I am proud of the accomplishments the College has achieved this year, and thank everyone for their outstanding efforts.

This year, faculty, staff, students, and volunteers have worked tirelessly to help the College exceed all expectations as we steam toward our Top-25 goal. We grew to become the 23rd largest undergraduate engineering program in the nation (see story, State of COE page 2). Our research program saw 27 percent growth in new research funding during the past 12 months (see story, State of COE page 2). We hired 14 new faculty members, including David Porter, who is bringing groundbreaking wireless technology to the manufacturing sector (see story, Research page 5). The number of top scholars choosing to study engineering at Oregon State continues to climb (see story, Students page 2). We are building important new bridges to the business community like never before with our new INSPiRE industry partnerships, PROMiSE scholarships, and our rapidly growing MECOP internships (see story, Students page 1).

In addition, we are revolutionizing the way we teach our students, employing innovative platforms for learning like TekBots™, which offers students the hands-on excitement of building their own robots and the preparation for employment in the fast-paced business environment (see story, Industry page 3). In partnership with the College of Business, we are creating an Entrepreneurial Learning College in Weatherford Hall to house engineering and business students who want to experience the thrills, challenges, and ultimate satisfaction of entrepreneurship. We are bringing industry to campus, tapping the expertise of business leaders like Hewlett-Packard’s David Hackleman (see story, Industry page 2) and Intel’s Jim Johnson (see story, Industry page 1). The department of chemical engineering has created a unique new teaching position–the Linus Pauling Engineer–filled not by an academic professor, but by an industry executive who literally brings the corporate context into the laboratory (see story, Industry page 4).

We are winning important research grants by swiftly assembling the right people to form dynamic research teams that cross disciplines, departments, and colleges. These high-performance, interdisciplinary teams draw on their different areas of expertise—and OSU’s unique competitive advantage—to discover effective solutions to real-world problems. For example, working closely with the OSU College of Forestry, Nuclear Engineering professor José Reyes and others have discovered that by etching the branching vein-like pattern found in tree leaves onto computer chips, water can be pumped across the chip to cool it more efficiently, making even tinier chips possible (see story, Research page 4). Bioengineering professor Frank Chaplen is working with OSU cell biologist Phil McFadden (and many others) to use the color-changing cells found in the Siamese Fighting Fish to quickly detect toxins and issue an almost-instant visual warning (see story, Research page 2).

We have just broken ground to construct on the OSU campus the world’s largest tsunami simulator, a $4.8 million NSF-funded project that was a direct result of Cherri Pancake from Computer Science teaming up with Solomon Yim and Chuck Sollitt from Civil Engineering (see story, Research page 1).

The list goes on. But what’s more important than our individual accomplishments is the fact that together we are helping improve the world. And the world is taking notice.

In a recent conversation with John Young, retired CEO and President of Hewlett-Packard, he said that OSU’s unusual approach to building a Top-25 engineering school is effectively addressing a national problem: a shortage of work-ready engineers. He also challenged other engineering schools across the continent to follow OSU’s lead in educating work-ready engineers who will power the Knowledge Economy in the years ahead.

And so we find ourselves in a bold, new leadership position, the source of a totally new type of engineer–creative women and men who are passionate about applying their engineering and people skills to make this world a better place. With your continued support, hard work, and enthusiasm, we will reach our goal—regardless of turbulent times—and the world will be the ultimate beneficiary.

Ron Adams,

Dean, OSU College of Engineering