Chemical Engineering June 2012 - 23

In an example of how connections
are made, many departments have
established industry advisory boards
that meet periodically to provide
input to university departments about
industrial needs, and other topics,
MTU's Crowl points out.
Academics have to go out and seek
connections to industry, because there
are not many good forums for the two
communities to come together, Columbia's
Kumar says. He recounts a recent
effort to set up an industry-academic
discussion group at the New York Academy
of Sciences in which academic
participation was far higher than industry,
by a 90/10% split, Kumar says.
So far, it seems like the themes we
have picked - bioprocessing, energy,
" big data " - have not resonated that
strongly with industry, he says.
Knovel's Gurke agrees that broader
leadership and coordination for academic-industry
initiatives in chemical
engineering is lacking. He also agrees
that the industry-academic gap is
real, despite the efforts on the part of
individual universities, individual researchers
and companies to establish
links between the two sectors. Relationships
between universities and
engineering-related companies certainly
exist, but they are established
and cultivated somewhat on an ad hoc
basis. " There is no national policy or
leadership in this matter, " he says.
Universities " can and should do
more to integrate practical industry
knowledge into their courses, such
as by setting up business incubators,
participating in industrial R&D and
expanding internship programs with
local companies, " Gurke comments.
The disconnect between academia
and industry amplifies existing workforce-related
challenges. Gurke explains,
" The problem is that, in the
past, mentoring of young engineers
by older, experienced ones was more
prominent, with experienced personnel
transferring practical engineering
knowledge on a person-to-person
basis. Now, streamlined staffing and
the retirements of Baby-Boom-aged
engineers leave fewer opportunities
for in-depth mentoring. " Citing an
IEEE study that suggests over threequarters
of the knowledge obtained by
engineers is acquired after graduation,
Gurke says the reality is that young engineers
have to obtain that knowledge
in other ways. And the relationships
between CPI players and engineering
schools will play a large role in how effectively
this is accomplished.
University chemical engineering
programs are exploring a wide range
of ways to foster improved connections
with industry. An overriding educational
goal in the chemical engineering
program at MTU is to give students as
much fundamental depth as possible,
while still relating the education to
industrial practice, says MTU's Crowl.
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Chemical Engineering June 2012

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