2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 50: Unlock the Potential of Industry Partners for Engineering Education

Presented at College Industry Partnerships Division (CIP) Poster Session

Most high-performing industrial advisory boards (IABs) in the U.S. provide engineering programs with future-looking advice that energizes faculty toward improved instruction. We envision IABs that go further than the norm, engaging as active partners to implement change in engineering programs that better prepare students for a dynamic industry. With the support of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN, https://engineeringunleashed.com/), our team of university faculty from seven institutions (University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Clarkson University, Rowan University, Drexel University, Boston College, University of St. Thomas, and the University of North Alabama) have implemented a new program titled "Project Unlock: Accessing the power of your advisory board." This program aims to equip industry and academia advisory board members with a framework and accompanying playbook to “unlock” such a collaborative journey. In this presentation, we report the results of a “Lightning Poll” survey of Department Heads/Chairs and Deans from numerous engineering programs of various size, focus, and research activity across the U.S. about the types of engagements that happen between engineering programs and their advisory boards. The results provide a more detailed view of the landscape and context of current advisory boards and engineering program interactions and inform the framework and playbook development. We discuss further how programs can transform their IABs into Industrial Partnership Boards (IPBs) that are co-creators of the curricular and/or co-curricular student experience. It is our belief that these deeper interactions will drive transformational change at adopting institutions towards production of students with an entrepreneurial mindset that embraces the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous nature of future engineering practice.

Authors

Lt. Col. Erik Backus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4348-8216 Clarkson University [biography]

Erik C. Backus, PhD, PE, is a Professor of Practice at Clarkson University and the Howard E. Lechler Director of the Construction Engineering Management (CEM) program,
teaching and supporting undergraduate, graduate, and other students and trainees. He has a bevy of
expertise, experience, and knowledge in instructing project based engineering courses working closely with industry and community partners. Erik has
spearheaded the Clarkson Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) Capstone design experience since
2015, using project teams as direct consultants with internal and external clients across the State and
region. He has presented on one such project at the ASEE St. Lawrence Section conference on one such
CEE capstone effort in the past. He also teaches courses in a variety of areas connected to both building
and infrastructure construction. Previous to his time at Clarkson, he was an Assistant Professor of
Military Science at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and an Instructor/Writer for the US Army
Engineer School USAES) at the Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN), Fort Leonard Wood, MO. He
was responsible for rewiring significant portions of the USAES Engineer Captain's Career Course
curriculum related to construction contracting and is a past winner of the MANSCEN Technical Training
Excellence award. Among his current efforts is being a leader in Project Unlock which seeks to transform advisory boards into partnership boards as a way to transform engineering education programs.
Paul Edward Dougall
Dr. Shane W. Rogers Clarkson University
Dr. Jennifer S. Atchison Drexel University [biography]

Jennifer Atchison received her Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering in 2012 from Drexel University. Dr. Atchisonâ€™s professional interests include nanofibrous textiles, engineering design, engineering education especially active learning, diversity,
JoAnn W. Rogers
Dr. Philip J. Parker P.E. University of Wisconsin - Platteville [biography]

Philip Parker, Ph.D., P.E., is Program Coordinator for the Environmental Engineering program at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He is co-author of the textbook "Introduction to Infrastructure" published in 2012 by Wiley. He has helped lead the

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