Engineering and Computer Science Update Dennis L. O’Neal, Ph.D., P.E. Dean ECS Board of Advocates September 19, 2014

Welcome! We have a new candidate for the Board of Advocates – Tom Ayers Chief Operating Officer – Offshore Business Unit, Technip USA 1991 Baylor BS Engineering graduate 1993 MSME from the other university on the Brazos

What we’ll will do this morning Dean’s update/conversation Divide into committees – Development/Corporate Relations – Undergraduate Program – Graduate Program/Research Reports from three committees

The wind of change Blows straight into the face of time…* The winds of change can provide opportunities for us in ECS * Lyrics by the Scorpions

We have seen some major changes since last Spring at Baylor & ECS Provost (Elizabeth Davis) left to become President of Furman University Architect of Pro Futuris Supporter of ECS David Garland is now the Interim Provost Engineering background from Naval Academy Supporter of ECS

Change in the air – ECS Development Kristen Box, ECS Director of Development has been promoted within Baylor Development Search is underway for new development officer This will be third year in a row with a new development officer!

Change in the air - ECS ECS Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs is leaving ECS Becoming Associate VP for Constituent Engagement Critically important position within ECS because of undergraduate Recruitment Retention Graduation Student life

Change in the air - ECS Kate Amaya, our new Director of Marketing and External Relations started in May Tasked with developing marketing strategies to increasing visibility of ECS Extending our outreach to companies Working on a complete revision of our web site Engaging social media Starting regular e-newsletter Directly engaging the challenging internal obstacles within Baylor

We have some new faculty in ECS!

Two new faculty joined ECS in Computer Science Dr. King-Ip “David” Lin Associate Professor Ph.D. – Univ. of Maryland Dr. Matthew Fendt Lecturer Ph.D. - NC State

Four faculty have joined us in Mechanical Engineering: Dr. Jonathan Rylander Assistant Professor Ph.D. – Stanford Univ. Dr. Joseph Kuehl Assistant Professor Ph.Ds. – Univ. of Rhode Island

Four new faculty in Mechanical Engineering: Dr. Jill Klentzman Lecturer Ph.D., Southern Methodist Univ. Mr. Stanton Greer Lecturer M.S., Baylor University

Our current faculty numbers are still low for the size of our undergraduate programs ProgramFaculty Size (full-time)Approximate Number of Undergraduates Computer Science & Informatics Electrical & Computer Engineering Mechanical Engineering17575 Baylor advertises a 15-to-1 student/faculty ratio – We still have a ways to go!

We will continue to grow our faculty Three tenure-track positions approved for ECE One tenure-track position approved for ME One clinical professor of engineering practice approved for EGR – Will help both ME and ECE

2014 – Highlights Spring Largest ECS graduation ever – 100 undergraduate & 5 graduate students! Largest freshmen class in Baylor history – 3625 Largest numbers in ECS history – Freshmen – 400 (SAT avg = 1294) – Undergraduate students – 1124 (8% growth) – Graduate students – Ph.D. students

2014 Highlights – Faculty Recognition Awarded the Medal of the University of Warsaw May 2014 “In recognition of your encouragement and efforts in building the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest and expanding the competition worldwide in service to gifted students, academia, industry, and the global community" Drs. Bill Poucher and Jeff Donahoo Dr. Robert Marks Named #28 in “The 50 Most Influential Scientists in the World Today” for his work in computational intelligence The BestSchools.org – February 2014

2014 – Highlights Fall First Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering Sarah Stair

Fall 2014 – Highlights Largest STEM Career Fair in Baylor history – 59 employers – 800+ students

Growth of the career fair is important to our program YearRecruitersStudents Attending 2010Canceled – only 7 recruiting companies n.a

Our undergraduate numbers still look too much like a state program SchoolUndergraduatesFacultyStudent-to-Faculty Ratio Texas Tech Iowa State West Virginia Kansas State Baylor Oklahoma State Oklahoma Kansas Texas Christian Texas

We had some well known companies at our STEM Career Fair last week

Unsolicited on Tuesday Dr. O’Neal: I was at Baylor last week for the STEM Career fair, recruiting for my employer. I had hoped to meet you while there but, unfortunately, I did not have the time. I am writing you now to congratulate you on the high caliber of engineers Baylor is currently producing. My colleagues and I were very impressed with both the quality and diversity in your students…… William D. Wray, PE Bayer MaterialScience

Observations made during the fall 2012 BoA meeting Let’s take a look back…

The rapid growth in ECS enrollment has jeopardized the quality of our programs Assessment: Still true: – 885 undergraduates in 2012, 1124 in 2014 Student to faculty ratios are worse today than in 2012 Actions Taken: – Engineering has taken aggressive steps to curb growth through raising admissions – Computer Science – still studying issue – Hired ten faculty in last two years – net of 5 because of retirements and attrition – Hiring of two more full-time advisors We should see progress in numbers next fall

There will be increased focus on retention (and graduation) of undergraduates by Baylor Assessment: Making progress Actions taken: – Developed tools to better identify factors affecting retention – Hiring of two additional advisors was necessary to develop early intervention strategies for students struggling – Development of minimum admission standards to get better qualified students Will be able to make first assessments in a year

ECS is space constrained Assessment: Making slow progress Actions taken: – Secured continual use of the ECS Annex (~6k sf) – Been proactive about securing space in Cashion/Hankamar Plan is for CS and ECE to move Should increase our footprint 80 to 100% Will free up space in Rogers for academic laboratories

ECS is short on support staff Assessment: Steady progress Actions: – Added two full-time advisors Can now cover freshmen & sophomore classes for all majors – Added one IT support person – Have approval for two administrative assistants to help the graduate program directors in ME/ECE Evaluating future needs Technical and administrative are high priorities

Lack of Ph.D. programs in CS and ME will affect the growth of our graduate programs Assessment: Making progress Actions taken: – ME Ph.D. program approved in fall 2013 – First ME Ph.D. student started in fall 2014 – CS Ph.D. proposal in process Note: ECS has grown from 56 (10 Ph.D.) graduate students in 2012 to 67 (18 Ph.D.)

Research infrastructure at Baylor needs to improve to support growth in research Assessment : very slow improvement Actions: – Baylor is slowly hiring key research support personnel Export controls – done – Other personnel needed: Proposal preparer Contracts negotiator – Future BRIC build out is slow - tied to new faculty hires Notes: – Baylor lacks major equipment found in major research universities Clean rooms Materials characterization – We are developing recruiting strategies to build the graduate programs

ECS endowments and annual giving are insufficient to support a program of our size Assessment: Still true Actions: – Hired first full-time development person for ECS – Fall 2013 – Baylor hired full-time corporate development officer last year – Continue to identify potential ECS alumni and friends who might be substantial donors – Working within companies to identify concentrations of Baylor grads and encouraging them to invest in ECS – Working with annual giving to get our story to alumni Challenges: – Turn over in development personnel – Small percentage of ECS graduates who give – Small number of ECS graduates in prime giving years – Poor tracking by Baylor of graduates

Lack of visibility of ECS with industry is hurting our programs Assessment: Making progress Actions taken: – Personal visits to dozens of companies in first two years – Appearances at Baylor network events – Hiring of Director of Marketing and External Relations Challenges: – Companies entrenched with hiring at existing schools – A lot of effort to move them in our direction – Focusing efforts on companies from an extremely large pool of potential employers

Upcoming Items Computer Science ABET visit – October 5-7 Computer Science Ph.D. proposal Possible Chemical Engineering proposal to the Board – Feb? Reevaluation of the minimum SAT admission requirements – Currently 1220 – Should we go higher? Filling positions in the Dean’s Office – Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs (Faculty position) – Director of Undergraduate Programs (Staff Position)

Structure of rest of the morning Three committees – Development & corporate relations (meets here) – Graduate program & research (first floor) – Undergraduate programs (first floor) Each committee needs someone to take notes during the meetings Each committee will report back to the Board before lunch