A Successful Collaborative Partnership among the Faculty and Librarians at Drexel University with the IEEE Jay BhattDrexel University Andy WheelerDrexel University Ruth Wolfish IEEE ASEE/ELD Annual Conference – June 2005 Portland, Oregon

Outline Collaborative partnership – faculty, librarians, IEEE student branch and IEEE IEEE University Partnership Program – motivating factor Various events and activities Outreach opportunities Instructional outcomes Conclusions

Collaborative partnership - background Drexel University’s Engineering curriculum  Five year, $2 million NSF grant in 1989  Enhance educational experience with emphasis on team building, collaboration and life-long learning  Communication skills Industry advances as new technologies emerge  Cellular telephony  Nanotechnology  Wireless networks

Collaborative partnership - background Students need to keep up-to-date with new technology IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)  non-profit, technical professional international association of more than 365,000 members worldwide  app. 30% of literature in electrical engineering, computers and control technology  coverage also includes biomedical technology  more than 300 conference each year

Collaborative partnership - background IEEE University Partnership Program (UPP)  IEEE ‘s support to students by encouraging them to actively participate in different activities  With UPP, active collaboration among faculty, students, librarians and IEEE needed  Goals: Increase IEEE student members Expose students to various events by inviting speakers, to learn about career opportunities and possible networking Solidify close relationship between IEEE and Drexel Promote usage of IEEE Xplore database (literature searching)

Collaborative partnership Faculty support to IEEE student branch and library  Dr. Bruce Eisenstein – past IEEE President  Dr. Nihat Bilgutay – Electrical and Computer Eng Head  Dr. Moshe Kam – IEEE Student Branch Advisor To reach goals mentioned earlier, collaborative partnership is a MUST Student involvement through the IEEE student branch Motivation for students to work together in organizing various events – student membership benefits Opportunities for the Library to promote IEEE database through outreach activities Increased simultaneous user logins to access IEEE Possibilities of getting rebate on subscription if goals were met

Collaboration Events bring students, faculty, library and IEEE staff together IEEE Customer Relations Manager  Budget  Identified speakers  Communicated with students and librarian Student Chapter members and Library  Planned events – time, date, refreshments, publicized through s, flyers, announcements on web sites. IEEE provided customized flyers  Events in the Library seminar room

Collaboration IEEE  Flyers for the events  Instructional tip sheets with Drexel library’s web site information  Budget for the speaker fees Faculty support  Membership benefits to students through presentations and meetings with students  Cost for refreshments  Importance of IEEE Xplore in research and classes  Support to the Library – not only attended events but strongly encouraged students to use IEEE and other resources

Events July 30, 2002  Dr. Kam on IEEE membership  Engineering Librarian on IEEE Xplore  Students received free tee shirts on becoming members (tee shirts provided by IEEE) November 8, 2002  Patent Attorney – Martin Finston from Lucent  Presentation delivered 3 times to 3 different freshman sessions. ( a total of 688 students)  Patent research – necessary for design students  Library web site promoted

Events May 27, 2003  Event in the library. Similar to July 2002 event except a new ‘Tips and Tricks’ session  Focus on finding prospective companies using IEEE to seek potential employment or finding universities with similar research interests to continue in graduate school October 9, 2003  Career path and networking event  Five member panel consisting of Christopher Deephouse from GSI Commerce, and four Drexel alumnus  Unique prize drawing – students bring citation using IEEE Xplore of an article by Deephouse  Chance to win a palm m515

Events April 27, 2004  Event featured David Hamer – visiting research scholar at Bletchley Park Trust (cryptographic Museum)  Enigma cryptographic machine  Cryptography in world war II  Students came from Cryptography class  MP3 player in a special lottery drawing – IEEE supported Students needed to bring a citation on Enigma machine May 18, 2005  David Hamer – by popular student demand

Benefits Vital lifelong skills reinforced  Leadership, teamwork, planning, and promoting ideas with other participants outside classroom setting Received tips on how to be successful in job market  Ideas on possible future career paths in academics or in industry Importance of IEEE membership Connecting course content with speaker events  Interacting with David Hamer, students learned about codes, computer security and cryptography

Benefits Patent research for design projects  Relevance to their own projects  Patent fundamentals  Ethical aspects of invention Library Resources  Use of IEEE Xplore in locating journal articles, conference papers and standards  Awareness of library web site to access other resources as well  Additional tip sheets at the reference desk. Long after the events, other students received them by coming to the reference desk

Conclusions Library, the faculty and the IEEE – all are instrumental in assisting students learn important life long learning skills Continue to work together for future collaborations Local and nearby universities can collaborate to organize future events  Opportunities for local student chapters to work together  Information sharing in the process Senior design students can try to get funding for their projects through such events

Conclusions Collaboration worked. New relationships were established and maintained. Numerous collaborative opportunities resulted:  Library and faculty collaboration further enhanced  Librarian and students worked together.  Librarian and IEEE staff – collaboration succeeded not only in terms of activities but also successfully published a paper for the ASEE proceedings  IEEE UPP program goals helped shape events and collaborations at various levels Librarians gained knowledge of student information needs  IEEE Xplore is one of the most used electronic resources at Drexel Continue to explore innovative ways to support our students

Thank you Our Contact information Jay Bhatt, Drexel University Ruth Wolfish, IEEE