Growing ECS Graduate Research Programs Board of Advocates Workshop September 19, 2014 Facilitator: Dr Ken Van Treuren

Growing ECS Research Summary/Status of PhD Programs Potential Challenges for Growth Possible Topic Areas of Interest Brainstorming Future Paths –Present background information first –Then spend majority of time on this topic

Computer Science PhD proposal is being finalized 10 year plan Current: 18 faculty (4 lecturers) Proposed: 5 new tenure-track (23 total) Degree: 75 hours past BS All Big 12 schools have PhD in CS except TCU and Baylor 42 PhD students (at least 6 grads per year) 5 year enrollment for degree One core area: Informatics

Computer Science Funding (ASEE) YearFed/NatIndustryPriv/NonTOTAL 2013$278,374$392,747$0$671, $122,000$0$231,000$353, Year Target: $1.8 million annually ($112,500 per research faculty)

Computer Science Informatics – Data Mining, Machine Learning, Big Data (Data Scientist)

Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD: Began Fall year plan Current: 14 faculty (2 lecturers) Proposed: 10 new tenure-track (24 total) Degree: 60 hours past BS (minimum) 30 PhD students – graduate 5/year 3 year enrollment for degree (minimum) Two core areas –Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) –Power and Energy Systems (PES)

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ASEE) YearFed/NatIndustryPriv/NonTOTAL 2013$124,689$271,277$12,669$408, $164,000$0$47,000$211,000 5 Year Target: $2.0 million annually ($100,000 per research faculty)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mechanical Engineering PhD: Began Fall year plan Current: 17 faculty (4 lecturers) Proposed: 7 new tenure-track (24 total) Degree: 78 hours past BS (minimum) 22 PhD students – 45 MS students 3 year enrollment for degree (minimum) Three core areas –Thermophysics and Energy Engineering (TEE) –Natural and Advanced Materials Engineering (NAME) –Biomechanics Experiment Design Simulation (BEDS)

Mechanical Engineering (ASEE) YearFed/NatIndustryPriv/NonTOTAL 2013$63,357$290,601$21,583$375, $394,000$0$175,000$569, Year Target: $3.737million annually ($196,000 per research faculty)

Comparison Group Total Research Funding (ME, ECE, CS) School Baylor University$1,133,00$1,455,297 Notre Dame$21,515,755$24,595,589 Rice$23,736,556$25,064,485 Duke$30,769,440$42,481,334 Vanderbilt$34,822,000$39,160,000 SMU$4,720,658$5,079,692 Texas Tech$7,005,005$6,033,272

Mechanical Engineering

Challenges for Growth Faculty Size –Necessity to teach required courses Core gradate courses must be taught independent of size Undergraduate courses only offered one semester –Student teacher ratio CS desired 16.4:1 (peer group 11.9:1) ME desired below 20:1 (current 30:1) ECE desired below 20:1

Challenges for Growth Enrollment Management –Undergraduate Enrollment CS – below 230 ME – below 400 ECE – below 250 or so Teaching Loads (Research Faculty) –Currently 2/2 (two courses per semester) –Interim 2/1 –Desired 1/1 Space – BRIC is helping

Challenges for Growth Continue to Hire Outstanding Research Faculty Undergraduate Involvement in Research Diversion from Undergraduate Teaching Excellence –Use of RA/TA to teach courses/labs Finding Qualified Graduate Students –Many students from our program –Nationally 60% of graduates students are international –Much higher international percentage in engineering

Topic Areas of Interest Size of Graduate Program? (Peer Institutions) –Faculty? –Students? –Funding? –Space? Marketing Online Courses University Engineering Alliance