ERC History Project: Phase Two

American Society For Engineering Education, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Since 1984, the NSF's highly successful Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program has led the Foundation in developing innovative new modes of support for research and education, led U.S. academic institutions to evolve the ways in which research is structured and form intellectual and financial partnerships with industry, produced thousands of engineering graduates who are highly productive leaders and innovators in industry and academe, and enabled thousands of innovative new technologies and companies that have stimulated the U.S. economy and provided a substantial return on NSF's investment. The proposed project is the second phase of a two-part project to prepare a detailed, book-length History of the ERC Program over the program's more than 30-year span. The History will serve the national interest by providing lessons learned, best practices, and management guidance to government program managers, academic faculty and administrators, and industry leaders regarding the structure, operation, and management of such centers, not only in engineering but in any field of science and technology. The ERC Program History will be published as an e-book to have the maximum reach to different interested communities. The core narrative of the History will contain hundreds of links to ancillary material in various media - official documents, interview summaries, personal essays, meeting presentations, reports, graphics, videos, and captured websites. This material will be accessible to audiences ranging from engineering faculty and students to academic administrators and government officials, to industry executives and research managers, and to scholars of history and the management of technology. The online History will be marketed via email and the Web to all these audiences nationwide and worldwide. The book-length narrative and its ancillary resources will together provide a thoroughly documented understanding of how various groups involved in the ERC Program responded to the challenges inherent in the ERC construct, and how through their collective experiences it evolved through time to become one of the most recognized, respected, and productive centers programs worldwide. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.