MIT Reports to the President 1994-95

School of Engineering

By every measure, we remain the premier School of Engineering in the country. Our pre-eminence is a direct result of our emergence from the transition period 1945-1955 as a School postured to explore and practice engineering science in the period 1955-1990. We now (1990-2000) find ourselves in a transition period where we must move inexorably toward our next phase (2000-2035) of defining and practicing engineering in a global economy. Our first steps toward that goal are embodied in our present Long Range Plan.

The School's Long Range Plan for the period 1994-1998 describes three major thrusts that convey a common theme. When fully implemented, this plan will move the School away from an educational and research program that emphasizes engineering science, to one that is more oriented toward the practice of engineering in a broad context. Only a gradual move in this direction is proposed as we explore the proper balance between engineering science and engineering practice.

At the undergraduate level, we continue to expose our students to first-hand experiences through curricular changes and efforts such as the Edgerton Center. In terms of the former, the "learning by design" effort sponsored by ECSEL is becoming more pervasive. The emphasis in the new Mechanical Engineering curriculum on design, first-hand experiences, and "just in time" education is a prime example of a curricular change in this new direction. In a similar vein, the School recently sponsored a six day program at MIT (the LeaderShape Institute) involving 60 students and concentrating on promoting leadership with integrity.

At the graduate level we have implemented four new programs following the lead provided by the EECS five year program. Masters of Engineering (M. Eng.) programs in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Ocean Engineering have now been constructed. A joint effort between the School and the Sloan School entitled System Design and Management, offering the Master of Science degree, will begin in pilot form in September, 1995. All of these programs treat engineering in context and provide a multidisciplinary, design oriented education in direct support of our mission.

Finally, the Long Range Plan called for closer alignment between the needs of industry and the School's research programs. We have moved forward over this year to hear the voice of this customer and detailed conversations with, for instance, the aircraft industries, the automotive industries and the oil industry have led to a deeper appreciation of industry's needs and our ability to work effectively with them. This has also been a year where the opportunities available to our School internationally have become clear and apparent. An agreement between CEE and Mendoza province has been struck and early, but substantial, contacts with Malaysia established. We expect such opportunities to increase in number over the next few years and are posturing the School to take advantage of these opportunities.

AWARDS

The Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching was presented this year to Professor Phillip Gschwend of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The Bose Award is funded with a gift from the Bose Foundation and is awarded each year to one faculty member in recognition of outstanding contributions to undergraduate education.

The Ruth and Joel Spira Awards for Teaching Excellence were presented this year to Professor Neil Todreas of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Professor Eli Sachs of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor Lynn A. Stein of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. The Spira awards were established with a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Joel Spira to honor outstanding teachers in the three departments listed above.

Henry Ford II Scholar Award - This award is presented to the senior in the School of Engineering who has attained the highest academic record at the end of the third year and who has exceptional potential for leadership in the profession of engineering and in society. The recipient this year was Mr. Daniel A. Theobald, '95 of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship - This scholarship is awarded on the basis of merit to students who are sophomores or juniors and who have excellent academic records and have demonstrated an interest in and potential for careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and those engineering disciplines that contribute significantly to the technological advances of the United States. This year we had one scholarship winner from the School of Engineering: Kevin K. Lin, a junior in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Reinhold Rudenberg Memorial Fund - This prize is awarded to students based on their senior theses in the area of energy conversion.

Three awards were made this year to, Andrew M. Carnell of the Energy Laboratory for his thesis entitled: "Characterization of Oil Consumption Mechanisms and Their Dependence on Engine Design and Operation in a Renault Engine", Scott A. Rhodes of the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems for his thesis entitled: "Digital Feedback Control System for the Regulation of Line Tension", and Patrick Rowe, formerly from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and currently a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, for his thesis entitled: "Endpoint Control of Elastically Mounted Robotic Systems: Simulation and Experimentation."

ENROLLMENT

Undergraduate enrollment in the School of Engineering declined by 4% between fall 1993 and fall 1994 while graduate enrollment increased slightly (1%). Undergraduate enrollment in Aeronautics and Astronautics and in Materials Science and Engineering continued to decline while undergraduate enrollment in Chemical Engineering and in Ocean Engineering continued to grow. The largest shifts in graduate enrollment occured in Materials Science and Engineering (down 10%) and in Chemical Engineering where graduate enrollment grew by 25 (12%).

Undergraduate Enrollment Graduate Enrollment

Percent Percent Percent

Oct. Change Change Change Oct. Change Change

'94 '93-'94 '93-'94 '92-'93 '94 '93-'94 '93-'94

Aero & Astro 106 -31 -23% -12% 198 -14 -7%

Chemical 315 12 4% 15% 230 25 12%

Civil 120 -7 -6% 7% 291 -12 -4%

EECS 925 -45 -5% 1% 822 64 8%

Materials 120 -7 -6% -12% 174 -19 -10%

Mech Eng 464 4 1% -2% 405 11 3%

Nuclear 25 -8 -24% 43% 127 -11 -8%

Ocean 11 2 22% 29% 162 -11 -6%

CAES 36 -16 -31%

Totals 2086 -80 -4% 1% 2445 17 1%

AFFIRMATION ACTION

During the past year, three of the thirteen faculty offers in the School of Engineering were made to women or minorities. Women are represented on the faculties of all eight academic departments and the number of women faculty stands at twenty-five, an all time high.

Our efforts to recruit minority faculty continue. During the decade preceding initiation of the President and Provost's program to recruit underrepresented minority faculty members, faculty positions were offered to only four underrepresented minority candidates. In contrast, over the last five years, eight faculty positions have been offered to underrepresented minorities resulting in five hires.

The School is in its fourth year as a participant in the GE Fund's Faculty for the Future Program. The goal of the program is to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities on engineering faculties throughout the United States. Grant funds are used to encourage women and minorities at each stage of the pipeline and provides support for undergraduate research, graduate fellowships, forgivable loans for Ph.D. candidates interested in teaching careers, and start-up funds for junior faculty members.

FACULTY SIZE AND FACULTY SALARY HARDENING

During 1994-95, seventeen individuals joined the School's faculty while thirteen faculty members resigned or retired. The School's authorized faculty headcount, including TBA's remained stable at 368.

Further progress was made on faculty salary hardening. In 1994-95, 14% of regular academic year faculty salaries was charged to research, down from 16% in 1993-94 and 19% in 1992-93.

ENGINEERING COUNCIL

Over the past year, Engineering Council acted on nine cases for promotion to full professor, fourteen cases for promotion to and/or appointment as untenured associate professor, six tenure cases, and two cases to appoint individuals from outside MIT to the rank of full professor. In addition, Engineering Council considered cases for two adjunct professors and two senior research associates. In January 1995, Professor Merton Flemings stepped down as department head in Materials Science and Engineering. Professor Flemings had served as department head since September of 1982. He was replaced by Professor Thomas Eagar, formerly Co-Director of the Leaders for Manufacturing Program (LFM). Professor Francis Ogilvie stepped down as department head in Ocean Engineering, a position he had held since January 1982. He was replaced by Professor Chryssostomos Chyrssostomidis. Professor Chryssostomidis will also serve as Director of Sea Grant, a position he has held since 1982. Professor David Hardt was named Acting Co-Director of the Leaders for Manufacturing Program. Finally, in June of this past year, Dean Joel Moses was named Provost of MIT. Professor Moses had served as Dean of the School of Engineering since January 1991. Professor John Vander Sande, formerly Associate Dean of Engineering, was named Acting Dean.

ENGINEERING INTERNSHIP PROGRAM (EIP)

In 1994-95, EIP placed seventeen sophomores with member companies, bringing the total number of interns to 52. The number of students placed this year has decreased from 63 interns in 1993-1994.

The Engineering Internship Program is currently under review by both member companies and faculty to redefine its mission and goals. One goal will be to increase the number of students placed in internship assignments that meet both educational and corporate objectives.

CONCOURSE PROGRAM

Enrollment

Sixty-four students enrolled in Concourse for fall term which represented a 34% increase from fall of 1993. Spring term's enrollment was 33, a 13% decrease from the previous year. Enrollment for IAP doubled this year with seventeen students participating in a twelve-unit course on problem solving and three students participating in a six-unit writing group workshop.

Highlights

Concourse received a second $10,000 award from the Class of 1951 Excellence in Education Fund to continue and expand the educational initiative begun two years ago. Now offered for credit, SP345 Problem Solving in Science and Technology was again a great success during IAP 1995. A popular book based on our experiences in this course, called "The Chicken From Minsk," was released last month (June 1995) by Basic Books. The new award will be used to develop a similar program; where the problems in SP345 dealt with classical mechanics and relativity, the new course, SP344, will deal with electricity and magnetism. The other major difference is that, where SP345 covered material which had been previously presented in conventional courses (8.012 and 18.01), SP344 will be presented in parallel with second term physics (8.02). The student lecture note project yielded a new chapter on phase diagrams. The revised curriculum was quite successful and therefore 18.01 and 18.02 will both continue to be available in the fall term, as will 9.00 Introduction to Psychology. The spring term continues to evolve, and by popular request we will offer (instead of Biology) 21W735 Reading and Writing the Essay.

Faculty and Staff

Members of the Concourse faculty for 1994-95 were: Professor Robert M. Rose, Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Professor Judah L. Schwartz, School of Engineering and Harvard School of Education; Josh Sher, Satomi Okazaki and Michelle Wilson, Department of Mathematics; Dr. Gregg E. Solomon, Department of Brain and Cognitive Science; Dr. Sandra Gaston, Department of Biology; Dr. Yuri Chernyak, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology; Roberta Brawer, STS Program; Dr. Kevin Rhoads, Dr. Jerome Y. Lettvin and Cheryl Butters, School of Engineering. Sixteen MIT undergraduates in the fall and twelve undergraduates in the spring were employed as teaching assistants for recitations, grading, and running evening tutorials in chemistry, calculus, physics, differential equations and biology.

The Concourse Program was overseen by Professor Rose as Director and by Ms. Butters as Program Coordinator.

MINORITY INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE (MITES)

During the summer of 1995, 49 talented high school juniors completed the 6 week residential program. MIT's admissions accepted 70% of the previous year's MITES class.

This year marked the first time that six long-established minority summer programs at MIT and Lincoln Laboratory met together. The special MIT program "Lift As We Climb," hosted by President Vest, brought together over 300 people, from pre-college students through to faculty members. The goal was to foster an exchange among African American, Native American, and Hispanic American students who have expressed an interest in science and engineering careers. The event features the MITES design contest as one of the program's highlights.

John Vander Sande

MIT Reports to the President 1994-95