<p>WAG Report.
"Of the core departments, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering and
Materials Science and Engineering show a great deal of dynamism and are frustrated by
their continued low ranking. The other three all show serious weaknesses that call for
early attention. Biomedical and Materials are both doing well and enjoy relatively high
rankings. Systems and Information Engineering shows a good deal of vitality, but
probably because of its somewhat unusual name is unranked.
There are several characteristics of SEAS that are quite pronounced. First, there is a
strong correlation between newness and quality. Second, there is very wide disparity in
quality among the departments, more so than in most engineering schools. Third, several
topics are covered by multiple departments, sometimes more than two. Finally, SEAS is
small and broad at the same time. Each of these is potentially a problem and an
opportunity.
The eight departments in the School fall naturally into three groups. The three
departments in newer areas: BME, MSE and SIE are energetic and high quality
departments that are performing very well. CS and ECE are making some progress in
breaking out of the pack. Both are ranked at the bottom of the top third among peer
departments, an acceptable place. These 5 departments can be the hallmark of SEAS.
All, especially BME, SIE and CS require growth in faculties and graduate students and
need to be given funding and resource priority.</p>
<p>Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
The department has 27 tenured and research track faculty, an undergraduate class of 278
students, and a graduate class of 90 of which 50% are PhD track students. Its external
research funding is $5.1M and its research expenditure $8.2M in FY 200616. The
department is ranked 32 among graduate Aerospace Engineering programs and 33 among
graduate Mechanical Engineering programs in USNWR.
MAE has three problems that need management attention. These are: aerospace
engineering, research funding, and the Center for Applied Bio-Dynamics.
Aerospace was a group absorbed by MAE, when its home department was dissolved.
MAE needs to decide what to do with aerospace engineering. The presentation that we
received seems to suggest that MAE leadership is letting aerospace engineering die by
natural attrition. This may be the best course available, but aerospace continues to attract
more than 20% of the undergraduates, one of whom attended our meeting with
undergraduates and spoke enthusiastic of the field. The situation is messy.
The second problem is research funding. The total amount of approximately $5 million
in awards per year is acceptable, but the distribution is very poor. One member of the
MAE faculty accounts for 30% of the funding and four members account for more than
72%. Fully half of the faculty receives no funding of their own. While they might be
active supporting PI’s in their grant activities, nevertheless one would expect that a
greater number of the faculty would have grants of their own.
Center for Applied Biomechanics (CAB) is a large project in MAE which has significant
industrial support and accounts for a large percentage of its external funding. A large
portion of its activity is involved in crash research for the automobile industry using
cadavers. CAB may also be a problem. From both the presentation made to us by CAB’s
director and from discussions with graduate students, it appears that much of the activity
in CAB consists of contract testing with only a small portion that is truly research. There
was some concern raised in discussions with the students that this “contract testing”
activity often greatly slowed the progress of the theses and dissertations. If the students’
comments represent a true picture of the general operation of CAB, then there may be
issues of the appropriateness of having CAB as an integral part of MAE and of recruiting
graduate students to staff its functions. CAB may benefit the department, but is it in the
best interest of the students?
With these problems, MAE is a troubled department and needs early management
attention."
16</p>