Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering 1996 Annual Report [text version]

Whiting School of Engineering 1996 Annual Report

Report From the Dean

Faculty | Teaching | Research | Service

It is appropriate for my message in the 1996 Annual Report for the Whiting School of Engineering to begin with an endorsement of the new Johns Hopkins University president, William Brody. Our 13th president is well known to the Whiting School and the School of Medicine, and we are delighted that he has joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His knowledge of engineering and the roles it plays in higher education and in our daily lives is critical to our continued success and growth. I am confident that he will give the University the guidance it needs in the coming years to address actively and effectively the needs of students, faculty, and the marketplace. As opportunities arise, I urge alumni and friends to meet President Brody and extend a personal "welcome back" to the Johns Hopkins community.

Of equal importance to the Whiting School is the leadership that electrical engineering alumnus Michael Bloomberg '64 demonstrated in the $900 million "Johns Hopkins Initiative" campaign as its chair. His magnificent gift of $55 million to the University in 1995, which includes $15 million for the engineering effort, "Designing for Technological Leadership," positioned the overall campaign to achieve 66 percent of its goal after only two years. In May of this year, the University's board of trustees elected Bloomberg as chair. Bloomberg's experience in leading the campaign and as head of the highly successful Bloomberg L.P. make him an excellent choice to lead the board's efforts.

The Whiting School's campaign theme, "Designing for Technological Leadership," made its first appearance as the title of a report issued in 1993. That document presented a perspective on the mission and vision of the Whiting School and provided an assessment of engineering at Hopkins, a strategy for the future, and priorities for the upcoming campaign. In particular, the strategy component described where the Whiting School needed to direct its efforts in the four areas of faculty development, teaching, research, and service. After three years, it is time to revisit and update that report, at the same time reflecting on the goals and how far engineering has progressed since then. As part of this message, I'd like to review the Whiting School's major achievements in these areas.

Faculty
The highest priority for the Whiting School—and one that will take us through the end of the decade—is the addition of highly qualified faculty. Since fall 1992, engineering has welcomed 32 new faculty, who have established strong teaching and research programs and who are being recognized nationally and internationally for their achievements. In fact, their expertise has allowed several departments to expand their research areas such as robotics, nanomaterials, and computer-integrated surgery. With the additional faculty, our physical plant needed to be updated to provide more office, laboratory, and classroom space. With funding from the National Science Foundation, the State of Maryland, and alumni and friends, the Whiting School embarked on renovations to parts of Maryland and Krieger halls, and completed the first phase—Krieger Hall—in June of this year.

Teaching
In teaching our students to become productive members of an increasingly complex society, the Whiting School's goal is to "educate and inspire students to reach their maximum potential," requiring that we "view education as an integrated whole." This also means providing students with new educational opportunities that reflect changes in the marketplace and in engineering. This fall, we initiated a new major in computer engineering, which will prepare students to work in diverse positions in a dynamic computer industry. Another new venture, the minor in entrepreneurship and management, will expose students to business and management concepts, knowledge that can prove critical as their engineering careers take shape. In addition, there are faculty working together across departments to enhance the content of existing courses and to develop courses that integrate theory with practice. We have also developed graduate master's degree programs in information systems and technology and system engineering to add to the other disciplines offered by the Part-Time Programs in Engineering and Applied Science, a continuing educational activity that has established the Whiting School as a national leader in engineering graduate education.

In another, very important, element of engineering education, we realize that many students begin their first year of graduate school in the dual roles of student and teaching assistant. These individuals are our future professors, yet they may lack the confidence and skills necessary to communicate concepts to undergraduates unfamiliar with the discipline. While those qualities come with time, practice, and mentoring, there are ways to make effective teaching a reality and not simply a goal. In fall 1995, Charles R. Westgate, associate dean for academic affairs, and Matthew Crenson, professor of political science, introduced a revamped training course for new teaching assistants. The two seasoned instructors gave formal presentations that covered several critical areas, including teaching techniques, problem resolution, and the rewards of teaching. Participants also learned about the entering undergraduate class, and their abilities and expectations. This training course will be offered to new students at the beginning of each academic year.

Research
With respect to faculty research, the Whiting School is pleased with the new interdisciplinary, collaborative projects currently underway. The Center for Cardiovascular Mechanics gathers faculty with complementary research interests from five University divisions. Their associated investigations will examine the mechanical basis of processes in the cardiovascular system ranging from the molecular level to the entire system. The Center for Geometric Computing is a joint effort with Brown University and Duke University funded by the Army Research Office. The Center's work concentrates on methods for computationally processing collections of geometric objects with a focus on applications to intelligent systems. The Army Research Office's Weapons and Materials Research Directorate funded a Materials Center of Excellence at the Whiting School, a partnership that encourages Army staff and engineering faculty to work together in the field of advanced materials composites. The National Science Foundation approved support for a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center on Nanostructured Materials at Johns Hopkins. This initiative features faculty from physics, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering. With support from the Army Research Laboratory, the Whiting School established the Microelectronics Research Collaborative Program, a project that features research and education thrusts in electrochemistry and energy science, piezoelectronics, manufacturing science, high resolution technology, and microelectromechanics.

Service
The Whiting School's mission does not end at the Homewood campus boundaries, nor does it end with educating undergraduate and graduate students. In service to others, the School and several engineering departments have formed strong partnerships with the Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth (IAAY), formerly known as the Center for Talented Youth. IAAY offers accelerated academic programs to young people with exceptional intellectual abilities. The School is developing plans to offer an interactive course, Insights into Engineering, in conjunction with IAAY in the next year. In addition, the Whiting School continues to participate in a summer program that brings a group of 10th and 11th graders from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute to explore engineering at Johns Hopkins.

In personal service to others, I'd like to mention that the Whiting School faculty and staff were instrumental in the successful 1995 United Way campaign at Johns Hopkins. It was engineering's turn to lead the campaign efforts for the University, and the many volunteers in all divisions helped the University exceed its overall goal by six percent, while the Whiting School increased its support by 18 percent.

What does the future hold for the Whiting School? Many who are interested in engineering education see a need to change dramatically the way engineering students learn. Some advocate moving to a five- or six-year course of study, with the master's degree becoming the basic degree of the profession. Others see increasing the practical experience engineering students receive while in school. Still others recommend requiring more courses in the liberal arts, business, and law. There is no question that the role of the engineer in the global marketplace is evolving, and any engineering curriculum must reflect that fact. In examining these new trends, the Whiting School remains committed to providing a premier engineering program for its students and faculty. No matter how the engineering curriculum might change, the Whiting School's vision remains steadfast: "Our students should be educated not only to solve problems of today but also to define the key problems, and solutions, of tomorrow."

(Editor's note: The 1996 Annual Report covers the period from January 1995 through June 1996. Future reports will review the academic/fiscal year.)