Today, I went to the semiannual meeting of the CSUN School of Engineering and Computer Science Industry Advisory Board, which is made up of a bunch of really neat people, all of whom care deeply about CSUN’s Engineering School. These meetings always leave me enthused about what a great Engineering program CSUN has, and frustrated about why so few people realize it.
One of the subjects we talked about was outreach and retention. In other words: how do we get students interested in being engineers, and once they are in the curriculum, how do we get them to finish it out. One of the things CSUN is doing is getting involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition and VEX Robotics Competition, extending down to high school and middle school. They also have an innovative program where the Introduction to Engineering class, MSE 101, is done in High School. I, of course, piped up with my pet project: having faculty and IAB members participate in the California State Science Fair as judges, which is a great way to meet and encourage students. I’m hoping some take me up on the offer.
We also heard about an innovative online program, the Master of Science in Engineering Management–Online. This is a two-year program that results in a MS degree, and teaches all about engineering management. It’s something I’d like to recommend to folks in the program office, and might even be worth it for me.
The new dean, Dean S.K. Ramesh (formerly of Sacramento State) talked about some of his efforts to get students interested in engineering. In particular, he mentioned TryEngineering, a resource for students (ages 8-18), their parents, their teachers and their school counselors that serves as a portal about engineering and engineering careers. Sounds very promising.
We also had discussions about how to fundraise for CSUN, which can use the support. UCLA raises nearly 90% of their operating funds, CSUN perhaps 10%-15%. We talked about how to raise the perception of CSUN’s value. I suggested that they emphasize that their program is a “Education for the current and future practicing engineers”, which highlights the ability to get your degree while working in the field, and while working and gaining practical experiences. We also talked about the services CSUN can provide to employers.
It’s odd. I’m a UCLA graduate, but not a big UCLA supporter (unless, of course, we’re talking about USC). From my experience, the engineers that come out seem to emphasize the research, and it takes longer for them to get up to speed in industry. Perhaps this is just true for the MS and PhDs. But CSUN grads hit the road running.
Now if I could just convince my employer to look beyond the south bay (for you Northern California folks, my use of the term “south bay” refers to the area S of LA International Airport) and the “big name” schools. Many of the Cal State campuses produce equal, if not better, students.
