Final Report for The

Selected Sections

Final Report for the

Planning Workshop for the

VIP Consortium

Held April 10-11, 2014

Atlanta, Georgia

Submitted by:

Edward J. Coyle, Randal T. Abler and Julie Sonnenberg-Klein

of the VIP Program at Georgia Tech

and

Brian E. Gilchrist and Gail Hohner

of the VIP Program at the University of Michigan

Contact Person:

Ed Coyle, Georgia Tech, , 609-751-1781

Contents

VIP Consortium Planning Workshop 2

Introduction 2

Current Models 4

Key Elements 5

Assessment 7

Consortium Functions 8

Recommendations from GT and the University of Michigan for Structuring, Starting, and Running a VIP Program 11

VIP Consortium Planning Workshop

Introduction

Sustaining and accelerating the pace of innovation in society requires a continuous stream of graduates in all disciplines who understand how the processes of research and technology advancement can be integrated to enable innovation. Current approaches to the education of undergraduates and graduate students are simply not up to this challenge:

·  Undergraduates rarely achieve a deep understanding of or have an opportunity to contribute to any aspect of their chosen discipline.

·  Master’s students are typically not involved in either research or the development of new technology/techniques.

·  PhD students rarely see their innovative ideas/discoveries have an impact beyond the publication of their theses and papers in conferences and journals.

We have thus developed a new curricular approach that integrates education and research: the Vertically-Integrated Projects (VIP) Program. It creates and supports teams of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students that work together on long-term, large-scale projects. The teams are: multidisciplinary – drawing students from all disciplines on campus; vertically-integrated – maintaining a mix of sophomores through PhD students each semester; large-scale – with 10 to 20 undergraduates per team; and long-term – each undergraduate may participate in a VIP project for up to three years and projects may last for years, even decades. The continuity, technical depth, and disciplinary breadth of these teams provide:

·  The time necessary for students to: learn and practice many different professional skills; make substantial contributions to the project; experience many different roles on a large design/discovery team; and work effectively in a multidisciplinary environment.

·  A compelling context – the research efforts of the faculty and graduate students – that ensures they are engaged because they benefit from the efforts of the undergraduates. It also enables the undergraduates to understand complex issues in their field of interest.

·  The mentoring necessary for students to learn about, contribute to, and lead the parts of the project on which they are focused. The mentoring crosses all boundaries, enabling faculty, graduate students, and sophomores through seniors to collaborate successfully.

The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program has the potential to transform undergraduate education. VIP unites rich student learning experiences with faculty research, creating long-term undergraduate design experiences, and transforming both the context of undergraduate education and the concept of faculty research as a separate endeavor. With this potential and the increasing number of interested institutions, it is important to define what constitutes a VIP program, and to provide thoughtful and intentional support to new programs. Further, it is also important for new and existing VIP programs to contribute to the larger community, defining variations in their implementation and sharing their results, thereby informing decisions for existing and prospective sites.

To this end, representatives from fifteen institutions came together to establish the foundations of a national VIP Consortium. In the Consortium Planning Workshop, institutions explored current models of VIP; achieved consensus on the key elements of VIP; addressed the scope of proposed assessments; identified key Consortium functions; and discussed potential membership and financing models. Participating institutions varied in size, institutional focus, and in their level of experience with VIP, as shown in table 1.

Carnegie Classification / Size & Admissions / Enrollment
Research Universities, very high research activity
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado / Public / Large four-year
Selective, higher transfer-in / 28,902
Georgia Institute of Technology*
Atlanta, Georgia / Public / Large four-year
More selective, lower transfer-in / 20,291
Purdue University*
West Lafayette, Indiana / Public / Large four-year
More selective, lower transfer-in / 41,052
Rice University
Houston, Texas / Private
Not-for-profit / Medium four-year
More selective, lower transfer-in / 5,576
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware / Public / Large four-year
More selective, lower transfer-in / 21,138
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, Hawaii / Public / Large four-year
Selective, higher transfer-in / 20,435
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan / Public / Large four-year
More selective, lower transfer-in / 41,674
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington / Public / Large four-year
More selective, lower transfer-in / 45,943
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia / Public / Large four-year
Selective, higher transfer-in / 32,172
Research Universities, high research activity
Florida International University
Miami, Florida / Public / Large four-year
Selective, higher transfer-in / 39,610
Howard University
Washington, District of Columbia / Private
Not-for-profit / Medium four-year
Selective, lower transfer-in / 10,573
Master's Colleges and Universities, larger programs
Boise State University
Boise, Idaho / Public / Large four-year
Selective, higher transfer-in / 18,933
Baccalaureate Colleges--Arts & Sciences
Morehouse College**
Atlanta, Georgia / Private
Not-for-profit / Small four-year
Selective, lower transfer-in / 2,689
Table 1. Consortium Planning Workshop Participants / *
** / Institutuion with active VIP programs
Institution with a past VIP program

Current Models

Three institutions currently have VIP programs, two within the United States at GA Tech and Purdue University, and one international program at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. While the University of Strathclyde will not be a member of the Consortium, they attended the planning meeting, and their implementation of VIP represents another model for consideration.

There are at least two other universities that have recently developed programs that share many of the elements of VIP, including 8 teams under the University of Michigan’s Multidisciplinary Design Program and the teams within Texas A&M’s AggiE-Challenge Program. We will focus on the VIP programs in what follows as one distinguishing factor is the common model and participation, by both advisers and students, from campus.

GA Tech / Purdue / Strathclyde
Number of Teams
(F-2014) / 23 / 17 / 9
Number of Students
(F-2014) / 280 / 86 / 140
Students Served (Academic Rank) / Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
Master’s Students
PhD Students / Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
Master’s Students
PhD Students / Freshmen (as observers)
Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
Master’s Students
PhD Students
Majors for Students
who have Enrolled** / 23 majors
11 College of Engineering
5 College of Sciences
3 College of Liberal Arts
2 College of Architecture
2 College of Computing / Primarily students in ECE but including students from the disciplines listed below / Campus-wide
Instructors’ Home Departments/Schools / 15 Schools
College of Architecture: Industrial Design
Music
Building Construction
College of Computer Science:
Computational Science & Engineering
Computer Science
Interactive Computing
College of Engineering:
Aerospace
Chemical & Biomolecular
Civil & Environmental
Electrical & Computer
Industrial & Systems
Mechanical
College of Liberal Arts: International Affairs
College of Sciences: Mathematics, Physics / 7 Departments
Electrical and Computer
Engineering
Aeronautical and
Aerospace Engineering
Univ. of Indiana Law
Civil Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Agricultural and
Biological Engineering
Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences / 3 Faculties, 9 Departments
Faculty of Engineering:
Electrical Electronic
Environmental
Mechanical & Aerospace
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences:
English
Business School
Technology & Operations
Management
Faculty of Science:
Computer & Information
Sciences
Mathematics & Statistics
Microbiology
Number of Semesters Students can Participate / 6 / 6 / 6
Student-Team Matchup Process / Students request teams prior to registration;
Director processes requests, VIP issues registration permits. / Students register for course; Teams present posters to new students during first week of class; New students express preferences; Staff assign students to teams. / Students request teams prior to registration, Director processes requests to match students with teams
Personnel / Director
Co-Director
Program Manager
2 Teaching Assistants / Director
Teaching Assistant / Director
Part-time Administrative
Assistant
Teaching Assistants
Facilities / 2 dedicated classrooms / 2,000 square feet:
Laboratory
Meeting, Presentation
Financial / Warren Batts Endowment for ECE VIP
Scholarships
Cisco sponsorship for VIP Innovation Competition / Kurtenbach VIP Leadership Summer Scholarship
Purdue Provost’s Fund
Funding for some teams:
NSF
HP
Proctor & Gamble
Aruba Networks
Motorola
Yelp
Climate Corporation
Individual farmers

Key Elements

Based on these existing models and the experiences with the MDP program at the University of Michigan, the consortium-planning group identified 7 elements key to program function and success:

·  Students can participate for at least two years

·  Long-term, large-scale projects that each continue for many years, even decades

·  Projects based on faculty mentor’s research

·  Program is curricular

·  Multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged but not required

·  Dedicated classroom and meeting spaces

·  Learning outcomes focused on the development of both technical and professional skills

As the first key element, all VIP program must allow students to participate for at least two years. One-year design experiences are already offered in many academic programs, including two-semester senior design and capstone courses. While these programs allow students to apply engineering and design skills learned in their first three years of college, a two-year VIP experience allows students to grow both academically and professionally. As discussed, VIP provides the time necessary for students to learn and practice many different professional skills, to make substantial contributions to their projects, to experience different roles on large design/discovery teams, and to work effectively in multidisciplinary environments. It is in these longer-term experiences that students have the time and space to grow and lead. Additionally, longer-term student participation creates organizational memory, with more experienced students mentoring newer students, transferring knowledge and skills over time.

We anticipate some institutions will want to offer programs under the VIP umbrella without understanding the importance of the two-year experience. Indeed, this came to light at the workshop. In addition to the University of Strathclyde, participants from the National Ilan University (NIU), China, also attended at their own expense. The institution had been offering a program under the name of VIP, but only after learning about the other VIP programs at the workshop did the NIU participants realize their program did not qualify yet as VIP. Their program only allowed for one-year experiences, with 100% student turn-over each academic year. Since attending the workshop, NIU has stopped identifying their program as VIP until it can be revised.

Sp09 / AY 09-10 / AY 10-11 / AY 11-12 / AY 12-13 / AY 13-14 / Fa14 / Semesters
Collaborative Workforce / 11
eDemocracy / Instructor Sabbatical / 10
eStadium / 12
Intelligent Tutoring Systems / 12
Video Annotation / Team terminated / 3
Computational Structural Biology / Advisor retired / 5
eCampus / / 8
Intelligent Transportation Systems / 9
Cure Diabetes / Teaching load issues / 3
I-Natural / 8
USLI Rocket / 8
Brain Beats / 7
GTRI Robotics / 6
AquaBots / 5
Open Academic Environment / 5
RoboSense / 4
Physics MOOC / 3
BioBots / 4
Humor Genome / 3
Energy Geotechnology / 3
Secure Hardware / 2
Intelligent Digital Communication / 2
Airborne Measurement of Atmospheric Electricity / new
Constructacons / new
Robotic Musicianship / new
Technology for Healthy Aging / new
Design Space Construction / new
Predictive Health / new
EcoCAR / New
Figure 1. VIP Team Longevity at Georgia Tech

Another key element of VIP is the long-term, large-scale nature of the projects. Projects of this scale create an environment akin to a startup company. Returning students on a team train new students each semester. As seniors graduate, the remaining students move up a step in responsibility, eventually taking over the leadership of the team. The team thus functions like a small company in terms of how people join and flow through the organization. The most critical aspect of this is that the team’s knowledge is passed forward each semester and academic year, thus providing the continuity to enable very ambitious, long-term projects to planed and completed.

Another key element of VIP is the unification of education and research, with VIP projects based on the faculty mentor(s)’s research. This serves two goals. First, faculty research projects create a compelling context for students, who have the opportunity to develop and apply new technologies and solutions. Second, basing VIP projects on faculty research cultivates faculty buy-in, because the VIP projects expand their research portfolios. While institutions recognize the importance of excellent teaching, the tenure and promotion process emphasizes research accomplishments, forcing faculty to choose between teaching and research, with notably different rewards for each. Basing VIP projects on faculty research combines these two endeavors, benefiting faculty and students both. Further, faculty buy-in enables long-term projects, as their VIP teams become extensions of their research groups (Figure 1).

Also important to VIP is that the program is curricular, not co-curricular. VIP teaches significant technical and professional kills to students and they are graded on how quickly and well they master these new skills. It is a highly mentored environment for the undergraduates, with the faculty advisers and their graduate students playing the primary roles and more senior students playing that role for the less senior or newer members of the team. VIP is thus a clear statement that the valuable technical and professional skills it teaches should be part of the curriculum.

One topic that required additional discussion was whether all VIP programs should be multidisciplinary. While the GA Tech program has served students from more than 23 majors to date, the Purdue program serves primarily, but not exclusively, one department. While multidisciplinary programs are ideal, organizational change takes time. Some institutions may begin their VIP programs at the college level, involving multiple departments, while others may launch pilot programs at the departmental level and expand over time. With the need for flexibility in mind, the planning group decided that multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged but not required. Indeed, the GA Tech VIP program began in a single department but spread within two semesters to others departments/college – first by the participation of their students, then by participation of their faculty; and finally by official mechanisms for VIP credits to count for their students’ degrees. For example, in the Fall of 2010 at GT, participation in VIP had spread from ECE to ISyE, CS, BMED, ME, and Physics.