*Also a member of School of Engineering Board of Visitors

The inaugural meeting of the Department of Mechanical Engineering Advisory Council took place on Thursday, September 30, 1999 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. All 8 original members of the council attended the meeting along with Marc Ingber, the interim chair of the department. After introductions, Professor Ingber gave an overview of the ME Department including the undergraduate program, the graduate program, the faculty, and departmental statistics. He finished his overview by presenting his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for the department.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to discussing the challenges and opportunities, and how the Advisory Council could help the department in meeting the challenges and taking advantages of the opportunities. This discussion led to a revision of the original charge for the Advisory Council. The Council decided to concentrate their energies in 3 focused areas, namely, marketing of the department, recruitment and retention of both undergraduate and graduate students, and fund raising.

Marketing was chosen as a focus area since this activity would have far reaching benefits in many areas of importance to department. By advertising the accomplishments of the faculty, the quality of the educational programs, and the quality of the graduated students, the department would be able to attract better students and new faculty. Further, improving the image of the department could also impact sponsored research and help with the second focus area, namely, recruitment and retention. The Council felt that, at a minimum, the department should improve its WEB pages and the Council members agreed to review those WEB pages and provide suggestions to the Chair.

Recruitment and retention of students was deemed to be perhaps the most important goal for the department. Graduate students provide faculty with a means of leveraging their research programs. The Council agreed that a vertically integrated research structure in which teams involving faculty, postdocs, graduate research assistants, and undergraduate students was an excellent approach. This type of approach to research could excite undergraduate students about mechanical engineering and possible encourage them to stay on at UNM for their graduate degrees. Undergraduate students, in many respects, are the main product of the department and, as such, significant time and effort should be spent by the department in insuring that their undergraduate experience was as good as it could be. The Council felt that the undergraduate design competitions were extremely worthwhile in this vein. It was also suggested that an undergraduate mentoring program should be initiated.

Fund raising was the third major focus area chosen by the Council. Professor Ingber presented an outline of the departmental budget discussing the constraints imposed on the department by a lack of adequate funding. In particular, this lack of funding was adversely impacting the undergraduate laboratory courses. Don Hossink discussed a legislative initiative that he is involved with to float a bond issue that would bring in significant state funds to improve the teaching laboratory facilities. In a wider vein, fund raising could also help supplement funds for the undergraduate design competitions, student travel, awards and scholarships.

The Advisory Council agreed to meet 3 times a year and set February 10 as the date for its next meeting.

September 30, 1999.

Next Meeting: February 10, 2000 Web Page: www.me.unm.edu

UNM Is ranked around 50th out of about 2000 engineering colleges! It has an

operating budget around $50 million and research grants worth $216 million last

year. It is number 3 in the country for research per facility member! WOW!

Currently the ME Department has five open facility slots and 13 full time

professors.

174 undergraduate students, 43 master students, and 21 Ph.D. students are

currently enrolled.

Marc's goals as interim were:

1) Increase enrollment in grad. programs

2) Increase course offerings

3) Promote multi-disciplined research

4) Establish vertically integrated research - undergraduate, graduate, and

facility all working together.

Our first meeting was primarily focused on introductions to the school, programs

and department facilities. After a day of "learning" our first assessment is

that we as a Council should focus on the following three areas:

1. Marketing. We need to create and share the excitement of the ME department

and the Engineering School to potential students and employers.

IDEAS:

Focus on Quality and Quantity for both undergraduate and graduate students.

400 maximum ME students with current facility - room to grow!

Make it a 4 year program - 120 credit hours minimum versus the current 134 hours

flexible curriculum that can be "customized" to student talents / desires.

mentoring program

Facility advisors

Community building - professional societies, study groups, etc.

Web page marketing

leverage research programs - tours and research recruitment

High School marketing

2. Retainment. The engineering schools need graduate students in order to

continue to grow and to enhance its image nationally. We hope to suggest

methods to encourage retention and continuing education.

IDEAS:

Develop a 5 year masters program - students commit their 2nd year.

Masters Degree without a thesis requirement

Hybrid degrees

Seminars on the web -attract student researchers

3. Financial Resources for Design Program. We believe our group could help

with promoting and funding the undergraduate design courses. Theses courses

create excitement and enthusiasm for students and future employers.

IDEAS:

In kind support

Corporate sponsorship

part of High School recruitment

Local Professional Societies