Speaking of doing things better, the increased funds we are receiving from the university for student support (beginning last year) are making a significant difference. Last year, they allowed us to hire more teaching assistants and to use them in more creative ways. Some positive experiences with teaching/learning came from that experiment, and we hope to build on those experiences. We were also able to begin offering our potential new graduate students full first-year support directly from the Department. This allows our new graduate students to spend that first year taking classes, passing the comprehensive exams, selecting a research advisor, and preparing a prospectus - all without having to worry about funding. With this support as an additional recruiting tool, we have brought in a larger number of new PhD students this fall than we have had in a long time.
Another aspect of doing things better is associated with a strong emphasis on "assessment" which has emerged nationally (emphasized by our accrediting board) and at BYU. The notion is that we can't know how we are doing or how to improve until we first define our goals and then assess (measure) the degree of attainment of those goals. For example, if one goal is to have our students learn to solve open-ended problems, then we need to recognize that goal and to measure how well our graduating seniors have learned to do so. Some goals are harder to measure - such as having our students strengthen their faith in the Lord. Nevertheless, we still need to recognize those goals and adapt our program to address them. We are just getting started in this endeavor and hope to make significant progress this year.
I mentioned the accrediting board (the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, ABET). About the time that you read this, an ABET team will be visiting us to review our department for renewal of our accreditation. Those visits are always valuable because of the useful feedback we receive but also bring a certain apprehension until the word comes that accreditation has been awarded for another 6 years.
This year, the Department is making an increased commitment to student placement. It appears that companies are making their hiring decisions earlier and earlier for the following spring and that most offers will go to graduates with internship/co-op experience. Therefore, we are holding some early AIChE chapter meetings where the faculty will strongly encourage our seniors to begin early in the year to prepare their resumes and to seek interviews for permanent employment and the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to begin early to seek internship/co-op opportunities. In those meetings, we will also introduce the students to the services of the Placement Center and will offer other helps as well.
We are pleased to have Professor Doug Smoot return to our teaching ranks this year. Dr. Smoot spent 17 years as Dean of the College providing vitally-important leadership in strengthening the level of scholarship throughout the College. He not only encouraged others but led the way with a strong research program, including helping to win a very prestigious National Science Foundation Engineering Center - the Advanced Combustion Engineering Research Center, ACERC - centered at BYU with Dr. Smoot as its director. Over its 10 years, that Center has brought in approximately 27 million dollars to BYU, has fostered significant scholarly work resulting in some 700 publications and conference proceedings, and has graduated over 200 students. Since the conclusion of his service as Dean last year, Dr. Smoot has also been serving half-time as the Assistant Commissioner of Church Education under Elder Henry D. Eyring. Although he loves to teach and was known as an excellent teacher, it is no surprise that Professor Smoot has not been able to include classroom teaching in his very busy activities over all these years. With the conclusion this fall of his position as Assistant Church Commissioner, Dr. Smoot is able once again to enter the classroom and is teaching (appropriately) our undergraduate class on Energy and Combustion.
We are preparing for our upcoming Department Alumni dinner/activity to take place Friday, October 11 (during Homecoming Week). I hope you all received your personal invitation to that activity and the offer of half-price football tickets to the football game the next day. If you didn't receive the invitation and offer or lost them, please contact us via our web site or just call us (801/378-2586). We recognize that work schedules and many other commitments will prevent many of you from joining us this time, but we plan to repeat this activity every Homecoming Week from now on. So please mark it on your calendar next year and see if you can plan your family vacation or trip to see Utah relatives during that same time. Of course, you should know that we would love to see you any time you can drop in to see us. So, one way or another, we hope to see you soon!
Kenneth A. Solen