(Keynote) Engineering Research Centers –Past, Present and Future

Abstract

During the recent decades, the scientific and engineering community and the federal agencies have explored the potential of large-scale center-type research programs. It has been recognized that many of the most challenging and complex technical problems can only be addressed if researchers with diverse expertise combine their efforts and work across the boundaries between disciplines. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) program is a flagship program in this regard.The ERCs are interdisciplinary, multi-institutional centers that join academia, industry, and government in partnership to produce transformational engineered systems and educate individuals that are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy. They operate at the interface between the discovery-driven culture of science and the innovation-driven culture of engineering. Since the ERC program’s inception in 1984, NSF has funded over 70 ERCs across the United States. The NSF funding level has been at about $4 million per year for each ERC for up to 10 years, during which time the centers would develop partnerships with industry, universities, and other government entities to sustain them upon graduation from NSF support. Throughout the years, the ERCs have contributed significantly to the technical community and the nation; educated more than 12,000 engineering graduates with interdisciplinary training, produced a tremendous amount of high impact publications, patents and licenses, and spin-off companies. Studies have estimated that the total downstream market value of ERC innovations to the U.S. economy is well over tens of billions of dollars. Recently, NSF funded the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to conduct a study to create a vision for future research centers in engineering (A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research, 2017, The National Academies Press). Building upon the NASEM’s recommendations, NSF developed a roadmap for the next generation of ERCs (Gen-4), which emphasizes cutting-edge research efforts that are convergent and will lead to strong societal impact. A Gen-4 ERC will have interacting foundational components that cover convergent research, workforce development, culture of diversity and inclusion, and innovation ecosystem. This presentation will provide an overview of the NSF ERC program to date, as well as new opportunities for the Gen-4 ERCs.