9-2-98
FOUR DEPARTMENTS CHOSEN FOR ‘SELECTIVE INVESTMENT’
COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University is making “deliberate
and strategic investment” in certain academic areas with the goal
of boosting those departments, among the strongest in the
university, into national and international prominence.
The program, called Selective Investment in Academic
Excellence, was outlined for the university’s Board of Trustees
on Wednesday (9/2). Four departments -- electrical engineering,
materials science and engineering, physics, and psychology --
have been chosen as the first recipients of up to $500,000 each
in reallocated university funds. The four departments were
chosen by a faculty committee on the basis of proposals they
presented, in consultation with external experts in each field.
Ed Ray, interim senior vice president and provost, told the
board: “As we continue to follow your directive to position Ohio
State among the top American public universities, we seek to
focus our energies and resources in ways that will enable us to
provide the highest quality and broadest array of learning
experiences to our students and significant and timely service to
the citizens of Ohio. We are making significant progress, but we
can do more -- and the Selective Investment program is a major
step forward.”
Selective Investment is one of several components under way
to enhance Ohio State’s academic stature. It concentrates on
departments with potential for greatness, those that are already
strong but which could move into the very top echelon of their
fields with some strategic funding increases.
“Selective Investment is a key tool in achieving our goal of
becoming a top 10 public university,” said President William E.
Kirwan. “Strong departments, such as these, which are committed
to excellence in all aspects of our mission -- teaching, research
and service -- are leading the way and setting the standard.”
In choosing the departments, the evaluation committee looked
at how closely each met these criteria:
(1) Is central to the academic mission of the university
(2) Builds on areas of existing strength and holds promise
of substantial future benefit
(3) Shows cross-disciplinary potential
(4) Has plans to monitor progress and evaluate achievement
(5) Serves a larger social good outside the university
(6) Demonstrates commitment of resources from the department
and its college.
The department chairs of each of the selected units and the
deans of their colleges spoke to the trustees about the ongoing
work in their areas and their aspirations for preeminence.
Electrical Engineering, Yuan F. Zheng, chair
Computers, solid state devices, control systems, radar,
wireless communication, automated transportation and electrical
power systems are some of the technologies that rely on
electrical engineering, which is also involved in collaborative
work in other key research areas such as materials,
manufacturing, environmental engineering and biomedical
engineering.
Currently ranked 22nd among 126 comprehensive electrical
engineering programs by the National Research Council, Ohio
State’s EE department since 1992 has been following a strategic
plan to improve teaching and research. Faculty hires have
included several NSF award winners. In recent years, 100 percent
of Ohio State’s EE graduates have passed the national
Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, compared to a 75 percent
national average. The department recently created a new computer
engineering program in response to student demands and industry
needs.
The department plans to hire six new faculty members to
enhance research and teaching related to its key research centers
and areas: the ElectroScience Laboratory, the Center for
Electronic Materials Research, the Center for Intelligent
Transportation Research, the Information Processing Systems
Laboratory, the High Performance Computing Laboratory, and
Wireless Communications Systems.
Materials Science and Engineering, Robert L. Snyder, chair
Ohio State had the world’s first ceramic engineering
department and one of the first metallurgy departments, and has
long been recognized as an international leader in these areas,
now combined and expanded in the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering. The department was ranked 15th in the nation
last year by U.S. News and World Report. The department
proposes to use its Selective Investment funds to bring in
internationally recognized faculty to head a broadly balanced
materials program with a major new thrust in computational
materials design.
Meanwhile, MSE has considerable strengths. Its faculty
leads the university in per capita sponsored research, and
increased its funded research by 150 percent between 1992 and
1997 with the same number of faculty. The department has
attracted one of the best young faculties in the nation. It has
also begun several initiatives to increase the number and quality
of its undergraduate students, including a new scholarship
program and its annual Materials Day attended by hundreds of Ohio
high school students.
Ongoing research in the department includes the development
of super-strength alloys, high temperature superconductors,
environmentally safe anti-corrosion treatments for airplanes,
sensors for corrosive environments, industrial waste conversion
into nonhazardous glass, methods and materials for the
manufacture of tomorrow’s transportation systems, and more.
Physics, Frank C. De Lucia, chair
Physics is clearly a department on the rise. In the last
National Research Council rankings, Ohio State’s Department of
Physics rose from 45th to 22nd among all American universities,
the largest gain of any physics department in the country. A
strong junior faculty has been recruited and is being mentored
through an innovative Associate Professor Development Program.
The department has created a model program to recruit high
ability undergraduates, involving partnerships with high school
physics teachers and statewide open houses. Graduate student
recruitment is also strong.
A core discipline, physics is involved in collaboration with
many other departments -- notably chemistry, astronomy and
engineering -- and teaches basic science to many students who
major in other fields.
The department proposes to use its Selective Investment
funds to hire senior faculty so that it can accelerate its rapid
rise to national prominence. Additionally, it proposes to
enhance recruitment and support of high ability graduate students
and to provide additional staff for computer support and student
recruitment.
Psychology, Richard Petty, chair
Psychology is one of Ohio State’s largest, as well as
strongest, departments. Each year some 1,100 undergraduates
major in psychology -- more than any other department -- and some
16,000 students take classes in the department. In the most
recent National Research Council report, Ohio State’s psychology
program was ranked 21st, up from 32nd in 1982. Since 1992,
external funding to faculty in the department has increased more
than 500 percent.
With links to fields as diverse as political science, music,
ergonomics, pediatrics and pharmacology, psychology faculty
participate in a great many interdisciplinary projects. The
department is concerned with all areas of human behavior:
clinical, cognitive and experimental, counseling, developmental,
industrial and organizational, comparative and behavioral,
quantitative and social psychology.
Faculty are involved in research and teaching related to
societal problems, many of which reflect modifiable ways to
think, emote and behave. For instance, studies look at more
effective ways to learn, remember and think, or investigate the
motivation and emotion involved in lifestyle decisions affecting
health.
Already possessing one of the top social psychology programs
in the country, the department will use its Selective Investment
funding to hire six new faculty to enhance the remaining
foundation areas of neuroscience, cognitive science and clinical
science.
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Contacts: Ed Ray, interim provost, (614) 292-5881
Yuan Zheng, electrical engineering, (614) 292-2571
Robert Snyder, materials science and engineering,
(614) 292-6255
Frank De Lucia, physics, (614) 292-2653
Richard Petty, psychology, (614) 292-3038
Written by Ruth Gerstner, University Communications,
(614) 292-8424; gerstner.2@osu.edu