Engineering and Computer
Science Update
Dennis L. O’Neal, Ph.D., P.E.
Dean
ECS Board of Advocates
April 11, 2014
What we’ll will cover this morning
• Dean’s update
• Divide into committees
– Development/Corporate Relations
– Undergraduate Program
– Computer Science – ABET preparation
• Report from three committees
Update on staff hiring:
• Director of Communications and External
Relations
– Kathryn (Kate) Amaya
•
•
•
•
Currently at Compassion International (Colo. Spgs.)
Marketing experience in publishing & non-profits
Baylor graduate - communications
Starts early May
• Server Administrator
– Patrick Clancy
• Instructor at TSTC
• Tarleton graduate – IT Systems
Staff hiring – cont’d
• Hired two undergraduate advisors
– Jessica Kelly
• Experienced elementary school teacher
• Started early April
• Howard Payne graduate
– Caroline Clark
• Finishing MS at Baylor
• Starts in May
• We now have a full complement of advising
corps to handle all freshmen & sophomores
Update on faculty searches
• Computer Science had two searches
– Data Mining – position just filled – King-Ip Lin
– Game development – offer made
• Electrical & Computer Engineering
– Power Systems – negotiations underway
• Mechanical Engineering
– 4 positions – negotiations underway
Update on Space
• Regents approved re-purposing of Cashion &
Hankamer
– ECS was top on the list for space
– Expect to move CS and ECE to new space – Spring
2016
• Interim – We keep the annex (~6k sq. ft.)
• New engineering faculty get space in the
BRIC
Other items since our last meeting
• Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. program was
approved by the Regents
• Recruiting of domestic graduate students
was ramped up significantly and has shown
results
• Excellent visits of HR from Lockheed Martin
and Halliburton to campus
Things that didn’t go so well this year
• ECS Alumni Reunion before the UT game
– Ice storm forced cancellation
• Foreign language proposal
– Provost office wants to wait until new vice-provost
for global engagement is here to re-consider
Looking at the big picture
Aspirations - where I would like ECS to be in 10 years
• Overall
– Is the leader in Christian based engineering and computer science programs
– Has a diverse faculty and student body
– Is where major companies come to acquire top talent
• Undergraduate Program
–
–
–
–
Offers a broad range of degrees relevant to national needs
Has retention and graduation rates approaching aspirational private programs
Has student-to-faculty ratios approaching aspirational private programs
Graduates are competitive with those from the best programs in the state
Aspirations - where I would like ECS to be in 10 years
• Graduate Program
– Offers doctoral degrees in every department
– Has departments that are competitive with most Big XII schools
– Is a destination for top graduate students
• Faculty
– Are nationally and internationally recognized in their fields
– Conduct research that addresses critical societal and technical problems
– Lead the university in research funding to help Baylor meet Pro Futuris
aspirations
• Staff
– Are adequate and technically skilled to support the academic and
research mission of the school
Aspirations - where I would like ECS to be in 10 years
• Facilities
– Have infrastructure in place to support major research programs
– Have a building large enough to house the School
– Have state-of-the-art academic and research laboratories
• Development
– Endowments that support recruitment of top students and faculty
– Alumni giving reaching national averages for private programs
– Has a large cadre of corporate partners that invest in our
programs
We should grow ECS into a more comprehensive
school offering a broader range of degrees
•
Biomedical engineering
– Historic ties of Baylor with health science programs.
– Chance to partner with science
– This is the “century of biology.”
•
Materials science and engineering
– Driving innovation in engineering
– Cuts across all engineering disciplines
•
Chemical engineering
– Tremendous opportunities in traditional industries in the State and Gulf Coast
– Growing pharmaceutical industry
•
Aerospace engineering
– Large Aerospace industry locally and within the state
•
Manufacturing/Industrial engineering
– Few programs in the state
– Large manufacturing base in Texas
•
Informatics
– “Big Data” is the hottest area of Computer Science
– Computer Science Ph.D. proposal is in this area
What are some potential programs
that ECS can offer?
PROGRAM
Require New
Department?
Degrees
Offered
Faculty
needed to
start
Cost Personnel
Cost –
Equipment
& Space
Biomedical
No, initially in
ME
B.S., M.S.,
Ph.D.
2 to 3
Small
Moderate
Materials
No, initially in
ME
M.S., Ph.D.
2 to 3
(Joint with
Science)
Small
Moderate
Chemical
Yes
B.S., M.S.,
Ph.D.
6 to 8
Large
Large
Aerospace
No, initially in
ME
B.S., M.S.,
Ph.D.
2 to 3
Small
Small
Manufacturing/
Industrial
No, initially in
ME
B.S., M.S.,
Ph.D.
5 to 7
Large
Moderate
Informatics
No, in CS
Ph.D.
3 to 6
Medium
Small
Let’s shift gears to the undergraduate
programs
Our growth in engineering has been dramatic over the
past decade
A quote from Baylor’s online
“Frequently Asked Questions”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Baylor's average classroom has 28 students, with a
student/faculty ratio of 15:1.
Undergraduate engineering looks too much like
some of the state programs in the Big XII
School
Undergraduates
Faculty
Student-to-Faculty Ratio
West Virginia
3406
105
32.4
Iowa State
6253
237
26.4
Baylor
764
29
26.3
Texas Tech
3541
137
25.8
Kansas State
2988
124
24.1
Oklahoma
2789
137
20.4
Texas Christian
220
11
20
Kansas
2045
109
18.8
Oklahoma State
2461
132
18.6
Texas
5276
286
18.4
We are almost twice the
average of the rest of Baylor!
We have much higher engineering student/faculty ratios
than all but one of our private aspirational peers
School
Undergraduates
Faculty
Student-to-Faculty Ratio
BYU
1645
59
27.9
Baylor
764
29
26.3
Washington Univ.
1149
68
16.9
USC
1834
143
12.8
Vanderbilt
1203
95
12.7
Rice
1146
92
12.5
Duke
952
78
12.2
SMU
902
78
11.6
Notre Dame
945
99
9.5
Here’s some basic math
• By 2020, both the ME and ECE programs
should have a combined 47 faculty
• A reasonable undergraduate student-tofaculty ratio is about 16
– We currently have 764 students
– We grew 16% from fall 2012 to 2013
• The math: 47*16 = 752 students
GOAL = 750 undergraduates within engineering
To achieve a goal of 750 students, ECS has to
apply the brakes to admissions!
The question is, “How hard”?
We developed an enrollment
management proposal in late fall 2013
• Focus included
– Admissions of new students
– Transfers into the program from inside and outside
Baylor
• Built spreadsheet model to estimate growth of
the program
–
–
–
–
–
Included admissions and transfer
Historic retention/attrition rates used
Forecast potential growth out to 2020
Split students into SAT/ACT “buckets”
Model started in 2001
Model did good job of matching
historical growth
With 3%/yr growth in admissions, we would
grow to over 1000 students in the base case
Assumes 3%/yr increase in growth in admissions
for base case
Note: ECS has averaged 9%/yr growth for past 8 years
With 6%/yr growth, we would grow to
nearly 1200 students in the base case
Assumes 6%/yr increase in growth in admissions
for base case
Note: ECS has averaged 9%/yr growth for past 8 years
FALL 2015 admissions into
engineering has been approved:
SAT – 1220
ACT - 27
These requirements will be reviewed yearly to assess whether they should be
raised or lowered to help us meet our goals for enrollment.
As soon as we put together a case for a higher
SAT requirement, along comes a change!
Another focus of our efforts in the
next decade will be to improve
retention and graduation rates
I have tasked the ECS Undergraduate Committee to
develop specific plans to increase retention and
graduation rates. That will be part of the discussion in
the undergraduate committee this morning.
Our graduation rates can be improved
Graduating within major
Program
4 yr*
6 yr**
Engr.
22.8%
44.8%
Comp. Sci.
23.0%
29.1%
Would like to
see these
above 50% in
10 years.
* 4 yr based on students entering 2004-2009
**6 yr based on students entering 2004-2007
Graduating within university
Program
4 yr*
6 yr**
Engr.
37.2%
71.8%
Comp. Sci.
42.2%
63.2%
* 4 yr based on students entering 2004-2009
**6 yr based on students entering 2004-2007
Best private
and public
programs are
above 80%
We should be able to improve our first year
retention
We are also working on the future of
our graduate programs
• Computer Science is working on Ph.D.
proposal in Informatics
• Strategically recruiting domestically
• Will recruit internationally for Ph.D. students
in the engineering programs
• Research laboratories are slowly being built
Structure of rest of the morning
• Three committees
– Development & corporate relations (first floor)
– Computer Science ABET (first floor)
– Undergraduate programs (meets here)
• Each committee needs someone to take notes
during the meetings
• Each committee will report back to the Board
before lunch