Panel 1: Excellence in Education

(10:45 am 11:45 am)

Moderator
Prof. Akhlesh Lakhtakia (Pennsylvania State University)
Panelists
Prof. Brij Agrawal (Naval Postgraduate School)
Prof. Devesh Kapur (University of Pennsylvania)
Prof. V. K. Mathur (University of New Hampshire)
Prof. G. N. Pandey (Arunachal University of Studies)


Panel 1: Excellence in Education
Agenda (10:45 am 11:45 am)
Opening Statements (5 minutes each 25 min)
1045: Akhlesh Lakhtakia Opening and Introduce Panelists
1050: Brij Agrawal
1055: Devesh Kapur
1100: V. K. Mathur
1105: G. N. Pandey - Akhlesh
Audience Participation (25 min.)
1110: Q & A
Closing Statements (1 min. each 5 min)
1135: G. N. Pandey - Akhlesh
1136: V. K. Mathur
1137: Devesh Kapur
1138: Brij Agrawal
1139: Akhlesh Lakhtakia
Summary (5 min) Akhlesh Lakhtakia

Prof. Akhlesh Lakhtakia

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
Current Educational Practices
Excellence in Undergraduate Education

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Emerging Technologies
Extremely diversified
Extremely expensive
Thrive on innovative ideas
Require:
Foundational-knowledge base
Integration across STEM disciplines
Organizational skills
Socioethical contextualization
Communication skills

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Supplementation:
Excellence in Undergraduate Education

For complex problems, students must learn:
to identify intersecting disciplines
to acquire necessary knowledge base
to synthesize an acceptable accomplishment
to assess needs for further progress
to contextualize the accomplishment
Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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JITE Experience
Spans > 1 science/math disciplines
Single-member
Team-based
Apportionment of tasks
Deadlines
Oral/written reports
4 Crucial elements

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Crucial Element No. 1
Not all information be supplied to students
Students will
search text books
search extracurricular books, research literature
search the web
interview practitioners
undertake site visits
Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Crucial Element No. 2
Introspection and reflection by students
Students will
keep a journal of activities and ideas
prepare a statement of personal growth

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Crucial Element No. 3
Socioethical contextualization
Students will reflect on relevance of projects to
their political unit and culture
the world
ecology, sustainability & diversity

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Crucial Element No. 4
Dispersal of acquired knowledge
Students will
create project websites
write for newspapers and magazines
participate in local, provincial and national conferences
publish in peer-reviewed journals

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Expected to accommodate:
Nanotechnology
Information Technology
Biotechnology
Neural Engineering
Future wide-scope developments
Excellence in Undergraduate Education
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Excellence in Undergraduate Education
Instruction Research
Panel: Excellence in Education
Prof. Brij N. Agrawal
Education
IIT BHU/BENCO 1960-64
IIT Roorkee 1964-66
McMaster University 1966-67
Syracuse University 1967-69
Experience
1969-1989 Communications Satellite Corporation/International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
Research and participated in the development of communications satellites
Wrote first textbook of spacecraft design
Adjunct Professor-George Washington University and University of Maryland
!989- Naval Postgraduate school, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Stanford university
Started Astronautics Program
Founded Spacecraft Research and Design Center
Founded Adaptive Optics Center of Excellence for National Security

Key Ingredients for Excellence in Education
Focus of Fundamentals
Good oral and written communications, critical thinking, and teamwork
Education Current and responsive to industry and society
For graduate education, faculty should have excellent research programs


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Focus of Fundamentals

Education is lifelong process. Educational institutions
should build foundation for students to build new
knowledge in future.
Fundamental knowledge gives confidence to do
research and develop new technologies.
It becomes a habit to understand fundamental of any
situation. Even in administration it helps to analyze
key fundamental problems and find solutions for it.
Faculty should focus on fundamentals both in
classes and in examinations.

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Good oral and written communications,
critical thinking, and team work

At job, need to participate in meetings, making
presentations, convince others on your ideas
Write reports, memos, technical papers, proposals
Need to work in a team and to be a team player
How to give this education?
Give assignments to write reports and make
presentations
Give team design projects

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Education Current and responsive to
industry and society
Technology is changing fast. The education should be current.
So the professors should be encouraged to learn new
technologies and update teaching materials. Professors
should be given time and resources to achieve it.
Education should be responsive to industry and they are
being prepared for them. It requires good relationship
between faculty and industry.
Education should be to make engineers realize that their basic
responsibility is to serve the society. Making money is
important, but should not be the only motivation.

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For graduate education, faculty should
have excellent research programs

Should have Centers of Excellence:
Graduate courses requires state-of- art knowledge by
faculty.
High quality thesis work both for MS and Ph.D. can not be
accomplished without excellent research program by the
faculty.
Able to attract good professors and grow young faculty
into researchers. For the Reputation of the institution.
Faculty promotion should be based on teaching plus
research, publications, new labs, etc.
Faculty should be rewarded for good research.
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Prof. Devesh Kapur
Prof. V. K. Mathur
My Remarks
Indian universities failed to make worlds top 200
according to QS World University Rankings released
on September 10, 2013 from London.
IIT- Delhi, the countrys premier institution, comes in
way down at No 222. In the list of the top 50
universities in Asia, IIT Delhi is at 38.
It is needless to say the entire Indian university
system needs improvement.
The biggest asset of any educational institution is not
its buildings, equipment or even books, but its alumni.
They are the role models and beacon of light for the
future generations. Indian universities should learn to
use them as effectively as American universities do.

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Prof. G. N. Pandey
My Thoughts
Need Multi-disciplinary approach to teaching,
research, industry-institution interactions, etc.
Focus on entrepreneurship among faculty and
students.
Learn from world-class institutions to develop:
Academic structure
Challenging and rewarding milieu for faculty growth
Laboratory facilities with global standards
Library facilities including e-library
Recruitment support and global placements
Active alumni association with global visibility
Global focus


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