Engineering and Computer Science Update

1. Engineering and Computer Science Update Dennis L. O’Neal, Ph.D., P.E. Dean ECS Board of Advocates April 11, 2014

2. Dean’s update Divide into committees Development/Corporate Relations Undergraduate Program Computer Science – ABET preparation Report from three committees What we’ll will cover this morning

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Looking at the big picture

10. 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

11. 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 Futurisaspirations • Staff • Are adequate and technically skilled to support the academic and research mission of the school

12. 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

13. 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

14. What are some potential programs that ECS can offer?

15. Let’s shift gears to the undergraduate programs

16. Our growth in engineering has been dramatic over the past decade

17. 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.

18. Undergraduate engineering looks too much like some of the state programs in the Big XII We are almost twice the average of the rest of Baylor!

19. We have much higher engineering student/faculty ratios than all but one of our private aspirational peers

20. Here’s some basic math • By 2020, both the ME and ECE programs should have a combined 47 faculty • A reasonable undergraduate student-to-faculty 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

21. To achieve a goal of 750 students, ECS has to apply the brakes to admissions! The question is, “How hard”?

22. 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

23. Model did good job of matching historical growth

24. 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%/yrgrowth for past 8 years

25. 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%/yrgrowth for past 8 years

26. 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.

27. As soon as we put together a case for a higher SAT requirement, along comes a change!

28. 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.

29. Our graduation rates can be improved Graduating within major 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 Best private and public programs are above 80% * 4 yr based on students entering 2004-2009 **6 yr based on students entering 2004-2007

30. We should be able to improve our first year retention

31. 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

32. 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