Industrial Associates Program Update

The fundamental objective of the Industrial Associates Program (IAP) is to establish a direct and sustained mutually beneficial relationship between members of the industrial community and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of New Hampshire. Specific functions of the IAP include:

• Establish an industry-education review, evaluation, and advisory board to coordinate engineering education and industrial needs.
• Develop challenging and significant cooperative research activities and share reports and publications of mutual interest.
• Exchange speakers for talks and seminars at industrial locations and on campus, including regular class lectures.
• Offer in-plant and on-campus short courses.
• Provide one-semester to one-year teaching/working employment opportunities through visiting professor/engineering programs.
• Organize cooperative undergraduate education programs for industrial employees.
• Foster the exchange of information between prospective employers and graduating seniors so that a mutually satisfactory employment relationship might be obtained.
• Develop a relationship which allows an easy exchange of information and expertise between member companies and ECE Department personnel.

Our primary goal for the IAP, however, is to establish a unique mutually beneficial relationship with each member company, reflecting the specific interests of each, rather than to provide a set of standard services. Through our Industrial Associates Program we have developed special relationships with a core group of companies in the southern New Hampshire area including Cabletron, HADCO, National Semiconductor, Raytheon, Sanders, Textron Automotive Technology Center and Signal Restoration Technologies.

IAP member companies each pay an annual membership fee of $5000. In addition to helping to support the activities listed above, the membership fees are used to help fund special Department activities. Typically, the IAP funds are used to leverage other sources of support within UNH or elsewhere. During the last year, the IAP fully or partially supported the following activities:

• Graduate Assistantship Offers. Funds in the IAP account were used to back offers of graduate assistantships to two graduate students beyond the number of teaching assistantships and research assistantships which were available at the time. This allowed us to attract more quality graduate students than we could support from existing accounts, in anticipation of new projects that might be funded between April and September. As in previous years, additional openings did appear and it was not necessary to support these students from IAP funds.
• Fourth Annual Advanced Technology Workshop (ATW'95). This annual self-supporting microelectronics workshop is underwritten by the IAP. The IAP account (rather than other UNH funds) provides up-front money for advertisement and organization and guarantees against losses. This gives the Department more control of the conference organization and any profits. The annual Ergonomics Workshop, which is also normally sponsored by the IAP, was not held this year since the workshop organizer, Dr. John LaCourse, was on sabbatical. The workshop will be held again in March, 1997.
• IEEE Student Professional Awareness Conference (SPAC). The IEEE SPAC is a one day conference designed to stimulate thinking in students beyond traditional academic subjects to issues such as career development and professional ethics. The spring, 1995 SPAC was attended by 70 UNH ECE students. The budget was supported in part by the IAP. The remainder was supported by the Northeast Region of the IEEE, the NH Section of the IEEE, the CEPS Dean's Office, the UNH student government, and registration fees. The IAP support was important beyond its percentage share of the costs, in that IAP funds were committed during initial planning and development, facilitating the acquisition of the other funds.
• Signals and Noise. The production and mailing of the annual Department newsletter is supported by the IAP. This newsletter is mailed to alumni and friends of the ECE Department.
• Student Resumes. The annual production and distribution of the booklet of senior and graduate student resumes is supported by the IAP. The resumes are provided to IAP members and other friends of the ECE Department.
• IAP Undergraduate Scholarship. Scholarships of $500 in the name of the Industrial Associates Program were awarded to the following six undergraduate students: Brian Huether, Jeannette Lauder, Greg Smith, John Fernald, Guarav Gupta and Jeremy Pallotta.
• Special Graduate Student TA Stipends. The Department appointed two additional Graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs) during the 1995/96 academic year, supported in part by the IAP. These IAP funded TAs were given special assignments targeting enhancements to the undergraduate program. John Canfield worked under the direction of Dr. John Pokoski developing prototypes for new lab experiments for the sophomore circuits and electronics courses. Tariq Nazeer worked under the direction of Dr. Andrzej Rucinski helping to design and coordinate the initial offerings of two courses for the new collaborative engineering concentration. The IAP funding of these positions was matched by an equivalent amount from other University sources.
• Support for Renovations of Kingsbury 105 Area. During the academic year the Department undertook the renovation of the Kingsbury 105 area which houses the sophomore circuits and electronics lab, the sophomore digital lab, graduate student offices, and the former power lab. As part of this process, the power lab was transformed into space suitable for Dr. Jennifer Bernhard's research in wireless data communications. The renovations were funded largely by a grant from the UNH renovation fund. However, a small amount of IAP funds were used to support design changes needed to make the space more suitable for Dr. Bernhard's research.
• Undergraduate Databook Library. During the academic year, room 248G Kingsbury Hall was renovated to create a databook reference room for ECE students. IAP funds were used to purchase shelving. Faculty and student volunteer labor were used for the renovations.

The Advisory Group of the IAP met most recently in May, 1996. Representatives from the seven member companies participated in the meeting. In addition, guest representatives from NESLAB Instruments, Inc., Datasonics, Austin Antenna, Allegro Microsystems, and Hanscom AFB were in attendance. The meeting opened with a review of the previous year's IAP related activities and expenditures. Next Dr. Jennifer Bernhard and Dr. Andrzej Rucinski gave presentations regarding new research and educational activities within the ECE Department. Finally, the entire group discussed the need for internship and cooperative education experiences for ECE students and the practical problems in providing such experiences. It was generally agreed that the diverse interests of different companies and students required a selection of models for interaction, rather than a single rigidly defined co-op program. Possibilities for industry related experiences should include on-campus industry sponsored senior projects, part-time academic year employment, full-time summer work experiences and six month or longer internships. The Department agreed to set up guidelines for each of these types of interactions to facilitate the matching of student and industry objectives.