Annual Report

Annual Report 2009 - 2010

Part 1

Section A

Unit Information

U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering

The vision of the U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University is to be internationally recognized for excellence in interdisciplinary engineering and computing education. The mission of the U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering is to produce graduates and community leaders in selected engineering and computing disciplines with superior technical competence and business skills to meet the engineering and computing challenges of Southwest Florida and beyond. This is

accomplished in an entrepreneurial and innovative educational environment that values diversity, service, integrity, leadership, and collaborations.

Section B

Unit Goals for 2009-2010 included in

Last Year's (2008-2009) Report - Part 2

What actions have you taken to achieve this goal? Strategic Plan Goal

With which 1 or 2 goals from the 8 current strategic plan goals does your 2008-2009 goal best align?

Unit Goal

Goal for 2009-2010

Goal 1 - High-Quality Education Have a successful accreditation visit by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET) for the B.S. in Bioengineering, the B.S. in Civil Engineering, and the B.S. in

Environmental Engineering.

Begin preparing the B.S. in Computer Science program for a future ABET accreditation visit.

Advance faculty knowledge through scholarly activity.

Demonstrate teaching effectiveness through SAI scores and other measures.

Advance faculty and staff through professional development activities.

What measures have you taken towards assessment of this goal?

All three self-study reports were completed and submitted to ABET by the July 1, 2009 deadline.

The Director, Department Chairs, and Program Chairs of the U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering (WSOE) communicated with the ABET team before the November 1-3, 2009 visit and were able to resolve many questions and issues before the team arrived on campus. All other issues were either resolved during the campus visit or as part of the "due process" response to ABET to the best of our knowledge. The final report will not be sent to the university until after the ABET Engineering Accreditation

Commission meets in mid July. We have every reason to believe that there are no unresolved shortcomings above the level of a concern, but this cannot be confirmed until the final report is issued, which the university will not receive until August or September.

After consulting with the Computer Science faculty, reviewing data about enrollment in Computer Science programs in SUS schools (which has been declining since 2001), and discussing options with the FGCU's Information Technology and Software Engineering Advisory Group, the decision was made to develop the BS in Software Engineering and phase out the BS in Computer Science. The faculty developed a first draft of the Program Educational Objectives and Program Outcomes for the BS in Software Engineering in accordance with the requirements for ABET accreditation of this degree program.

Faculty followed professional development plans that included goals for teaching effectiveness, scholarly activity, and other professional development activities.

The visit by the ABET Accreditation Team provided an external assessment of the quality of the engineering programs. The final results will not be known until August or September 2010.

During two academic retreats (one in the fall and one in the spring) the WSOE faculty assessed the attainment of student learning outcomes in selected courses in all four degree programs.

The WSOE Advisory Board provided feedback about the academic programs during its October 2009 meeting.

The Information Technology and Software Engineering Advisory Group provided feedback about the BS in Computer Science and the proposed BS in Software Engineering during its December 2009 meeting.

All faculty who were reviewed received a meets or exceeds expectations in teaching, thus demonstrating teaching effectiveness. In addition,

z Tanya Kunberger was awarded the ASCE 2010 ExCEEd New Faculty Excellence in

Teaching Award.

z Tanya Kunberger was awarded the ASEE (American Society for Engineering

Education) Southeastern Section Outstanding New Teacher Award for 2010.

z Bob O’Neill and Tanya Kunberger were both inducted into the Golden Key

International Honour Society as honorary members for excellence in teaching.

z Lisa Zidek and Tanya Kunberger were selected, as part of a national competition,

to attend the first National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium in Washington, DC in November 2009.

Describe the progress you have made toward attaining this goal including the anticipated completion date.

Describe how the results of assessments have been used to improve student learning or your department's activities.

z Diana Stoppiello was promoted from Advisor I to Advisor II.

z Diana Stoppiello won the 2010 Faculty Advisement Excellence Award.

Faculty demonstrated advancement through scholarly activity:

z The faculty in the WSOE published 9 reviewed journal articles and 23

peer-reviewed conference papers during the 2009-2010 academic year.

z Eight WSOE faculty (Csavina, Geiger, Kim, Kunberger, Orndoff, Villiers,

Zalewski, and Zidek) received a total of over $14,306 in travel awards from the Faculty Senate during the academic year.

z The IEEE Computer Society selected a team of CS students from FGCU to be one

of 12 teams to continue onto the final stage of the 2010 Computer Society Student Design Competition. There are two other teams from the USA, one from U Mass Amherst and one from U California, San Diego.

z Janusz Zalewski was one of five people in the nation who were selected to have

a summer fellowship at NASA Ames in California.

z Jorge Torres and Jim Sweeney are Co-Investigators on a successful grant

application to DTRA (Sharon Isern, PI; Jose Barreto, lead Co-I on “20% sub-project”) “Mechanistic Studies of Flavivirus Inhibition and Nanoparticle-Catalyzed Decontamination.” The grant was funded for ~$1.2M from 2/1/10 – 1/31/12.

z Two WSOE faculty (Kristy Csavina and Claude Villiers) received internal grant

awards.

z Chris Geiger was awarded a grant for $449,313 from the National Science

Foundation for his proposal, “Major Research Instrumentation: Acquisition of an Inverted Confocal Microscope for Florida Gulf Coast University.”

z Lisa Zidek, Jim Sweeney, and Kristy Csavina (in collaboration with Tina Ellis from

the School of Nursing) were awarded a 3-year grant (International Health Guatemala: Preparing High School Students for SEM Careers) for $81k from Global Public Service Academies.

z Chris Geiger won the 2010 Junior Faculty Scholarship Excellence Award. z Jong-Yeop Kim passed the PE exam in October and is now a Professional

Engineer.

z Janusz Zalewski was awarded a sabbatical for fall semester 2010.

All of the unit goals for 2009-2010 were attained so Goal 1 was achieved.

At the August 2009 Academic Retreat, significant changes were approved based on assessment results. For the BS in Environmental Engineering, these included splitting the current Water and Wastewater Engineering into two courses and changing the sequence of courses, e.g. move ENV 3006C Fundamentals of Environmental

Engineering to the spring of the sophomore year, to help improve student learning.

During the year, the decision was made to eliminate EGN 3833C Engineering Service Learning as a required course in all three engineering programs. Having a required sequence of 2 courses that are unique to FGCU made it impossible for students to take advantage of junior-level study abroad opportunities. Removing EGN 3833C will make it possible to offer EGN 3641C Engineering Entrepreneurship both semesters, which will, in turn, make it possible for students to spend a semester studying abroad.

At the May 2010 Academic Retreat, the Environmental and Civil Engineering faculty approved changing senior design from a 2-course sequence (total of 4 credit hours) to a single 3-credit course. The available credit plus the two credits from EGN 3833C will make it possible for students in those programs to take an additional 3-credit elective. In addition, TTE 3002C Transportation Engineering will become a lecture only course (TTE 3002), which is more appropriate for the learning activities in this course.

At the May 2010 Academic Retreat, the Bioengineering faculty approved moving forward with planning of the following changes and improvements to the

bioengineering courses and curriculum. Changes will be submitted in the fall semester of 2010 for necessary approvals, with a plan to implement these changes then for the 2011-2012 academic year. The total number of credit hours to complete the BS in Bioengineering degree will remain the same.

z Use the 2 credit hours freed up from EGN3833C to introduce a 2 credit hour

junior level required course in the major focused on software skills needed for Biomedical Design & Manufacturing

z The 1 credit hour EGN4410L Engineering Senior Design I (Bioengineering

section) will become a 2 credit hour course BME4410 Bioengineering Senior Design I

z The 3 credit hour EGN4411C Engineering Senior Design II (Bioengineering

section) will become a 2 credit hour course BME4411 Bioengineering Senior Design II

z BME4504C Bioelectricity will become one of two required elective courses in the

major (and will be renumbered, preferably to BME3504C, and have its prerequisites revised). Students will be able to choose BME3504C, or in alternate years a new BME3XXXC Cell and Tissue Engineering course.

What actions have you taken to achieve this goal?

What measures have you taken towards assessment of this goal? Strategic Plan Goal

With which 1 or 2 goals from the 8 current strategic plan goals does your 2008-2009 goal best align?

Unit Goal

Goal for 2009-2010

Goal 2 - The Student Community Explore development of additional engineering degree programs.

After consulting with the Computer Science faculty, reviewing data about enrollment in Computer Science programs in SUS schools (which has been declining since 2001), and discussing options with the FGCU's Information Technology and Software Engineering Advisory Group, the decision was made to develop the BS in Software Engineering and phase out the BS in Computer Science. The faculty developed a first draft of the Program Educational Objectives and Program Outcomes for the BS in Software Engineering in accordance with the requirements for ABET accreditation of this degree program.

The BS in Alternative Energy Engineering was added to the FGCU Strategic Program Planning list with a planned implementation date of fall 2013. The Proposal to Plan the BS in Alternative Energy Engineering has been approved by the Provost.

Describe the progress you have made toward attaining this goal including the anticipated completion date.

Describe how the results of assessments have been used to improve student learning or your department's activities.

Feedback from the Information Technology and Software Engineering Advisory Group demonstrated that the decision to move from the BS in Computer Science to the BS in Software Engineering represented a good plan.

All of the unit goals for 2009-2010 were attained so Goal 2 was achieved.

Adding new degree programs, such as the BS in Software Engineering and the BS in Alternative Energy Engineering, will lead to improvement in student learning and provide new opportunities for departmental activities.

In addition, the advising offices for the WSOE were moved to Holmes Hall (from Lutgert Hall) at the end of the spring semester, which will make advising more accessible to WSOE students.

What actions have you taken to achieve this goal?

What measures have you taken towards assessment of this goal?

Describe the progress you have made toward attaining this goal including the anticipated completion date.

Describe how the results of assessments have been used to improve student learning or your department's activities.

Strategic Plan Goal With which 1 or 2 goals from the 8 current strategic plan goals does your 2008-2009 goal best align?

Unit Goal

Goal for 2009-2010

Goal 4 - A Talented and Dedicated

Faculty and Staff Advertise and search for an additional civil engineering faculty who will join the WSOE in fall 2010.

Continue efforts to have a diverse faculty in the WSOE.

A new, enrollment-driven position in civil engineering was requested and granted. A successful search was held. The search resulted in a diverse pool of 34 applicants.

The position has been filled for fall 2010. The new faculty member is highly qualified and holds dual citizenship in Germany/European Union and the United States.

All of the unit goals for 2009-2010 were attained so Goal 4 was achieved.

Adding a new faculty member who is qualified in the area of water resources and also holds a Masters degree in fisheries biology will greatly improve student learning

opportunities for the majority of WSOE students who are majoring in either civil or environmental engineering.

Section C

Program or Service Specific Assessments

What program or service specific assessment occurred in the current academic year?

How were the results of the assessment used to improve programs or services?

Report on any 7-Year Program review that your college/school completed in the past year and describe any improvements made as a result of the review.

The three engineering degrees were assessed by a team of evaluators from ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.).

ABET requires programs to assess program educational objectives and program outcomes on a regular basis and to use the results of that assessment process to continuously improve the programs. Examples of programmatic improvements were included in the ABET self-study reports.

None.

Section D

Unit Contribution to President's Performance Measures

Please review the President's Performance Measures for 2009-2010. Did your unit contribute to any specific performance goals for the President? (If so, please

indicate whether the measure set was attained and to what degree.)

I. GOAL: High Quality Education.

FGCU’s Vision: Pursue academic excellence to achieve national

prominence in undergraduate education and expanding recognition for selected graduate programs.

z Add 15 new faculty positions across the university to keep pace with enrollment growth.

z Achieve initial accreditation of the U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering ...

A successful search to fill an enrollment-driven new faculty position in civil engineering resulted in hiring Dr. Kristoph-Dietrich Kinzli, who recently received his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Colorado State University.

The ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission will not vote to approve reports on accreditation visits held in fall 2009 until mid-July, and official letters will not be sent until August or September 2010. At this time, we feel confident that all three

engineering programs (BS in Bioengineering, BS in Civil Engineering, and BS in Environmental Engineering) will be accredited, but nothing will be official until letters arrive from ABET. As an aside, ABET accredits programs, not schools.

II. GOAL: The Student Community.

Provide quality educational opportunities serving the region, under-represented populations, the State of Florida and beyond. Increase Academic Outreach:

z Add new undergraduate degree programs resources permitting.

The BS in Alternative Energy Engineering was added to the FGCU Strategic Program Planning list with a planned implementation date of fall 2013. The Proposal to Plan the BS in Alternative Energy Engineering has been approved by the Provost.

The implementation date for the BS in Software Engineering was changed from fall 2012 to fall 2011.

IV. GOAL: Talented and Dedicated Faculty.

Build a diverse team of exceptional faculty and staff who support the mission and guiding principles of the university.

Growth: Full-time faculty and staff will grow from 945 to 960.

As noted above, a new faculty member was hired, which will increase the number of full-time faculty in the U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering.

Part 2

Section A

Unit Goals for Coming Year (2010-2011)

What action(s) will you undertake to achieve the goal? Strategic Plan Goals

With which 1 or 2 goals from the strategic plan goals does your 2010-2011 goal best align?

Unit Goal

Goal for 2010-2011 Goal 1: Academic Excellence

Goal 3: Strategic Growth

The WSOE will initiate steps to launch new engineering degree programs that will produce graduates by 2015 (next

anticipated ABET visit for accreditation of new degree programs).

Complete the Proposal to Establish the BS in Software Engineering.

Begin the process of phasing out the BS in Computer Science as the BS in Software Engineering becomes available.

Continue planning the BS in Alternative Energy Engineering since the Proposal to Plan has been approved by the Provost.

Develop the Proposal to Plan at least one new engineering degree program that would have graduates by 2015 if the resources needed to develop the new degree can be

Within your unit’s leadership team, who will be responsible for completion of the action? What resources are involved to fulfill the objective (e.g., technology, new faculty/staff, etc) and  define existing as well as new resources that will be required?

By what means will you assess goal achievement?

How will you know if you have successfully attained each goal?(e.g., a set of criteria, benchmark,  survey…benchmarks should include current status and goal to be achieved) How will the results of the above assessments be used to improve fulfillment of the university’s  mission (e.g., student learning, faculty research/scholarship, university services, etc.)? justified.

Susan Blanchard, Founding Director Lisa Zidek, Academic Program Director

No new resources are required for the planning phase of new degree programs other than faculty time to develop curricula, acquire relevant data, and write the documents.

New faculty and support staff will be required when new degrees are implemented, with the possible exception of the BS in Software Engineering since it will replace the

existing BS in Computer Science.

Feedback from the IT and Software Engineering Advisory Board with regard to the proposed BS in Software Engineering and removal of the BS in Computer Science will provide assessment of this part of the goal.

Feedback from the WSOE Advisory Board and/or appropriate departmental advisory board with regard to proposals for new engineering degree programs will provide assessment of this goal.

The completed Proposal to Establish the BS in Software Engineering will be submitted to the UCT for consideration in November 2010 and to the FGCU BOT by the summer of 2011.

A request will be made to add at least one new engineering degree program to the university's Strategic Program Plan with an implementation date of fall 2013 so that there would be graduates when ABET returns in fall 2015 for the next accreditation visit. This request will only be made if the resources needed to start the program can be justified.

Moving forward new engineering degree programs will help the university address the call for new programs in BOG-defined strategic needs areas, which include engineering (a Key Performance Indicator for Goal 3). Since all new engineering programs will apply for accreditation as soon as a single student graduates, this also addresses one of the Key Performance Indicators for Goal 1 (number of accredited programs).

What action(s) will you undertake to achieve the goal?

Within your unit’s leadership team, who will be responsible for completion of the action? What resources are involved to fulfill the objective (e.g., technology, new faculty/staff, etc) and  define existing as well as new resources that will be required?

By what means will you assess goal achievement?

How will you know if you have successfully attained each goal?(e.g., a set of criteria, benchmark,  survey…benchmarks should include current status and goal to be achieved) How will the results of the above assessments be used to improve fulfillment of the university’s  mission (e.g., student learning, faculty research/scholarship, university services, etc.)?

Strategic Plan Goals With which 1 or 2 goals from the strategic plan goals does your 2010-2011 goal best align?

Unit Goal

Goal for 2010-2011 Goal 7: Discovery and Application of

Knowledge

Faculty in the WSOE will engage in productive scholarly activities.

Faculty will submit and publish peer-reviewed papers in appropriate education and discipline-specific journals and conferences.

Faculty will participate in conferences and workshops to enhance scholarly activities depending upon availability of travel funding.

Faculty will submit proposals for grants and/or contracts and/or will collaborate with other investigators both within FGCU and outside of the institution who are submitting proposals for grants and/or contracts.

Susan Blanchard, Founding Director

Bob O'Neill, Chair, Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering Jim Sweeney, Chair, Department of Bioengineering

Sim Komisar, Environmental Engineering Program Director

Sufficient financial support is needed to maintain research laboratories within Holmes Hall. The WSOE received no additional E&G funds to support supplying and maintaining laboratories in Holmes Hall, a 70,000 sf building with 6 specialized research

laboratories.

An additional laboratory manager is needed to adequately support the faculty so that they can fulfill their research potential and secure external funding to support their scholarly activities.

Faculty and staff annual reports and reviews will be used to determine the number and type of publications and presentations as well as the number and types of grant and contract submissions and awards.

The faculty as a whole will average one peer-reviewed publication (conference or journal) per person.

Save this file before exiting.

Submitting new proposals, funding of sponsored research, and number of faculty publications are all key performance indicators for Goal 7.

Section B

Resources

Given the current fiscal situation facing the university and based on the analysis of data included in this report, please indicate your highest priority for

funding (related to your analysis) if additional resources were to become available either this coming year (2010-2011) or the following year (2011-2012).

The highest priority is having a permanent Senior Secretary to support the efforts of the Office Manager and Academic Advisor as the number of faculty increases (18 total in fall 2010 compared to the 14 that were in the initial plans for the WSOE) and student enrollment increases (already well beyond 500 with four lock-step, complicated degree programs to provide advising for). The next highest priority is to have an additional laboratory manager who can assist with setting up, teaching, and taking down the increased number of sections that we are already teaching as well as monitoring and maintaining an increasing amount of complicated and expensive instrumentation.

Section C

Assessment Plans

What assessments are you planning to conduct during 2010-2011?

All engineering courses are assessed each year. This process is important to ABET accreditation and continuing improvement and will continue during 2010-2011. Computer Science courses will be reviewed in the context of developing the BS in Software Engineering.

Section D

Coming Year - Strategic Plan Contributions

1.1.1, 3.5.1, 7.1.2

(Contributions based on http://www.fgcu.edu/trustees/AgendaFile/2010/6-2010/TAB_3.pdf.)