Strategic Plan for Education and Outreach

The education and outreach activities of the ERC are coordinated through an executive committee that has a representative from each participating school. Members of the committee include Henrik Pedersen (Chair, Rutgers University), Piero Armenante (NJIT), Carl Wassgren (Purdue), and Carlos Rinaldi (UPR, Mayaguez). Gabriel Tardos coordinates all activities at the outreach partner institution (CCNY). The executive committee oversees the development, implementation and assessment of various programs targeting undergraduate and graduate student education relevant to the ERC, industry-specific training initiatives and K-12 outreach initiatives.

The education vision and goals are to:

• Train students who will be effective engineers and leaders in the manufacturing and   research operations of the pharmaceutical and allied industries of the center
• Train students for roles in education and in the agencies involved in regulating food and   drug manufacturing operations
• Bring the new Center research discoveries in engineered organic composite systems to   enrich the existing engineering curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
• Develop educational programs for industrial practitioners and foster alliances with   industry in the education and outreach activities of the center
• Design and promote experiential programs and pedagogical material for K-12 outreach   recognizing diverse student and teacher backgrounds
• Develop a suite of modular educational units for use by the various center constituents in   formats that allows for efficient web-based dissemination

These goals are consistent with the overall center vision and are an integral part of its mission to bring together cutting-edge research, technology transfer and next-generation training of scientists and engineers. Each of the partner institutions brings unique education and outreach strengths. These strengths include a wide variety of exciting and innovative existing programs that can be leveraged, augmented and enhanced through the resources and active involvement of the ERC.

The educational strategic plan was formulated in the original proposal and is revised here based on input from a series of meetings with NSF staff, the Industrial Advisory Board and institutional outreach representatives over the past four months. In general, the core features put forth in our original submission and presented during site visits are intact. The specific initiatives and actions planned for the education and outreach efforts are presented here in a refined version and the first year strategic plan is developed with measurable outcomes.

Scope of Activities

The scope of our education and outreach covers three major programs including pre-college activities, university-level initiatives affecting undergraduate and graduate education, and professional programs targeting industrial practitioners. In some cases, formal activities and initiatives are planned and in other cases an experiential outcome is emphasized. Each effort has a number of faculty and often several institutions involved and a specific leader identified.

We have reviewed information available from other ERCs, in the ERC Handbook, and surveyed existing outreach resources at each partner institution this past summer. From this, a comprehensive and manageable set of education and outreach activities was formulated. These were presented to the center executive committee in a retreat on June 15 and to the Industrial Advisory Board for feedback on July 26. The information was further discussed with the NSF on July 27 to generate this particular strategic plan.

Pre-College Activities
Undergraduate and Graduate Education
Professional and Industry-Oriented Activities

Pre-College Activities

• Governor’s School/Rutgers. One of the pre-college activities planned is participation in the New Jersey Governor's School for Engineering at Rutgers University. This is a summer residential program for 100 NJ students who have completed their junior year in high school. The curriculum emphasizes problem solving, leadership training, team interaction, and exposure to engineering research through an intensive laboratory practice. Approximately 15-20 students would be able to participate specifically in the laboratory courses and all 100 would hear through a seminar about pharmaceutical engineering opportunities.

• Science Bus (Explorer)/Rutgers & NJIT. The Rutgers Science Explorer is a 40-foot, state-of-the-art, custom-designed mobile laboratory and science demonstration center that will bring exciting and innovative hands-on activities to middle schools. The bus features interactive exhibits and laboratory exercises in the life sciences, earth science, and the physical sciences. Rutgers graduate and undergraduate students will staff the bus and conduct the presentations. The Rutgers Science Explorer accommodates two Rutgers instructors, 20 students, their teacher, and up to two visitors per teaching session. We will create our own pharmaceutical engineering demos and take them to local schools where many students would have a chance to actively participate. The experiments would be lead by undergraduates, who would go through a training program so that they could be prepared to teach students who have no engineering background. (The Explorer team already has a training program in place). A particular focus on reaching underrepresented minority children would be emphasized.

• Camp Pharma - RET/NJIT & Rutgers. We will develop an educational engineering summer camp for middle/high school science and math teachers. To attract their participation, the teachers would receive a modest stipend and supplemental funding would be sought through the NSF Research Experience for Teachers program. In the first year, the target would be to attract 10-12 teachers, from different districts in NJ, for a 5-day program. The teachers would participate in workshops and provided lesson materials for incorporation into the technological literacy component of NJ State core curriculum content standards. The group would be followed through subsequent years of the program and we expect to evolve the material appropriate to different grade levels. This program will build on and benefit from existing Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCI) at NJIT and other outreach efforts targeting pre-college teaching.

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Undergraduate and Graduate Education

• Summer Workshop on Particle Engineering. In cooperation with the LSAMP/AGEP programs in which the ERC institutions are involved, a two -week workshop will be convened late in the summer at Rutgers University. The program will focus on particle technology and will consist of classroom and laboratory experiences, plant tours and student group projects involving both undergraduate and graduate students. The LSAMP/AGEP offices will be engaged to help reach high potential students and insure that the program complements existing efforts both in timing and scope.

• Engineering Preview and Academic Boot Camp (ABC)/Purdue. There are several engineering programs aimed at retention of underrepresented minorities at Purdue University’s engineering school. These are pre-undergraduate oriented efforts that provide intensive preparation to the first year program. The ERC will work with Engineering Preview and Academic Boot Camp to provide relevant pharmaceutical content to the program. This will also allow access to target students at a preliminary stage of their educational experience.

• Pharmaceutical Engineering Minor/UPR-Mayaguez. The University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez will identify and develop a sequence of courses associated with the chemical engineering undergraduate major that will provide enriched training appropriate to the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The other Universities have also indicated an interest in integrating minor options into chemical engineering curricula and a ‘best practices’ guide is expected to be developed on the basis of our collective efforts.

• Workshop on Pharmaceutical Engineering Programs/Rutgers & NIPTE. We will develop and host an educational workshop that will bring together educators, industry engineers and scientists, as well as FDA personnel to discuss and evelop curriculum in pharmaceutical engineering and science. The workshop will be coordinated with NIPTE that is a partnership of 11 institutions, including Rutgers and Purdue, who comprise a nationally coordinated institute dedicated to pharmaceutical technology and education. Additional input is expected from professional organizations such as ISPE and AIChE.

• MS Pharmaceutical Engineering and Science/All. All of the institutions have plans or active programs in the training of MS scientists and engineers oriented toward pharmaceutical manufacturing or pharmaceutical science. We will develop methods to share course offerings and to coordinate curriculum content into a portable format. Part of this effort will be the modular course format and digital library described below.

• REU/All (info, application) . A research experience for undergraduates program will be run during the summer months at the various partner institutions. Efforts will made, when appropriate, to have undergraduates shared among the institutions.

• Student Research/All. All programs will have active participation of undergraduate students in the research activities of the ERC. Of course, graduate research will be carried out and a graduate student exchange program will be developed to allow exposure to research thrusts and test-beds relevant to each individual. In this way, students are exposed to a broader background and to novel courses or laboratory facilities not available at their home institutions.

• SLC. A student leadership council will be constituted by November 15 and made operational with the start of the winter term. The SLC will convene formally on December 14 to conduct its SWOT analysis. The role of the SLC is to provide all students with a forum for social interaction, interaction with the ERC management, and for developing leadership skills during their tenure with the ERC program.

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Professional and Industry-Oriented Activities

• Modular Courses and the Digital Library/All. The development of 1-credit modules for flexible instruction will be coordinated. Each institution will be responsible for the synthesis of material associated with two (2) of these 1-credit modules. The module content will make up the digital library and a web-based access method will allow industrial members restricted use of these materials. In some cases, industrial scientists and engineers are expected to help in the development of content with guidance from faculty. The modules and digital library are a significant part of the education and outreach efforts and we expect to direct a significant portion of the resources towards their realization.

• Workshops and Certificate Programs/Rutgers. In connection with the module development, we will run workshops for industry and agency training in pharmaceutical engineering.

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