Q&A with FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Dean J. Murray Gibson, Ph.D.
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Posted By: Hija Chang on July 11, 2016 Author: Domonique Davis What brought you to FAMU? What made you want to come and take on this exciting new role? My wife Faye is from this part of Florida, and spent most of her life in Tallahassee, so I have come here many times. We own a house here, and I chose to spend a year at the MagLab on sabbatical, so that’s how I got to know more about the college and the great opportunity it presents. I’ve moved every 10 years or so because I like new challenges, and the timing was attractive. The Joint College of Engineering is an outstanding venture and I am excited to be here. At the June Board of Trustees meeting you mentioned that FAMU and FSU have some unique opportunities with the joint College of Engineering. What do you think some of those opportunities are? This is, as far as I know, unique as a joint college operated by two universities with one being a historically black university with its proud tradition and one being what’s called a highly research intensive university, Florida State University (FSU). Top engineering schools need a strong research component, because only in that way is it possible to expose students to the state-of-the-art tools and expertise out in the world. No other HBCU has the leverage that this partnership creates in research, nor does any top research-intensive university have the mission and experience to broaden representation in engineering that FAMU offers. I believe that we can get national attention and resources, which is going to be critical to this, because no one else can tell that same story. And it will be a win-win for both institutions. There is also tremendous economic potential with engineering. For example, if you look at Fortune 500 companies, a third of the CEOs are engineering majors and only 11 percent are business majors. So much of technology is driven by engineering, and Florida is significantly underserved in engineering education. You’ve also spoken about a need for diversity in the engineering field. What would you like to see from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in terms of contributing to this effort? In particular, FAMU has a special opportunity to improve diversity in education in engineering. It’s become clear to a lot of people in the last few years that there is a real crisis for representation in engineering. For example, while 12 percent of the U.S. population is African-American, for engineers the fraction is only percent. The statistics for Hispanics and women are similarly bleak. A number of corporations have come out and said we have to fix this. Intel has identified several hundred million dollars to address the issue. Google is looking for 1,000 engineers coming from underrepresented groups. The National Science Foundation plans to make $100 million available to find new ways to approach this problem because the old ways haven’t really worked. From experience, I know that it is very important for the success of students in STEM to have a cohort who can support each other. With an increased focus on engineering recruiting and retention, FAMU can rebuild a strong cohort of diverse engineers that will fuel success. And amongst HBCUs the joint college will be unique in offering breadth and depth in faculty expertise and research, which should make it very attractive for recruited students to choose us over other colleges. Why do you think it is so important that incoming students consider careers in engineering? Engineering is a great discipline—it’s about applying science and technology to address people’s needs, whether that be for infrastructure, energy, or medicine to name just a few. It is estimated that more than half of today’s U.S. economy was created through science and engineering innovation in the last century. Because of this, engineers have amongst the highest starting salaries of many majors. It’s economically very important, but it’s also very intellectually stimulating. The challenge with engineering is that it’s a very rigorous curriculum. In the first two years, there is a lot of science and math and students often think, “Why am I learning this?” If they make it to the third year then they sort of have that moment where they can say, “Now I get it.” We have to work on creating programs to connect the students right from the very beginning so they can be excited about learning physics because they understand that the reason they’re learning physics is because they want to build a bridge. Engineering is viewed as a difficult curriculum, but it has so many rewards. I don’t think it’s so fundamentally hard, but it’s more demanding in terms of time and students need to plan around that. We also need to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to be well prepared to succeed. How do you plan on using your background as a researcher to benefit students and faculty? In order to strengthen engineering research, it is necessary that we focus—nobody can do it all, and we must choose thematic areas where we can be world-leading, and use that as a guide when we hire faculty. By assembling world-leading teams of researchers we can win more external funding. In order to win these competitions you have to assemble teams with the best players and facilities. What is the one thing that you’re most excited about doing first as dean? I will be doing a lot of listening. To me, the great thing about my job is that I get to learn a lot. I’m looking forward to learning a lot about what’s going on right now, and the experiences at FAMU with retention and recruiting. Another thing that is exciting to me is focusing on the interdisciplinary opportunities. Everything is becoming highly interdisciplinary, and engineering is integrated with just about every other discipline, so I’m looking forward to meeting with deans and faculty outside of the College of Engineering. I’ll spend the first year in strategic planning. The college hasn’t really had a comprehensive plan for the future, so I will be working hard with stakeholders to develop that. This will flush out the exciting story that we will tell to potential supporters, and provide a template for our growth. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Hija Chang
Management, See Moss Interactive Bellarmine University class of 2021 Member Since January 2011 |
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