Programs

One of the hallmarks of faculty mentoring in the School of Engineering is the Early Career Faculty Mentoring Program.  Early career faculty conduct groundbreaking research based on solving new technical and societal challenges and design and teach novel courses based on modern methods of instruction.  To ensure the success of junior faculty and to develop them as teacher-scholars in the R1 research university setting, the Early Career Mentoring Program focuses on many important topics, such as:  building a research lab, writing proposals to various agencies and foundations, developing a successful CAREER or YIP proposal, writing multidisciplinary/multi-institution proposals, designing innovative courses, teaching according to best practices, setting goals while on the tenure-track, and planning for the academic career beyond tenure.   

The School of Engineering is launching a Mid- Career Faculty Research Mentoring Program. Mid-career faculty members are key players as the School adapts to a time of continuous change. This mentoring program will provide guidance to mid-career faculty on developing innovative research proposals that address relevant challenges, raising participation rates, and increasing funded projects.

The overall objective is to encourage mid-career faculty members to submit a higher number of more competitive proposals, particularly to federal agencies. This might be achieved by: (1) mid-career leadership of multi- or trans-disciplinary proposals, (2) mid-career leadership of multi-university proposals, and (3) leveraging and augmenting existing non-federal funding.

Tentative Topics that will be covered in the Fall 2021 semester include: AAU Indicators, Research Productivity Metrics, First Out of the Gate, and How Risk Aversion Varies from Agency-to-Agency, Identifying Potential Collaborators on Emerging Topics, Advice from Mid-Career Awardees for Multi- Disciplinary and Multi-University Grants, and Industry Involvement on Federal Grants.

Professor Ted Bergman will serve as the facilitator for the SOE Mid-Career Faculty Research Mentoring Program. Dr. Bergman joined KU in 2012 and served as Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering for six years. He previously held faculty positions at the University of Connecticut (1996 – 2012) and The University of Texas at Austin (1985 –1996) including 10 years at UConn as Department Head or Associate Dean for Research and Outreach (Fundraising). As related to this activity, Ted served in the Directorate for Engineering at NSF from 2008 to 2010, during which he also initiated a high-profile collaboration between NSF and DOE in solid-state physics and heat transfer. Since joining KU, Ted has formally advised NSF (at the Foundation level) regarding the CAREER program, and DOE regarding their multi-year plans for energy research in the national labs. Ted has published over 130 refereed articles, several books, and holds one patent related to pharmaceutical processing. His publications have been cited over 40,000 times according to Google Scholar.

Participation in the program this fall will be limited to Associate Professors in Engineering, as well as Engineering faculty members in their first year as Full Professor. Dates are TBD.