Engineering is an OSU leader in creating industry partnerships

Partnerships with business and industry have played a prominent role in making Ohio State one of the top five universities in the country in industry-financed research expenditures.

And the College of Engineering is one of the major benefactors. Of the $52 million in industry-financed research expenditures by Ohio State in 1999, more than $30.8 million supported faculty research in engineering, according to the Ohio State Research Foundation.

But the benefits of corporate partnerships go much deeper, said Paul McSweeny, director of corporate relations for the college.

Creating partnerships with industry is a win-win situation, McSweeny said, allowing companies to downsize long-term technology and giving Ohio State students valuable experience.

"Most companies can't afford to support the traditional level of research and development personnel on their payroll, but they can tap a breadth of scientific technology from a university that would be impossible to maintain internally," McSweeny said. "In turn, the University has access to state-of-the-art, real-world problems that keep both faculty and students up to date."

David Ashley, dean of the College of Engineering, said companies have been eager to expand pre-existing relationships.

"Historically, we have had relationships with companies, but it's mainly been on the recruitment level. Now they are involved with us in many aspects. They are thinking much more long-term than they have in the past," Ashley said.

He said the first formal partnership was established in November 1999, with Lucent Technologies. Fruits of that relationship -- similar to what other companies bring to Ohio State -- include:

• New employee recruiting: Lucent interacts with students as potential employees;

• Internships and co-ops: Students gain experience at Lucent;

• Research and fellowships: Multiple-year funding allows graduate students to work with Lucent to promote areas of study pertinent to Lucent; and

• Student mentoring: Top researchers from Lucent visit campus several times a year to discuss professional development and research projects similar to what students are exploring.

"Ohio State is a great source for technical and business research as well as world-class talent development. We partner with OSU to assure ourselves a position at the table. We want to be a recognizable face in the crowd," said Joseph Bellefeuille, Lucent program manager and OSU partnership coordinator.

The College of Engineering currently has four fully developed corporate partners: Lucent Technologies, Northrup Grumman, Honda of America Manufacturing and Executive Jet, meaning those companies have entered into formal agreements to work with Ohio State, McSweeny said.

Others, such as General Electric, General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Texas Instruments and Microsoft, have significant -- and similar -- relationships with the University that could evolve into formal partnerships, he said.

McSweeny said companies have discovered that a broader, deeper relationship with a university can pay big dividends in employee recruitment and technology transfer. Meanwhile, interaction with corporate partners benefits the college in the areas of recruitment, research and philanthropy.

Companies help Ohio State recruit top high school students, and support programs such as Women in Engineering and Minority Engineering. In turn, their familiarity with the University helps them select the best graduates for their work force, McSweeny said. Companies support research in a variety of ways, from relationships with individual faculty to offering company participation in one of several interdisciplinary research centers.

Philanthropic considerations range from scholarships and fellowships for individual students to the funding of faculty chairs or new facilities.

From a company's perspective, the keys to a successful partnership are strategic orientation, investment in time and resources, involved alumni and making a long-term commitment, McSweeny said.

From Ohio State's point of view, identifying adequate resources to support that same long-term relationship is a challenge, he said. Other obstacles include recognizing that scholarly pursuits and company-sponsored research can be equally appropriate for a research university, and recognizing industrial-sponsored research as valid for tenure and promotion considerations, McSweeny said.

"The biggest general problem is trying to get two institutions with two different cultures and value systems to work together," McSweeny said. "Companies have a for-profit, short-term approach, while universities have a viewpoint based on providing education, research and service. Those that have done a good job have learned to accommodate those differences."

Ashley pointed out that engineering colleges across the country are benefiting from corporate partnerships.

"It's very company-driven," he said. "They're recognizing the benefits of these long-term relationships."

Sanfilippo inspires synergy in academic medical center

Within the next year or two, Ohio State's senior vice president for health sciences expects to see evidence of a new era of cooperation generated by a closer alignment of the academic medical center's organizational structure, resource allocation and reward structure with its education, research and patient-care missions.

"My vision for a highly productive, effective and high-impact organization would take advantage of the synergies and balance such an alignment would create," Fred Sanfilippo told a full house in Rhodes Auditorium Jan. 23 during an address on the state of the academic medical center.

Sanfilippo, also dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health, said the academic medical center will pursue this balance on a firm foundation of strong education programs, comprehensive and quality patient care, and several research programs that are well-recognized and international in scope. The challenge lies, he said, in eliminating barriers that tend to isolate teachers, researchers and clinicians.

Fred Sanfilippo is senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health

In fact, Sanfilippo issued a call to academic medical center faculty and staff to step back from the "silos" in which they are compartmentalized and embrace the larger organization. He said that in his five months at Ohio State, he has witnessed a surprising dichotomy: "Folks here are satisfied in many respects," he said. "But my observation is that while there is loyalty to the silos in which people operate, there is a fair amount of disloyalty to the organization. It's tremendously impressive to me to see people who are so satisfied on the one hand and yet so dissatisfied about unmet potential."

Sanfilippo characterized the current environment as lacking the balance he envisions. Each area can boast great programs, he said, but each also exhibits unrealized potential. He said momentum is building within the academic medical center to overcome the frustration, anxiety and resistance to change that some people may feel, citing an upcoming announcement about the proposed Heart Hospital and plans for a Biomedical Research and Education Program that would be mission-driven and double medical center research space.

Sanfilippo also noted dozens of other research, education and patient-care accomplishments that further demonstrate momentum on which Ohio State can build, including the opening of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, a new integrated biomedical sciences program and federal approval of robotics applications in surgery.

Other activities in progress span the three missions, which will be a key to finding the balance that will best serve the entire center, he said. Units are joining forces to propose such programs as multidisciplinary pursuits in medical informatics, neurodegenerative disorders, comprehensive transplantation and sports medicine, as well as other fields.

"Ohio State is ripe for multidisciplinary activities -- we've got all of it here on one campus," he said.

Another key, Sanfilippo noted, is development of leaders who will be responsible for optimizing the creation and use of resources -- people, space, time and money -- and optimizing the long-term achievement and job satisfaction of those they lead. He said he will strive to set a tone of accountability throughout the organization, and enhance recruitment and retention of faculty and staff who are top achievers.

Sanfilippo is nearing completion of a new mission leadership design under which associate vice presidents and vice deans for research, education and clinical affairs will be appointed. He also has redesigned the infrastructure leadership. All of these changes are being made in pursuit of a goal to achieve balance and synergy while keeping in mind overarching values of collegiality, innovation and excellence, he said.

Sanfilippo described himself as a coach and mentor who articulates vision and values, stimulates innovation and excellence, delegates authority and ensures accountability.

"I'm pushing the envelope and want to create an environment for accomplishment through structure changes and resource allocation," he said. "I don't like to set low expectations. Expectations here have been high, and I've been delighted to see people meeting them."

In turn, he urges faculty and staff to support all parts of the mission, be innovative, assume responsibility, ask questions and listen to the answers. "Be an active participant in change," he said. "The only way we're going to change things is with your ideas."

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