Transcript 9/10/02 Presentation to potential advisory board members

Introducing:
Natural Sciences and Engineering
at UC Merced
Maria Pallavicini
Dean of Natural Sciences
Jeff R. Wright
Dean of Engineering
University of California, Merced
September 10, 2002
Our Educational Presence…
Valley Learning Centers
April, 2002
Our First Three Buildings: August, ‘04
Campus – Phase One
(August ’04)
Full Build-Out…
Drivers for our Academic Planning
• Relieve academic pressure on our sister UCs
• Providing viable pathways for Valley students
• Becoming valuable to our constituencies
• Synergy across divisions and institutes
Our Vision for Science & Engineering
• Close integration among disciplines
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Facilities planning
Faculty hiring
Curriculum design and implementation
Student recruiting
• Multidisciplinary research innovation
• Student-centered teaching/learning
• Unparalleled student retention rates
• Coordinated outreach initiatives
Opening Day Engineering Majors
Opening Day Majors
Environmental Engineering
Tracks
Watershed Restoration
Water Resources Management
Air Resources Systems
Computer Engineering
Networking/Network Modeling
Informatics/Database Methods
Software Engineering
Opening Day Science Majors
Opening Day Majors
Biological Sciences
Tracks
Microbiology & Immunology
Molecular & Cell Biology
Earth Systems Sciences
Atmospheric Science
Biosphere
Opening Day SS/H/A Majors
Opening Day Majors
Tracks
History & World Cultures
Anthropology/Sociology
History
Art History
Literature
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Economics
Psychology
Graduate Programs
• Quantitative Biology
• Environmental Systems
• Computer & Information Systems
• World History and Cultures
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
Next Natural Sciences Majors…?
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Statistics
• Math
• Human Biology
• Physics
Next Engineering Majors…?
• Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science & Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Mechanical/Civil Engineering
NS/Eng Targeted Areas of
Research Excellence
Chemical Biology
and Materials
Water, Air, Land
Resources
SNRI
Energy
SHAA
Engineering
Natural
Sciences
Complex Systems
Modeling
Human
Biology
WCI
Bioengineering
Quantitative Biology
Human Biology Program:
Melding Science and
Engineering
Mechanisms
of biological
processes
Disease
pathogenesis
Community
service
Public health
Human
Biology
Health Care
Delivery
Preparing health
professionals
Reaching Valley Kids
(Perhaps our greatest challenge)
• Attrition rate in high school is too high (over 30%)
• Latino success rate even worse: only 5% of 9th graders
able to start college without remediation after 4 years
• Shortage of qualified teachers, especially in rural schools
• Teacher compensation not competitive
• Only 6.7% of Valley residents are college graduates
(13% Statewide and 20% in the Bay Area)
Special Challenges for
Science and Engineering
• Fewer than 37% of math and science teachers in the
Valley hold math or science education degrees
• A significant fraction of math/science teachers have
never had a college level math or science course
• Only about 20% of students in Merced County take
the SAT
• 4th and 8th grade math and science scores among
worst in country
Current 9th
Graders
465,000
Alternate Paths to
Engineering Careers
Enrolled in JC/CC
Fraction who will
graduate
Admission to
UC/CSU
Admitted to
NS/Eng.
NS/Eng Degree Awarded
Total NS/Eng.
Degrees Awarded
Development Board for Natural
Science and Engineering
• Assistance in nurturing
development opportunities
• Leveraging our partnership network
• The “ideal” graduate
• Support of our outreach initiatives
Engineering Health Care Delivery
• Health care accounts for 14% of GDP
• Yet relatively little attention has been focused on
optimizing performance, or monitoring performance
• Resulting in a widening cultural divide
– Physicians focused on patient relationships and
improvements in individual quality-of-care
– Administrators focused on cost control and business
productivity
• Productivity of both parties has been undermined
• Leadership has traditionally been limited to
medicine and public health
• An infusion of engineering methodologies is
prescribed!
The Role of Engineering in Health Care Delivery
• Macro-level modeling and analysis of critical issues
– Distribution of staff and services
– Size, type, and location of treatment facilities
– Telemedicine systems design and development
• Managing chronic illness (est. @ 80% of HC costs)
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Scheduling key professionals and facilities
Designing effective resource allocation strategies
Developing meaningful metrics and assessment strategies
Modeling and managing use of medical technology
• Developing effective partnerships
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Health care professionals and institutions
Federal agencies
UCSF
Groups like the Leapfrog Initiative
Managing Medical Technology
• Advances in medical technology yield scarce, and extremely
expensive diagnostic capabilities, medications, and artificial
tissues and prosthetics.
• Proven engineering methods from other settings can be adapted
to reduce cost, and improve the quality and efficiency of
manufacturing and distribution (engineers have been doing this
for a long time!)
• Managing options effectively requires partnership between
health care professionals and engineering decision scientists.
– Quality and productivity
– Equity and coverage
• Leadership limited to medicine and public health
• An infusion of engineering methods is prescribed!