A/Prof Jeffrey Funk

Division of Engineering and Technology Management

National University of Singapore

What is the Purpose of an Engineering Education?

There are many

purposes, but a major

one is to find a great job

One that has high pay,

and opportunities for

contributing, advancing

and learning

Not a Dead End

Salaries Vary a Lot

Getting a Degree is Important But salaries vary a lot for

college grads

Some Engineers Have Much Higher Pay than do Others

How can engineers get higher pay, challenges and fun from working with the best engineers?

RANK SCHOOL NAME STARTING SALARY MID-CAREER SALARY1 Harvey Mudd College $73,300 $143,000 2 United States Naval Academy $77,100 $131,000

3 - tie California Institute of Technology (Caltech) $68,400 $124,000 3 - tie Stevens Institute of Technology $64,900 $124,000

5 Babson College $59,700 $123,000 6 Princeton University $56,100 $121,000 7 United States Military Academy, West Point $74,000 $120,000

8 - tie Stanford University $61,300 $119,000 8 - tie Harvard University $55,300 $119,000 8 - tie Brown University $52,300 $119,000

11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) $68,600 $118,000 12 - tie Colgate University $51,800 $117,000 12 - tie Yale University $50,000 $117,000 14 - tie Polytechnic Institute of New York University $60,700 $116,000 14 - tie SUNY - Maritime College $59,400 $116,000 14 - tie Cooper Union $61,400 $116,000 17 - tie Tufts University $48,800 $115,000 17 - tie Haverford College $38,600 $115,000

19 Washington and Lee University $48,000 $113,000 20 - tie Lehigh University $58,500 $111,000 20 - tie Williams College $50,400 $111,000 20 - tie University of California – Berkeley $54,700 $111,000 20 - tie Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT $65,100 $111,000 24 - tie University of Notre Dame $54,000 $110,000 24 - tie Santa Clara University $53,300 $110,000 24 - tie Manhattan College $55,200 $110,000 27 - tie Swarthmore College $51,000 $109,000 27 - tie University of Pennsylvania $57,200 $109,000 27 - tie United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) * $64,900 $109,000

Rankings of US Universities by Mid-Career Salary http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-

report-2014/full-list-of-schools

How Can Universities Help StudentsFind These Great Jobs?

Flipped Classrooms, Great Brand Image? Great

Classes? Great Alumni?

Yeah, but what if you aren’t a student (or

professors) at MIT or Caltech?

And you are smart, hardworking, and creative

Isn’t there another way to the Top?

Flipped Classrooms (and MOOCs) Students study lectures online, discuss topics in class

The opposite of past – listen to lectures in class, address issues in homework

It might help students learn faster, but will it help engineering (or other) students get top jobs?

Don’t we need to aim higher than flipped classrooms and demonstrate real-world skills of students?

Let’s think about more fundamental issues

Difficult to see STUDENT’s Capabilities in Resumes or Transcripts

Grades, course names, and university names tell us little about students

Almost half of most successful entrepreneurs don’t have university degrees http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9aee9450-f7e9-11e5-96db-fc683b5e52db.html#axzz44qdhyiV5

More importantly: has or can a student

design products and services?

solve problems?

address important issues?

These are more important issues than grades

Particularly when courses were lectures and the grades were based on exams

Exams Don’t Engage or Test Many Important Things

Exams ask you to

repeat what professor said

solve theoretical problems that don’t exist in real world

Doing well on exams often doesn’t require understanding of real world or its products, services, and challenges

But real jobs require you to understand these things

And many students want to understand these things

An Unspoken Truth of Engineering Schools

Many students (and sometimes professors) don’t know names or understand meanings of current technologies (and startups introducing them)

Internet of Things

Big Data, FinTech

Software-as a Service

Wearable Computing

Similar problems with science and math majors

Students are too busy being tested on their knowledge of science and math to learn about recent technologies

How can students get jobs if they don’t know most recent technologies, i.e., the real world?

Projects and Presentations

Projects better test student abilities

Show whether students can identify important problems

Address them

Identify, create, and implement solutions

Presentations better illuminate student skills

Describe problems and solutions

Illuminate tradeoffs

Work with others to do this

Universities Should….. Offer project-based classes

Most graduate and upper level undergraduate classes should involve group projects

Projects should address real-world issues

Professors should be mentors and guides Must understand real world!

Not blind leading blind!

Students should learn from each other

Promote group projects Enable world to see and learn from them

Integration of group projects for holistic promotion of students

Good presentations will attract attention from industry decision makers

What are Real World Issues?

The projects must address real world issues that are common across industries

Not theory!

Students shouldn’t have to read theoretical papers

They already studied the theory in class!

Now its time to address real issues with real information!

Internet makes this easier

My Two Courses and Projects Understanding how and when new technologies

become economically feasible Students learn about and analyze changing economics of

new technologies (real ones!) in projects

Not all technologies become economically feasible! This module helps students separate reality from hype

My lectures and projects focuses on technologies that are being commercialized (or will be in the next few years) and the identities of the startups (remember unspoken truth!)

Biz Models for Hi-Tech Products and Services Students learn to commercialize new products and services

and develop biz models for them in lectures and projects

Value proposition, customer selection, method of value capture are key elements of business model

Lecture slides and group presentations can be found on my slideshare accounts: http://www.slideshare.net/Funk98/presentations;

http://www.slideshare.net/Funk97/presentations

Both Courses Address Real-World Issues Understanding how and when new technologies

become economically feasible

Industry must decide which technologies to commercialize

Some are more likely to become feasible than others

We must help students think seriously about their careers and the technologies they will emphasize

Biz Models for Hi-Tech Products and Services

Industry must introduce new products and services

And a business model is required for each new product and service

We must help students understand why some products and services (and companies!) are successful

Lecture slides and group presentations can be found on my slideshare accounts: http://www.slideshare.net/Funk98/presentations;

http://www.slideshare.net/Funk97/presentations

These Courses Help Engineers

Do High-Level Engineering

How and when New

Technologies

Become

Economically

Feasible and thus

what Types of New

Products and

Services Should be

Introduced?

Who are customers

and what are Value

Propositions for

New Products

(including

conceptual

design)?

Let’s Design

and

Manufacture

the

Products

(detailed

design)

Hi-Level Engineering Low-Level Engineering

MT5009 MT5016 Design Module

The Real World Loves the Presentations

For “Analyzing Hi-Tech Opportunities,”

Currently >360,000 views in total; about 600

views per day, and growing

The Real World Loves the Presentations

For “Biz Models for Hi-Tech Products,”

Currently >260,000 views in total; about 900

views per day, and growing

Mail from Managers is Also Very Positive

My name is Tom LaTempa and I work with Newry Corp., a management consulting firm in the U.S. I’m working on a project with a large materials supplier that specializes in flexible electronic pastes and we’re interested to learn more about printed battery applications. I saw an interesting set of slides you shared that outlined a business model for printed batteries. Is this an area that you are still tracking? Would you be available for a brief discussion (approx. 15 minutes)?

My name is Raffy A. and I'm reaching out from LA. I'm interested in emerging industries and recently came across a slide presentation on LaaS that your students compiled. I wanted to have a short 10 min intelligent conversation with one of them (or you) over skype. I also wanted to know how your "think tank" works with entrepreneurs.

I've been reading some of your presentations on neurosynaptic chips, very interesting. I am fascinated by artificial intelligence and the prospect of computers being able to teach themselves. If you dont mind me asking, What do you make of Peter van der Made'sBrainchip? It's rarely mentioned along side Qualcomm's or IBM's truenorth technology development etc.

I noticed you have a slide , Personal Genomics: Business Model for 23andMe. Is that a part of your research? An example of new industry? Have you done some research about the opportunities of ICT companies on Healthcare industry?

A Few More Examples I am Amy Sun from Huawei Technology. I sent you an email about your slides, Personal

Genomics: Business Model for 23andMe. I am very interested in this topic. I am wondering if you are available, I have some questions to ask about new industry. Thanks!

I was very much interested by your work on business model for Oculus. We are going to come into this game as a new player with Immersis, a very different technology, but very immersive. However, our business model still needs to evolve because market will evolve. Hope I will have the opportunity to discuss in Singapore when I come there.

I came across your very well received Slideshare presentation on Uber's business model at the National University of Singapore. Firstly, please let me congratulate you on a wonderfully constructed presentation. I am taking notes! I am the inventor of a ridesharing concept called Texxi (Transit Exchange for XXI Century) that kick started this space when I stumbled on a way to solve the largescale, real-time dynamic ridesharing problem in 2003 - 2004. You can see my presentation here. I may be in Singapore in February or March and would be very pleased to come to see you if you have time.

Winner: 2015 Red Herring Top 100 European Start-ups

Winner: 2015 Red Herring Top 100 Global Start-ups

What does this tell us about Students?

Lots of views and positive mail suggest high quality slides, and students

more capability than ordinarily thought

can learn and do high-level engineering

Universities should challenge students with real world problems

And promote their group presentations

Help them interact with industry

Let’s move beyond a model of

sole emphasis on science and math

exams in which students repeat what professor says

Let’s Challenge

Students!

This is Just the First Step!

Students are doing great analysis and presentations

What can be done next?

Include students in loop with mail?

Have students pursue issues raised in mail?

Have students work closely with industry from beginning of projects?

Allow industry to propose projects?

Get additional data for these projects from industry?

What can be Done Next?

Have many classes require group projects and presentations?

Try to link the projects, so that more in-depth analysis can be done? Each project building from previous

ones?

For each student, build network of group presentations?

Make presentations part of a student‘s online transcript and resume?

Build brand image for students, department, and university

Proposals for Future Courses Students develop detailed designs in group projects

Computer aided designs, or simulations

In some cases, functional prototypes can be made with standard electronic components

Different classes for different technologies

Or focus on technologies applicable to many products and services such as Internet of Things or Big Data

Students develop implementation plans in group projects

Students participate in solving problems posed by open innovation platforms such as Innocentive Professors help students propose and submit solutions

Large scale one-semester student projects

Large-Scale One-Semester Student Projects

My alma mater (Carnegie Mellon) has many students (>40 students) analyze a problem of national interest https://www.epp.cmu.edu/undergraduate/project_courses.html

Other universities can do similar projects – both national and local issues

Many large scale technological issues can be addressed Smart cities, roads dedicated to autonomous vehicles, GPS

for buses, wearable computing, and many others

Students from outside engineering can be invited

Students learn about large-scale problems and locals (companies, city government) can learn from students

Such projects attract local media, can excite and motivate students, help build brand image of university

Build Brand Image the Old Fashioned Way!

Demonstrating superior output

Produce graduates who address real-world issues

solve real problems

make real contributions

Group presentations show real world analytical capabilities of students

They help build links to industry, including alumni

Links to industry and alumni provide help to future group projects, thus promoting positive feedback