Technology Transfer Project Preparing African-American Students to
Compete for Leadership Positions
By James Owens
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
have worked to link their students and programs to technology and
academic research. From concepts as seemingly esoteric as insurgency
modeling, to applications as seemingly mundane as cleaning products,
technology transfer among the U.S. government, corporations and HBCUs
and other academic institutions are impacting our national security and
affecting our daily lives.
Lee Rosenberg, director for small business programs
at the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency, has established a
goal of awarding 5 percent of all college and university funding to
HBCUs. The agency is exceeding the goal, he said, awarding approximately
9 percent of money through contracts to such institutions. “The goal,”
he said, is to” fill the technology gaps and solve technology problems
that we currently face.”
The main benefit of programs such as those at the
Missile Defense Agency stems from the fact that “there is a great deal
of talent in HBCUs,” Rosenberg said. “Programs such as ours allow
government agencies to tap into that talent, by tapping into the
innovative ideas and research that is being carried out at those
institutions.”
For HBCUs, the program “provides funding for them
to expand their research and development,” he said. “This, in turn,
allows them to maintain a research base that also helps to draw students
to their institutions.”
The Technology Transfer Project (TTP) is another
organization deeply involved in the flow of technology between
corporations and HBCUs. The Executive Leadership Council, a non-profit
organization based in Alexandria, Va., launched the Technology Transfer
Project in 1996 to assist HBCUs in preparing their graduates to compete
for management and leadership positions in a corporate environment.
Initially launched with just three HBCUs, the TTP
quickly expanded to 12 core schools in Phase I and now includes 12 core
schools in Phase II. In Phase I, based on the realization that HBCUs
didn't have the information and communication technology (ICT) to
compete with leading academic institutions, The Executive Leadership
Foundation invested more than $10 million to help 85 HBCUs apply ICT on
their campuses.
“Back in 1996, HBCUs were really just getting
wired,” TTP Director Ramon Harris said. “So, the TTP in its initial
stages partnered with three HBCUs to ensure that those institutions were
wired and that they had the basic equipment to provide broadband access.
This quickly expanded to 12 partner institutions in Phase I, along with
additional initiatives to make the program much more holistic. This
provided incentives to HBCUs to examine and understand their enterprise
and how technology could be integrated into their enterprise to create a
more effective educational environment.”
While the TTP programs were launched with 12 core
HBCUs, Harris noted that programs and initiatives introduced at the core
schools ultimately benefited students at the more than 100 HBCUs. More
than 500,000 students have been directly or indirectly impacted by TTP
programs and initiatives over the past 10 years, he said.
“The real achievement of the Technology Transfer
Project is ensuring that HBCU graduates are competitive by ensuring that
they have access to, experience with” and understanding of technology,
Harris said. “This access provides them with an understanding of how
technology affects their academic performance. But, perhaps more
importantly, it helps students and graduates understand how technology
will affect their success in their personal and professional lives.”
The success of TTP programs has also been closely
linked to significant corporate sponsorship and support from firms
including Amoco Corporation, Bell Atlantic, the Coca-Cola Foundation,
Booz Allen Hamilton, General Mills, IBM and Oracle. Phase 2, for
example, was launched with a donation of more than $2 million from IBM
and, according to Harris, the TTP is in the process of expanding the
number of corporate sponsors to further enhance its programs.
Dr. Sid Credle, a former employee of IBM and
current Dean of the Hampton University School of Business in Virginia,
explains that although IBM had a strong relationship with Hampton prior
to the university's involvement in TTP, that relationship has greatly
expanded due to the university's involvement in both Phase 1 and Phase
2. “Our partnership with IBM has been outstanding,” Dr. Credle said.
“And the relationship is not only from the point of view of the student.
It is also from the administrative point of view with teaching and
donated software. We have incorporated the software into our classrooms.
IBM has also donated two computer labs to the school.”
Dr. LeeRoy Bronner, Research Associate Professor in
the Industrial Manufacturing and Information Engineering Department at
Morgan State University (MSU) exemplifies the work being carried out by
faculty at HBCUs. In addition to the courses he teaches, Bronner
currently manages nine research projects, including two with the
National Science Foundation and two with branches of the military. As a
result, he has 17 students who work directly with him including doctoral
candidates, master's candidates, and undergraduate students.
| To learn more about research
opportunities at your university, here are some pointers to
consider:
Research faculty.
Most universities have expert guides that indicate members’
areas of expertise.
Meet faculty.
Meet faculty from different disciplines and tell them what
your interests are. Venture beyond those professors teaching
your classes — other faculty members could be working on
projects that require students with your expertise.
Meet Department
Chairs. Department chairs often have an excellent sense
of current or upcoming projects. Make an effort to meet
department chairs and you will tap into an excellent source
of information on research projects and faculty needs.
Read faculty
publications. Most students at research institutions
know that many of their professors conduct research and
publish papers in journals. However, few of those students
read academic journals. Research the journals faculty
members at your college or university publish in and
familiarize yourself with their articles. This is certain to
make a positive impression on faculty members looking for
student assistants. |
Students play a vital role in this research and
development, Bronner said. “Students learn software tools to aid us with
modeling. These tools are used in the research we are doing; however,
they are also used to model other complex systems that students might
encounter in their future careers. For example, the types of tools we
use are also used for modeling in many fields, including medical,
software, manufacturing, transportation, government and consulting.”
As an example, he cites work being done by IBM that
allow clients to model problems before attempting to implement
solutions. Historically, consulting firms have worked with clients who
explain the problems they face as the groundwork for developing
solutions, he said, adding that the approach sometimes failed because
clients didn't correctly evaluate or explain the underlying problem.
Models such as the one developed by Bronner and his team have the
potential to create a great deal of efficiency and save a great deal of
money. As a result, students who understand the technology are in high
demand.
Bronner said his students have been recruited into
positions at IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, UPS, FedEx and even
Wall Street firms that do financial modeling.
Victorine Gwei, a doctoral student working with
Bronner, said working with technology transfer has given her “a much
better feel for the kind of research being developed that comes out of
our national labs and how it can be used in a commercial environment.”
William Walker, one of Bonner's master's students agrees. “We talk about
technology in the classroom and we read about it in literature, but I
now have a much better feel for what information technology actually is
after working on this research,” Walker said.
In addition to institutional, research and
practical benefits for HBCUs, and their faculty members and students.
technology transfer work through HBCUs also benefits minority-owned
businesses. Bronner cites the example of an NSF grant that sought
information on how minority-owned businesses could create practical
applications for technology developed in national labs. One of many
success stories from this type of technology transfer research was a
minority-owned business that developed an application for lasers to
clean medical and optical products.
Through technology transfer programs, students gain
access to cutting-
edge technology that ensures they will not be left
behind by the technological revolution. However, this work has much
deeper implications, equipping students with skills that make them
competitive in the marketplace while providing government agencies with
access to intellectual talent, and giving business and consumers access
to technology that affects the lives of everyone in our country.
Consequently, it behooves all students at HBCUs to educate themselves
about technology transfer projects at their schools. Taking advantage of
these opportunities will equip students and alumni with skills for
succeeding in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.
James J. Owens is an assistant professor of
Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern
California Marshall School of Business Center for Management
Communication. He is a freelance writer for national and international
publications and he consults with major corporations on issues related
to leadership, emotional intelligence, and communication.
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