CPES Student Leadership Council Hosts 2004 NSF ERC Annual Student Retreat

Each year, SLC representatives from each of the 22 NSF ERCs gather in Washington, DC for the retreat, which serves as a forum for students to discuss strategies for improving communication, developing programs, and evaluation progress within their respective research Centers. In 2004, CPES students were asked to share their expertise through leadership of the Annual Student Retreat for the NSF’s Engineering Research Center (ERC) program. This year’s retreat was chaired by Bass Sock, a CPES graduate student at North Carolina A&T State University who has served as CPES SLC President for two years. During the meeting, Bass was assisted by two CPES SLC representatives from each of the CPES partner campuses: Arthur Ball (VT), Luis Arnedo (VT), Erik Olson (UW), Jeffrey Connors (UW), Weixiao Huang (RPI), Pete Losee (RPI), Atzel Santiago (UPRM), Alma Estremera (UPRM) and Bobby Hemmingway (NCA&T).

The theme of this year’s retreat was building bridges between students and industry. John Steel, CPES Industry Advisory Board Chair, shared his insights and recommendations on making the most of the industry/student connections that ERCs provide to more than 60 student participants. At the end of his presentation, he challenged SLCs to be proactive in developing their own strategies for improving connectivity and to maintain dialogues with other Centers so that best practices can be shared as they develop. Invited speakers also included ERC alumni, including Dr. Bridgitte Gomillion of DOW Chemical, Dr. Andrew de Hennis of Sensors for Medicine and Science, and Dr. Farshid Asl, Vice President of GMAC. Sessions included: “From Graduate School to the Workplace - Making the Right Technical Connections,” “Preparing Future Leaders - The ERC Experience,” “Effective Communication among Multi-Institutional ERCs,” and “SLC Impact on the ERC Vision.” The retreat included a roundtable discussion on organizing and implementing annual student evaluations of Center programs. The retreat also featured a mixer in which the SLCs presented posters summarizing their Center’s research and educational outreach programs.