CPES IAB Workshop: "From Success to Significance"

In an effort to help the Center perpetuate as a viable center post-graduation, CPES IAB organized a workshop in April 2005 to engage industry partners and outreach collaborators, SAB members, CPES faculty, and student representatives in an open forum to discuss: 1) How might the Center refine its mission statement; 2) What should the Center’s organization and management structure look like post-ERC; 3) How should the Center reshape its resesarch focus; and 4) What are the major issues confronting CPES beyond the NSF ERC program.

The workshop included presentations and breakout sessions that involved 78 attendees representing 9 academic institutions and 38 industries and research institutes. For more effective dialogues, participants split into six breakout groups and deliberated for two hours. The outcomes of the brainstorming sessions were shared in a general session with all participants.

Recommendations from the workshop include: 1) expanding the Center’s applied research to encourage industry funding; 2) reserving a portion of industry consortium funds to support disruptive research for long-range benefit; 3) focusing on environmental and energy efficiency topics to raise visibility and public awareness of the importance of power electronics; and 4) conducting a market study to determine the future research direction. These ideas have been adopted in the Center’s self-sufficiency plan.