PSU Magazine Fall 1988

Science and Engineering Education for the Future by Cliff Johnson P ortland/Vancouver - by far Oregon and Southwest Washington's most populous metropolitan area and a leading contender in the race for Northwest economic growth - is perhaps the only one of the nation's 33 largest metro areas still without a major university offering a complete set of nationally- accredited doc– toral programs in engineering, the basic sciences and mathematics. This means Portland/Vancouver lacks an educational stimulus in shaping tomorrow's economy. The Committee on the Future of Science and Engineering at Portland State University, a group of top professionals in Oregon's science, engineering and business community, deliberated on the problem since the beginning of this year, and believes it is essential that PSU establish these degree programs by the year 2000. If not, the committee cautions, these needs could be met by a satellite campus in Washington. The time could be fast approaching. In mid-August the Washington State University Board of Regents announced it had voted to ask that state's legislature for money to ex– pand its branch campus in Vancouver. For that and other reasons, the commit– tee viewed its mandate as clear: identify the steps needed to correct this learning deficit , and develop a realistic plan to assure future intellectual and business growth in the region . The committee concluded that without doctoral- level programs, the region's in– dustries will face real difficulties in recruiting the best possible talent, let alone in training employees in technical PSU 12 jobs. It felt that new educational pro– grams will bring new opportunities for in– creasing basic and applied research , technology transfer, and university– industry partnerships to positively in– fluence economic and social needs of the Northwest region. Consider for a moment the recent scholastic experiences of three Portland State graduate students in civil engineer– ing, and how the lack of a doctoral degree program in their field affected their Iives. "If PSU could offer me the facilities and the options I could get at (University ot) Texas or MIT, I would have been giv– ing (PSU) serious consideration," said Fariborz Maseeh-Tehrani, 29 and mar– ried, and holder of a bachelor's and master's degree from Portland State as well as another master's from University of Texas. He is now working on his doc– torate at MIT because of its pre-eminent ranking in his field , and is anticipating job offers from industry and academia in about a year. Would he consider teaching at PSU in an enhanced doctoral-level program? " If PSU would offer me a good opportunity that could match my other offers, then why not? Portland is a great city. My family already lives in Portland ." For Rupa Purasinghe, 33, married with no children, the lack of Portland State doctoral offerings led him to Case Western Reserve University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1985. He recently called PSU "one of my top preferences" to continue his doctoral studies, if only Portland State had offered the program. But instead, he is an associate professor of civil engineering at California State University- Los Angeles. Leon Kempner, 42, of Portland and the married father of children ages 5, 8 and 14, has chosen a different path , adapting to Portland State's current program because moving to another state to pursue his Ph .D. was simply not financially possible. Kempner, a structural engineer with the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, fastened onto Portland State's Systems Science Ph.D. Program, which brings knowledge from many fields to find solutions to complex intellectual and societal problems. The program allowed him to undertake his Ph.D. work while he earned an income for his family. "I jumped on it," Kempner said. Even though he found the "multiple– perspective courses .. .really opened up my mind ," Kempner confessed it would have been preferable to be ".. .in a pure engineering (Ph.D.) program." Kempner plans to use his Ph.D. degree mainly as a credential to help secure a teaching position in later years when he leaves the business world and his children are grown , and in that respect the current Ph .D. offerings at Portland State are responsive to his needs. But one could argue that there should be programs more responsive to a scholar's immediate needs. I t is a feather in Portland State's cap that its students go on to earn ad– vanced degrees and faculty positions at other prestigious universities across the country, but the benefits to the local economy and PSU would be much more impressive if those same students could stay in Portland . PSU - whose mission it is to improve human potential - could serve as prime catalyst to the education of tomorrow 's experts.