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Engineering Research Centers Program
Division of Engineering Education and Centers
National Science Foundation
1
Engineering Research Centers
Partnerships in Transforming
Research, Education, and Technology --
Linking Discovery to Innovation
Lynn Preston, Leader of the ERC Program, Deputy Director, EEC
lpreston@nsf.gov
www.erc-assoc.org

2
ERCs Build University Cultures that Join
Discovery & Innovation in Partnership with Industry
ERC Program Goals
• Create a culture in academe that joins research, education, and
innovation
• Build partnerships with industry to strengthen the innovative
capacity of the U.S. in a global context
• Produce engineering graduates who are creative and innovative
practitioner, more capable of leading teams to advance
technology in established firms or leading new firms

3
Core Key Features of Gen-2 and Gen-3 ERCs
• Guiding strategic vision for transforming engineered systems and
development of a diverse, globally competitive engineering
workforce
• Strategic plans for research, education, diversity to realize the
vision
• Systems-motivated interdisciplinary research program spanning
discovery to engineered systems, enabled by testbeds
• Cross-disciplinary, systems-focused education programs from
pre-college to practitioners, produce graduates who can advance
technology and speed technology transfer
• Strong partnership with industry/practitioners to speed technology
transfer and innovation

Resources
Additional Gen-3ERC Key Features
Gen-3 ERC bridge discovery to
innovation by expanding the
research culture to:
• Support translational research
with small firms.
• Develop more creative &
innovative engineers
• Partner with economic
development organizations
• Partner with 1-3 foreign
universities
• Long-term pre-college
partnerships
• Reward mentoring
ERCs on the Innovation Spectrum
ERCs
Academia
Valley of the Shadow
of Death
Gen-3
ERCs
Small Business
Investors
Discovery Technology
Development Commercialization
Demonstration
Level of Development
Industry
Adapted from slide created by Angus Kingon, Brown University

System Requirements
ERC Strategic Framework:
Testbed(s)
Testbed(s)
Systems Research
Systems Research
3-plane chart
Testbed(s)
Barriers
Requirements
Products & Outcomes
Stakeholders
Systems
Technology Integration
Technology Elements
Testbeds
Enabling Technology Research
Barriers
Testbeds
Enabling Technology Research
Testbeds
Enabling Technologies
Technology Base
Fundamental Insights
Fundamental Research
Fundamental Research
Barriers
Fundamental Research
Fundamental Research
Fundamental Research
Fundamental Research
Fundamental Knowledge
Knowledge Base

Post-Award
Infrastructure Review Criteria,
2. Diversity Effort
• Diversity Strategic Plan: Strong strategic plan for diversity,
benchmarked against national engineering averages, results demonstrate
a strong and effective plan. Strong partnership for diversity with partner
deans and department chairs.
• Institutions Serving Large Underrepresented Populations: As lead,
or core partners (Class of 2006 & higher) and affiliate partners
• Women and Minority Alliances: Alliances with Louis Stokes Alliance
for Minority Participation (LSAMP), and at least one other connection
with an Alliance for Graduation Education of the Professoriate (AGEP)
• Leadership Diversity: Team of leaders is diverse in gender, race, and
ethnicity
• Diverse Faculty and Student Involvement: A significant number of
women, underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with
disabilities on the faculty and undergraduate and graduate student teams

Percentage Value
Women in ERCs,
FY2004–2009
ASEE National Engineering Data
NSF-NIH Postdoctorate Survey Data
40
35
30
25
20
15
32
22 23 23 24
20
19 20 19
17
17
18
34
29
30
28
25
24
31 31 31
27 27 27
38
37 37
35
35
32
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
10
5
0
Faculty Postdoctorate Doctoral Master's Undergraduates

Percentage Value
Underrepresented Racial Minorities in
ERCs,
FY2004–2009
ASEE National Engineering Data
(Data for African-Americans and Native Americans)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
4
21
20 19
17
14
15
13
11
9
9
7
6
7
8
8
5 5
5
6
4
5
4 5 5
2 2
1 1 1
Faculty Postdoctorate Doctoral Master's Undergraduates
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Percentage Value
Hispanics in ERCs
FY 2004–2009
ASEE National Engineering Data
40
35
30
25
20
15
13
13
13
13
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
10
5
0
5
9
9
7
8
8 7 7 8
6
7
6
7
6
5
4
4
2 2
1
2
2
0 1 2
0
Faculty Postdoctorate Doctoral Master's Undergraduates

Puerto Rico Student Test Bed -
ERC for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere
EWR Radar
FCC approved
Operational
Off-the-Grid Radar
Two nodes being tested
at UMass (FCC
approved)
Wireless
Communications
Energy Balanced
Optimization
Distributed
MC&C
Reflectivity
Retrieval
Rain rate
estimates
PR1
(Stefani) Radar
FCC approved
Radar operational
OTG siting based on
Disaster Vulnerability
Model

NSF Engineering Research Center for
Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials

Status of NSF 09-545 and
the Next ERC Competition
ERC Solicitation NSF 09-545
• Full Proposals Under Review
• Site visits in August and September, 2010
• Award decisions in November, 2010
• Approval of award recommendations in January
and February, 2011
• Awards (5-7) in March or April, 2011
Next ERC Solicitation
• Plan to release in April 2011
• Awards in 2013, at least 3