Technology Reinvestment Project #3666 Manufacturing Education and Training Program 1997 Grantees Conference Proceedings

Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) "Experts in the Classroom" (EIC) award #3666, to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Manufacturing Engineering Program (MEP), has enabled new course offerings, which incorporate technical and/or business experts, for the UNM Schools of Engineering and Management. The UNM EIC offerings have been designed primarily to support the Semiconductor (S/C) Manufacturing Concentration for the M.Engr. degree within the MEP, and the Management of Technology Concentration within the Anderson Schools of Management. The experts have come from both inside and outside the State of New Mexico. The experts have been utilized in conventional lecture courses, theme-based public panel sessions, distributed net-based panel sessions, on-site tour-based courses and in-depth lab sessions, and in courses which utilize instructional television (ITV; a microwave media which the MEP has used since its inception in 1987). The ITV courses broadcast the message of the experts to regional companies, universities and federal labs. Recently, the MEP has developed an EIC course to be broadcast nationally via commercial satellite, to further expand the corporate audience which can receive the message of the experts. This course, on Semiconductor Failure Analysis, was developed in concert with the SEMATECH Product Analysis Forum, which would provide nationwide experts to lecture, from an AV-instrumented UNM classroom, back to the member companies. This course will serve as a prototype for future UNM EIC-via-satellite offerings.

MEP Background: The Manufacturing Engineering Program (MEP) at the University of New Mexico (UNM), started in 1987, is a graduate-level program offering either a M.Sci. degree (with a manufacturing concentration) from two of the School of Engineering (SOE) departments (Elec. Engr. Cmptr. Engr. (ECE), and Mech. Engr. (ME)), or a M.Engr. degree from any of the five SOE departments (CE, ChNE, CS, ECE, ME). From the outset of the program, the MEP core curriculum has shared four courses per year with the New Mexico State University (NMSU) IE Program. In particular, two of the courses (Modern Manufacturing Methods from the SOE, and Organization and Management in Manufacturing from the Anderson Schools of Management (ASM)), have originated from UNM and have been transmitted by way of a State-wide Instructional Television (ITV) network to NMSU. Conversely, another two of the courses (Advanced Quality Control, and Economics in Manufacturing) have originated from NMSU and have been transmitted to UNM via ITV. The transmission format has been audio/video to the receiving classroom(s), audio back to the lecturer, with video tape backups of the lectures. Recently, an ITV linkage has been set up between the UNM Albuquerque campus (UNM-ABQ) and the UNM Los Alamos campus (UNM-LA), such that Los Alamos National Laboratory technical staff (experts) can originate lectures at UNM-LA, and have them then transmitted to UNM-ABQ, which can further distribute them to regional (ABQ) companies and Federal labs. It is this experience and network of preexisting communication infrastructure which the MEP has used to leverage delivery of the message of the experts to university, industry and federal lab sites.

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EIC Offerings: Using TRP "Experts in the Classroom" (EIC) award #3666, the MEP has been able to simultaneously,

• expand the number of engineering and business courses which it offers,
• incorporate outside technical and/or business experts into the classrooms, and
• leverage its experience and facilities for broadcast distribution of selected EIC courses.

The engineering EIC courses are offered through several Departments within the School of Engineering, while the business EIC courses focus on enhancement of a new and growing Management of Technology (MOT) MBA concentration within the Anderson Schools of Management. The experts, from industry and federal laboratories, nationwide, have been utilized in conventional lecture courses, theme-based public panel sessions, distributed net-based panel sessions, on-site tour-based courses and in-depth lab sessions, and in courses which utilize instructional television. In those cases where instructional television was utilized, the message of the experts was transmitted via microwave (or a hard T3 line in some cases) to regional companies, universities and federal labs, and/or via satellite up-links to selected sites nationwide.

Specifically, since the start of TRP #3666 (1 July 94), the following EIC courses have been offered (paid for either by TRP funds (T), or by matching funds (M), or by a mix of matching funds in conjunction with TRP funds (M/T)):

a. F/94 semester:

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b. S/95 semester:

c. F/95 semester:

d. S/96 semester:

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e. F/96 semester:

f. S/97 semester:

The number of experts for S/97 courses are estimates, since these courses are in progress. Note that the actual number of lectures given by the experts is greater than the number of experts listed above, since experts sometimes gave several lectures during a course.

Industry experts for the above courses have come from AB Ventures, Adria SP, Allshouse & Winter, AMMPEC, Barks & Assoc, Cell Robotics, Centex American, Creamland Dairy, Credence Systems, DKA, Elastimold, Ethicon, Ford Microelectronics, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Honeywell Microswitch, Intel, Intelligent Reasoning Systems, Journal Publishing, Klinger Construction, Levi Strauss, Lockheed-Martin, MITI (Japan), Motorola, Nanopore, Permacharge, PHDx Systems, Philips Semiconductors, private attorneys, Rio Grande Medical, Santa Fe Technologies, Shube's Manufacturing, Silicon Microdevices Inc., Southwest Medical Ventures, Sunpower, Tandem, Tencor, Thompson Furniture, Tyco Ventures, and US West Communications. Experts from Federal labs came from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-ABQ and SNL-Livermore), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL), Pacific National Labs (PNL), Idaho National Energy Lab (INEL), and the Dept. of Energy (DOE-ABQ). Occasionally, experts from other universities were utilized, including the Max Plank Institute. In several cases, the industry experts traveled from out-of-state sites, including Arizona (Intel), and California (Intel, Tandem). In other cases, the experts participated remotely, via the internet, including ORNL, PNL, and INEL.

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For the Spring 1997 (S/97) Semester, we planned and developed a new EIC course on "Semiconductor Failure Analysis" (Prof. D. Neamen of UNM and J. Soden of SNL were to be the principal instructors). The course content, and lecture sequence for the course was developed in conjunction with the SEMATECH Product Analysis Forum (PAF). The delivery plan was for members of the PAF to travel (from NJ, NY, TX, CA) to UNM and provide lectures, to be broadcast live to regional companies and federal labs (via microwave) as well as nationwide (via satellite links). Participating companies included AMD, DEC, HP, IBM, Intel, Lucent, SNL, TI and Rockwell. Students at company sites could sign up as either watch-only types (no transcript, no exams, no homework), or as audit-credit (transcript, no exams, no homework), or as grade-credit (transcript, exams, homework). However, a failure of the Telestar 401 satellite, one week before the course was to begin (21 Jan 97), made it intractable to provide live (with audio feedback) broadcasts nationwide. Thus, the course was scrubbed for S/97, and will be offered for the Fall 97 (F/97) Semester, utilizing the same PAF members (receipt of the course, however, is not limited to PAF member companies). It is expected that this model of course delivery, utilizing experts in high-tech, hi-demand focused topics, will be a prototype for future EIC offerings from UNM, including post-TRP offerings. In fact, we are in the process of taking the successful EIC course on Electronics Reliability (which was offered regionally via ITV for F/94 and F/95, with Prof. C. Hawkins being the principal instructor; the F/94 offering had an enrollment of 45 registrants at regional companies (via ITV), 7 at SNL (via ITV), and 25 at UNM), and serving it for S/98 to companies (and others) nationwide via a pre-paid satellite link, with experts derived nationally (in the past, experts for this course have principally derived from regional companies, such as Intel and Philips Semiconductor).

As an experiment to broaden the notion of experts in the classroom, a panel was set up for the F/95 "Human Factors" course (Dr. H. Hahn, of LANL, was principal instructor), wherein the panel experts were not in the classroom, nor were the students. In effect, a virtual panel of experts mentored a virtual classroom of students. Specifically, DOE experts (3) at Federal facilities in Washington (PNL), Idaho (INL) and Tennesse (ORNL) were connected to the students (9; at either home or office sites) via the internet, at the normal 90-minute class time, to hold net-based dialogues. The virtual panel, wherein students were encouraged to carry on an electronic dialogue with the human factors experts, was an augmentation to traditional classroom instruction. It is expected that this modality of EIC will be used for future course offerings, including the present S/97 offering of "Human Factors" (taught again by Dr. H. Hahn).

A newly developed EIC course (offered S/97), "Semiconductor Factory Design and Operations" (Drs. Blewer and Weaver, both of SNL, are the principal instructors), which is a required course for the MEP S/C Manufacturing Concentration, is the first of our EIC courses to provide periodic access to SNL labs (the SNL Micro Device Lab in particular) for expert-lead practicum sessions.

In some cases, the classroom goes to the experts, such as the "Design and Manufacturing in Industry" course (Prof. J. Wood is principal instructor), wherein students regularly visit local manufacturing companies to witness in situ manufacturing methods. The company experts provide tutorial overviews of the business and technical positions of the company, as well as an on-line tour of factory operations.

In addition to experts in the formal classroom, it is noted that the UNM Manufacturing Engineering Program requires an industry member (expert) to be on project and thesis committees. Companies contributing project mentors have included Envirco, Ethicon, Ford, Hughes, Honeywell, Intel, Motorola, and Philips Semiconductors. Further, it is a requirement that MEP students complete a minimum of a three-month industrial internship, in a manufacturing setting. Industry experts serve mentor functions during these internships.

EIC Issues: The EIC paradigm, particularly when used in conjunction with ITV and satellite distribution, creates a number of issues which do not arise for conventional single-instructor courses. Notably, when companies seek permission to use copies of tapes of the course lectures for internal training, all materials presented by all lecturers from all contributing companies must be formally released for distribution, prior to distribution. To address this, UNM is generating a standard release form to be distributed to lecturers prior to their lectures, so they are aware that they should not be presenting materials for which they cannot provide a release (or to which they or UNM will owe copyright fees to others).

Companies which intend to receive satellite down-links of courses will need to invest in appropriate satellite dish systems (typically, of order $3,000). For local companies receiving microwave-based ITV, they will need to purchase an appropriate antenna (typically, of order $1,500).

Registrant fee structures differ, depending on the broadcast media. For local ITV distribution, for students registered at UNM, there is a surcharge (above tuition) of $350 per student, to cover media and administrative costs. Sites which receive satellite down-links will have additional nominal fees beyond the $350 per student, to cover satellite rental costs. These combined (media service, enrollment administration, satellite time, tuition, etc.) fees are a function of the number of students enrolled at each site, and the enrollment status of the students enrolled at those sites (either watch-only types, or audit-credit types, or grade-credit types). The objective of the MEP and the MTS is to make company enrollments for the courses and UNM a one-stop shopping experience, rather than having to deal separately with registrar officials, media services, etc.

Post-TRP Plans: The TRP EIC funding has enabled development of new courses, for which it is now clear that there is an industrial (as well as University) market. Future offerings of some of these courses, when broadcast (via satellite) nationwide to selected company sites, should generate sufficient attendance and revenue to make them self-sufficient. Other offerings, constrained to local distribution, will be continued through supplemental State appropriations to the MEP. Other new course offerings, carefully crafted in conjunction with industry experts nationwide, to meet industry technical and business needs, are being planned. Clearly, the viability of such programs rely on the interest and active participation of non-university professionals.

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In addition to creating new courses, the Manufacturing Engineering Program at UNM is creating new classrooms from which to broadcast ITV/satellite courses. Specifically, the MEP is constructing the 56,000 SF Manufacturing Training and Technology Center (MTTC; to open Fall 1997), which will include a number of teaching and prototyping labs, as well as classrooms and auditoriums from which to transmit audio/video signals to the UNM Media Technology Services operation, which then broadcasts via local microwave and satellite up-links. It is expected that the factory-like teaching environment of the MTTC will further expand opportunities for technical and business experts to contribute to the MEP and UNM teaching mission.

Acknowledgments:

The author, and the several principal instructors listed above, thank the many experts (and their sponsoring organizations) who have contributed lectures to MEP and MOT courses.

This work was funded by the multi-agency Technology Reinvestment Project #3666 (DOE Award #DE-FG04-94AL98748). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

References:

Hahn, H. (1996): "Using Electronic Dialogue to Augment Traditional Classroom Instruction", Proc. Human Factors and

Ergonomics Society 40th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2-6 September 1996.

Wood, J.E. (1995): "The UNM Manufacturing Engineering Program: Distance Education Uses", ASEE Annl. Conf. and Expo., Anaheim, CA, 25-28 June, Session 3405.

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