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July 2006 |
Penley PanelA few weeks ago, I gave a speech in Florida to an international group of business school faculty and deans. Part of my remarks focused on the responsibilities of higher education in serving the public interest, and the impact that colleges and universities have on our nation’s quality of life and economic prosperity. This impact may come in the form of new ideas generated, new spin-off companies, new patents, new products and new jobs. But it also derives from our newly educated graduates who enter the workforce prepared to contribute to making our region and country more globally competitive. The public good of jobs and globally competitive labor benefits all of us, not just the holders of degrees. Two economists have been very influential in making the case for higher education as a public good: Charles Jones of the University of California and Paul Romer of Stanford have noted that higher education accounts for very substantial variations in the economic prosperity of countries. Their work addresses issues raised by another economist, Robert Solow, in the 1950s when he wrote about economic growth and technological progress. Today, economists at the Kansas City Fed are making the same argument for regional differences in economic prosperity relative to research universities with doctoral programs. These economists make a strong case for the relationship between economic prosperity and two variables: ideas and labor, i.e., graduates. University professors, through their research, generate ideas, and university professors, through their teaching, generate a well-educated labor supply in the form of new graduates. Focusing on idea generation with its commercial potential and the creation of a quality supply of labor addresses the transformed globally competitive economic environment. Changes to our environment are making the value of higher education not so much a private good for an individual – but a public good via an institution’s contribution to tech transfer and commercialization of ideas, and via its impact on the labor market by educating high-quality graduates. A university that wants to maximize its impact in these areas must recognize the transforming environment and develop strategies and organizational designs that take advantage of this new environment. At CSU, we are doing so with three-part approach: (1) through organizational redesign and the creation of research "superclusters" in areas such as infectious disease. Superclusters match university strengths with regional industry strength, address great global challenges, and are based in a new structure that leverages science with management and university capacity with commercial flexibility. (2) through the creation of our Office of Economic Development, designed to raise the public good of the university via intentional interventions in the marketplace and to move traditional technology transfer ahead more effectively via sector specialists, sometimes called "knowledge mules," who work across the university to provide an interface between scientists and the commercial sector, speeding commercialization. (3) through our commitment to being "the model land-grant university of the 21st century" – via initiatives in our institutional strategic plan and through redesign and reorganization. This three-part strategy and organizational re-design is global and local in its scope. It addresses the altered global environment of a knowledge economy with dependence on higher education and addresses directly regional industry clusters where CSU is a premier contributor, where labor is needed in the form of new graduates, and where CSU can make substantial contributions to the public good via discovery and new jobs. This issue of the Competitive Edge highlights areas in which CSU is having an impact in these key areas, showcasing the job outlook for recent graduates and groundbreaking research innovations of both students and faculty. Larry Edward Penley CSU Wins $19 Million for New Science and Technology CenterRecognizing CSU’s position as a world leader in atmospheric science, the National Science Foundation has just awarded Colorado State and its partners a $19 million Science and Technology Center that will help scientists worldwide improve their climate and precipitation forecasting. CSU now joins the elite ranks of only five other universities in the country – including Berkeley and the University of Illinois – that are home to both a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center and an NSF Engineering Research Center. The NSF Science and Technology Center for Multi-Scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes will be based at Colorado State in the College of Engineering’s renowned Department of Atmospheric Science. The NSF Cooperative Agreement to create the Science and Technology Center is for $19 million for the first five years, with the potential for a renewal for another $20 million over the following five years. David Randall, professor of atmospheric science since 1988, will serve as principal investigator and director of the center. Co-principal investigators include John Helly of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego; Chin-Hoh Moeng of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder; and Scott Denning and Wayne Schubert of Colorado State’s Atmospheric Science department. This grant is particularly special because it will also enable CSU to expand its outreach to K-12 teachers and help encourage young people to explore their interests in math and science. About one-third of the $19 million budget is dedicated to education outreach and diversity, including training for K-12 science teachers and support for Colorado State’s popular Little Shop of Physics program, a program involving professors and students who use everyday objects to show young people that science can be fun. Colorado State’s atmospheric science department has an international reputation for producing climate research and scientists. Its annual hurricane forecasts receive worldwide media attention every year because of their longstanding record of accuracy. Colorado State plans to start construction next year on a 20,000-square-foot building at the Foothills Campus to host the new Science and Technology Center, including three faculty members, 17 researchers, 18 students and nine support staffers. The project involves the participation of many other investigators and educators around the country and in Canada, Japan, England and Australia. The Science and Technology Center is the third major NSF center at Colorado State’s College of Engineering. The Engineering Research Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology is headquartered at Colorado State and is a joint collaboration among Colorado State, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of California at Berkeley. Colorado State is also one of four key partners in the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, which is an ERC based at the University of Massachusetts. Envirofit Engine Solution Named One of World’s Top 10 Innovative TechnologiesEnvirofit International Ltd., a non-profit corporation that develops new solutions for global challenges and disseminates technologies originated at Colorado State University, has been named in the latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review as one of 10 innovative technology companies that create global social change. The prestigious scholarly journal listing adds to the international recognition of Envirofit and Colorado State's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, which addresses and provides solutions for chronic health and environmental issues affecting billions of people throughout the world. Hunt Lambert's Start-Up SpotlightIn the Way of Good Luck: The Firehouse Animal Hospital Case Several years ago I was invited to speak at the annual Western Veterinary conference in Las Vegas. My talk focused on how to increase profits in private practices by focusing. Specifically, I used Treacy and Wiersema’s “Value Disciplines” model to contrast the average veterinary practice to other practices that focused more narrowly and designed their operations to deliver either operationally excellent product leadership or customer-intimate services at a world-class level, while staying minimally competent in the other two areas. Little did I know that my talk provided a vocabulary to a vision Dr. Jed Rogers was pursuing. Last fall, I was talking with Dr. Rogers and his business partner, Greg Waldbaum, about their Firehouse Animal Hospital business model. They are always anxious to find new ways to take their unique customer-intimate model to the highest level, and we brainstormed ideas. They had already hired CSU’s new DVM/MBA graduates (a unique joint degree between the College of Business and the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences) to capture the human talent capable of managing their customer-intimate processes. As we talked, we began to discuss the model provided by CSU’s Argus Institute – and from there, our partnership moved to the next level. At CSU, we house the Argus Institute, an institute originally built around the need to support veterinarians to help their clients deal with the loss of a loved animal companion. Over the years, the institute has evolved toward a teaching program in communication skills related to building strong relationships between veterinarians and pet owners. Now, under the direction of Dr. Jane Shaw, the institute was ready for an industry partner to help commercialize the methods and improve veterinary practice communications skill. Over the next few months, Dr. Shaw worked with the Firehouse team to define the project and determine funding and partnership needs. The hypothesis of the project is that communication-skills education in a private practice will result in improved clinical outcomes, including increased client adherence to veterinarian recommendations, increased client and veterinarian satisfaction, and enhancement in use of communication skills. Today, we have a funded project with Argus, Firehouse, Pfizer, Hills and the University working together to improve animal care. If the project is successful, veterinary practices will have access to a new set of tools to create value for their customers. This industry/university partnership illustrates exactly what the new CSU Office of Economic Development is trying to accomplish. We are taking existing CSU strengths and identified industry needs and building broad relationships that encompass our human talent, technologies and knowledge. Packaged together, we deliver the benefits to society and grow economic value. Firehouse is growing faster than even they planned and hiring top talent at premium prices. Colorado and the industry all win To learn more about the Argus Institute, go to www.argusinstitute.colostate.edu Hunt Lambert is Director of the Office of Economic Development at Colorado State University. He can be reached at hunt.lambert@business.colostate.edu. Students Market Zinfandel MarmaladeWhen you visit the Aspen Grille at Colorado State University, you experience an atmosphere defined by students – from the décor and pricing to staff and food. The popular restaurant, tucked into a corner on the second floor of the university’s Lory Student Center, is run by students in CSU’s Restaurant and Resort Management program, who use the facility as a sort of hands-on "laboratory" in which to practice what they learn in class. Diners who first may have visited Aspen Grille out of curiosity quickly came back because of the food, including the restaurant’s signature zinfandel marmalade, which is offered as a light appetizer at each table. The marmalade is a sumptuous assimilation of onions and zinfandel wine, simmered for hours until the ingredients caramelize, resulting in a sweet, tangy, plum-colored jam. This student-created dish has been consistently lauded by guests, and students received encouragement from patrons to sell it on a larger scale. Here is the lesson: Be careful about encouraging students; they just might listen! As a project, students and staff researched facilities that could accommodate a small production of the marmalade. The product was tested and analyzed through the CSU Food Science Lab, and students selected an attractive container and label design for the product. Finally, after they developed a cost analysis and promotional strategy, they started a small production run of the marmalade. Although several area businesses have already expressed interest in carrying it, the zinfandel marmalade is currently only available through the Aspen Grille at a cost of $5.99 a jar. The Aspen Grill can be contacted at (970)-491-7006 or www.uclub.colostate.edu/aspen_grille.htm. Students Gain Hands-On Experience in Innovative Engines LabManaging the workforce in Colorado State’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory is a bit like coaching a football team. Work in the lab, which employs as many as 50 students at any one time, is valuable for graduate students who learn to run a business. It’s just as valuable for the many undergraduates who get some experience in the workforce. Two-thirds of the students working in the lab are undergraduates – one of the best examples on campus of the university’s mission to involve more undergrads in laboratory research. "Every undergraduate can benefit enormously from the hands-on practical training that results from the close working relationship with faculty and senior scientists," said Peter Dorhout, vice provost for graduate studies. "Such training provides professional references and a better-prepared workforce for Colorado." The engines lab is unique in the country and facilitates, through research and educational programs, the development of new technologies for reducing the emissions and fuel consumption from engines and energy conversion processes. Through the Global Innovation Center for Energy, Health and the Environment, professors and students in the lab are also addressing and providing solutions for chronic health and environmental issues affecting billions of people in the Third World. Students work closely with the corporate sponsors that donate equipment and funding to the lab, run by Professor Bryan Willson. Sponsors include such giants as Caterpillar Inc. or Woodward Governor Company and such startups as Spirae Inc., which is based in Fort Collins. "You get new recruits, they’re with you four or five years and then they leave you," said Morgan DeFoort, associate director of the lab within the mechanical engineering department of the College of Engineering. "We’re constantly hiring, training and helping those students get jobs with the industrial sponsors that work out here." The engines lab recently announced a new partnership with Spirae on a new Grid Simulation Laboratory to test "smart grids," which are new ways to connect electrical generators and users to increase the efficiency and reliability of the electrical grid in large, complex distributed power systems. Such partnerships are part of the university’s participation in the Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster – a new initiative announced in May that involves companies and economic development and community leaders who will create and promote clean, renewable energy opportunities that could help increase the region's energy independence. The cluster will serve as a clearinghouse to connect entrepreneurs and major power users with researchers and government officials, encouraging innovation, new job creation and investment in the region. Research at the engines lab routinely leads to new business spin-offs – and new jobs. As a result, students in the engines lab gain invaluable training, but also job opportunities while they’re at Colorado State. "The projects are fairly labor intensive," said DeFoort, who obtained his master’s degree at Colorado State and is working on his doctorate. "We prepare a huge number of students for industry. These students are very well adapted because they’ve had the hands-on experience of working three to five years on research projects." At any one time, the lab will employ about 35 hourly undergraduate students and about five to 15 graduate students. The graduate students learn management skills in the lab, helping to monitor budgets and supervise other students. "It’s a very unusual model," DeFoort said. "It’s a little more like a business environment." CSU Sees Increase in Job Opportunities for GraduatesThe employment outlook for Colorado State University graduates has improved substantially in the last year now that employers in the region are once again expanding their staffs, said Ann Malen, director of The Career Center at Colorado State. Malen has witnessed significant increases in the number of employers participating in job fairs for students and alumni in the past school year. The highlights:
"People have openings, they have opportunities," Malen said of the statistics. "They’ve gone through this long period where they haven’t been hiring." The career center provides students and alumni many tools including help with career and major exploration, career counseling, personality and career assessments, resume development, on-campus interviews and interviewing skill development, job and internship postings and career fairs. Malen expects the university will place more than half of its students who graduated in May. Final figures from the surveys conducted with the colleges won’t be available until September. For graduate students, she expects the placement rate will be closer to 75 percent. That includes students who start their own businesses or find part-time employment or post-doctoral work, she said. Certain industries are hiring like crazy, Malen said. Civil engineers and accountants, for example, are in high demand right now, she said. Building good relationships with employers helps increase the number of students who are placed in good jobs upon graduation, said Bill Shuster, formerly the career center’s liaison in the College of Business who now is a clinical professor in the management department. "The university is gaining relationships in two ways," he said. "It’s probably one of the strongest development tools for us if we do a good job careerwise for undergraduate student s. It’s also one of the strongest ways to build corporate relationships. We are a labor source for the state of Colorado." In spring 2005, the College of Business placed about 92 percent of its graduating seniors in jobs. That’s typical unless the economy struggles as it did in 2002. Only 84 percent of graduates were placed in spring 2002. "I think we really learned our lesson about having diversified companies and industries," Shuster said. "We are focused on enhancing our current relationships, while building new partnerships. Hopefully, we can avoid having a major plunge again." Expert in Supply Chain Management Takes Helm in Management DepartmentColorado State University's College of Business named Lisa Ellram, an internationally respected expert in Supply Chain Management, as the new chair of its management department. Ellram most recently worked as professor of supply chain management at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, where she served as The John and Barbara Bebbling Professor of Business. Her work with leading multinationals on purchasing practices allows the College of Business to link its academic programs to the needs of the global corporate audience. Colorado’s Growing Wine Industry Boosting State EconomyColorado's wine industry, based primarily on the Western Slope, contributed more than $40 million to the state's economy during the 2005 growing season, according to a new CSU study. The report, funded by the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board and the Grand Junction Visitor and Convention Bureau found that sales of wine produced in Colorado directly accounted for $11.8 million, and $1.3 million came from the sale of grapes grown in Colorado; employee wages, material and equipment purchases and tax revenue accounted for about $8 million. Add the economic impact of wine-related tourism and recreational enterprises such as tasting room visits, wine festivals, wine trains and educational programs, and the total economic contribution of the Colorado wine industry is $41.7 million. Colorado's wine production ranked 22nd in the nation and accounted for 3 percent of all sales nationwide, according to the study. Colorado produced 689,000 liters of wine -- about 76,550 cases -- during the 2005 growing season, a five-fold increase from 10 years ago. The average 750 milliliter bottle of Colorado wine sells for $12.86, according to the report. "Wine has a tremendous positive effect on Colorado's economy," said Dawn Thilmany, a Colorado State University professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics who led the study with George Kress, an emeritus professor from Colorado State University's College of Business. "In addition to the direct economic impact of the sale of wine and grapes, the wine industry also boosts local economies through the dollars of visiting tourists who might otherwise not have visited or stayed as long in the region. Hotels are able to fill their rooms and restaurants fill their tables during historically slower seasons. It's a ripple effect." "Wineries are generally in production in the spring and fall, known as the shoulder seasons for Colorado tourism," Thilmany said. "Since wineries are attractive destinations during these seasons, this industry may help different areas to more fully utilize their existing tourism infrastructure. Even in high seasons, the wine industry can be used to justify a visitor to extend their visit a day or two." Consumption of wine in the United States is growing as the baby-boomer generation grows older and Colorado is outpacing the nation on wine consumption, Thilmany said. In 2004, Coloradans consumed an average of 3.66 gallons of wine per capita, almost 20 percent more than the national average of 3.06 gallons per capita. As of March 2005, there were 66 wineries operating in Colorado, the majority in Mesa County. Since Colorado's wine industry is a new engine for tourism, the state has the ability to increase the economic impact of wine production through developing tourism campaigns highlighting Colorado wines and its wine producing regions, Thilmany said. Many wine producing regions in the nation have also been able to cultivate a complementary, thriving art scene accompanied by boutique food-oriented businesses making and serving artisan foods such as micro-cheeseries, gourmet chocolatiers and small-batch sauces, preserves and mustards. Overall, there is much optimism about the sustained growth in the number and quality of Colorado wines, and increasing evidence that it can be a catalyst for other economic development (tourism, food-based businesses) as the size of the industry grows. Some Help for Those Facing a Long, Hot SummerThe U.S. drought monitor indicates that much of Colorado is abnormally dry, and the southeastern area of the state is in the grips of an extreme drought. Much of the state's agricultural land has not recovered from extremely dry conditions of recent years, with below average precipitation since 1998. Currently, 44 of Colorado's 64 counties have primary or contiguous drought disaster designations from the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These designations invoke emergency programs designed to help affected farmers and ranchers. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drought forecast released May 18 predicts more than half the state will have continued or more intensified drought levels than current conditions. Much of the state has received below-average precipitation this winter and spring. "Colorado's agricultural industry has been struggling with drought conditions for several years, with some areas of the state suffering from below average moisture for more than 10 years. Ranchers in sections of the state are feeding their cattle hay or selling them because there is no grass available for grazing, and crops are withering quickly," said Jeff Tranel, an agricultural business management economist with Colorado State Cooperative Extension. "The long-term impact of the drought on the industry and resources such as graze-land are extremely significant at this point. Farmers and ranchers can improve their situation with strategic management decisions." Colorado State University and the university's Cooperative Extension have resources available to help farmers and ranchers make management decisions based on climate conditions. Localized information and resources are available through Cooperative Extension county and regional offices, usually listed under the county government section of the phone book. CSU also has a website providing online resources related to drought at drought.colostate.edu. Top Business Students Qualify for National Accounting CompetitionColorado State accounting students Victor Amaya, Leanne Eberle, Brandon Ford, Pablo Machado and Jessica Zavala topped competitors from all other schools in a Southwest regional accounting case-study competition in March. The CSU team now heads to the national contest in August. CSU Vet School Prepares for Avian FluCSU Colorado State is home to one of the nation's first avian flu surveillance programs to detect the virus before it can spread. Read more in the May issue of Insight, the newsletter for CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences: www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/insight/2006/May2006/avian.htm. Nominations Sought for Governor’s Tourism AwardsEvery year, the Colorado Tourism Office honors individuals and communities for their efforts in boosting Colorado tourism. The Governor's Awards for Outstanding Colorado Tourism Efforts are open to all individuals, private businesses and non-profit organizations offering a tourism product or service in Colorado. (All entries must promote tourism to or within Colorado). Nominations are now being sought in three award categories:
Some PerspectiveLest we forget how the shape of education is changing, consider the following:
Congratulations Are In Order
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