Ever since Apollo 11 landed on the moon 45 years ago, the nation”™s pace of development in engineering and technology has slowed down tremendously, said Krishna Pattipati, a University of Connecticut professor of systems engineering and interim director at the United Technologies Corp. Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering.
“We don”™t have trained workforces in systems engineering,” said Pattipati, pointing out today”™s aircraft and buildings require engineered solutions with intelligent subsystems and components. “The discipline of how different technologies, including the software and networks work together and combining complex technologies into high-quality products, those aspects are what we”™re lacking in the engineering workforce.”
In an effort to optimize the interactions between systems, make products more efficient and reliable, lower costs and improve capabilities, UTC and UConn”™s School of Engineering partnered to launch a $10 million project last year. This fall, UConn is opening its Institute for Advanced System Engineering to UTC”™s engineering employees. The program will offer courses and engage the professionals in sponsored research projects.
The institute is specifically geared toward engineers who are currently working within UTC”™s business units, including UTC Aerospace Systems, UTC Building and Industrial Systems, Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. In August, UConn professors will teach about 30 employees, who could enroll in one of three certificate tracks. Several students come from Stratford-based Sikorsky.
Each track has four courses, three of which are regular lectures. The fourth is a capstone design course where working professionals will be working on projects that attempt to solve existing business problems within UTC. The 12-credit certificate programs are offered for modeling and designing, control synthesis and design and embedded systems.
“We will later on offer certificates in electromechanical systems,” Pattipati said. “These certificate programs can be combined with existing programs at UConn to get a master”™s of science or master”™s of engineering or a Ph.D in engineering. We”™ll also be adding systems engineering to undergraduate programs as a minor in a year or two. Right now, it”™s only offered to UTC employees.”
Currently, the institute is seeking a full-time director. One position is open to teach the embedded systems course and the program is hiring a supervisor in the control area.
“I”™d like to have a new director to help with the search process for the rest of the faculty,” Pattipati said. “We”™re looking to hire seven new faculty members and chair professors.”
The institute will manage projects and UTC”™s systems and control engineering division will monitor and evaluate them every three months. UTC will contribute $7.5 million over five years as a cash gift with a goal of an additional $2.5 million to fund sponsored research in advanced systems projects for UTC.
UTC and UConn have an 85-year history of working together. UTC has hired thousands of UConn engineering graduates and contributes millions of dollars to the university”™s engineering programs and founded the Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at UConn. UTC has enabled more than 700 employees to earn degrees at UConn through its employee scholar program, which funds students pursuing continuing education.
“We are excited to work with UConn to develop the next generation of engineers who understand how to approach complex systems,” said J. Michael McQuade, UTC senior vice president of science and technology, in a statement. “The Institute will train the innovators and engineers of today and tomorrow, ensuring that we have the people and skills necessary to keep UTC at the forefront of technology.”
