Rice Center for Engineering Leadership established
The Rice Center for Engineering Leadership has been established at the George R. Brown School of Engineering with a mission of transforming engineering education by ensuring that students experience engineering as a transformative force on both a personal and societal level.
“We want engineering students to start thinking about and working on the problems caused by the challenges facing society, from their first day to their final semester,” said Sallie Keller, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering at Rice.
She said the center will serve as a beacon for other universities “by thinking far outside the norm and emphasizing leadership, ethics and communication throughout the curriculum to revolutionize engineering education.”
Founding the center was made possible through a Rice Centennial Campaign gift of $15 million from the Benificus Foundation, a private charitable organization set up by longtime benefactors and engineering school alumni John and Ann Doerr. John Doerr ’73 is a well-known venture capitalist and Ann Doerr ’75 is a longtime advocate for the environment. A matching component of the donation could lead to an additional contribution of $5 million by the Doerrs if Rice can raise $10 million toward the project. The 1-to-2 match will bring in an additional 50 cents for each new dollar to the center.
“We are grateful for this extraordinary gift, which is generous not only in amount but in vision,” said Rice President David Leebron. “There is no limit to what talented and imaginative engineers will be able to achieve, and the education this gift makes possible will enable Rice to produce some of the great engineers who will help solve the big challenges facing our world.”
The Doerrs are passionate about the need for a focus on engineering leadership to help prepare future engineers to take on roles in solving pressing global problems. Ann Doerr will serve on the center’s external advisory board to help shape its programs.
The center should spawn an increased number of students entering engineering disciplines at Rice. It will provide greater agility in developing new science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs supported by Rice resources and external grants, and help coordinate interdisciplinary courses offered throughout the school of engineering.
The state-of-the-art Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen will fall under the center’s organizational domain, school officials indicated, as will additional programs in professional communications for engineers. Plans also call for national and international figures to be invited to speak at Rice to expose students to critically important global issues.
Computational and Applied Mathematics Professor Mark Embree is to serve as the center’s interim director while a nationwide search is conducted to find a permanent director.
“I’m grateful to Mark for providing his energy and vision to get the RCEL started. This allows us to get its activities under way while looking for a permanent director who will help us change the game in engineering education,” Keller said.
The school will search for a director who is committed to achieving a more diverse student body, increasing the number of industrial partners, and fostering national and international collaborations with other institutions, she said.