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Research is essential for teaching engineering and science. But it's important in any discipline, including law and business.IIT prides itself on the excellence of its teachers and on the low student-faculty ratio that allows close contact with the faculty. A major reason for the success of the IIT' faculty in the classroom is their success in the laboratory. IIT believes that research is what makes learning new, exciting and relevant. Just what is the role of research in the educational process? Does one need a strong research track record to be a good teacher? How do undergraduate students benefit from a research environment? Stuart Cooper, vice president and chief academic officer for the Main Campus, believes there is a strong relationship between research and teaching. "A faculty member who does no original research can theoretically keep up in a field, although there's the danger of stagnation. But there's a special impact for students when they see, first-hand, their professor participating in the evolution of a field." Thomas Erber, a physics professor with a solid track record in research and in the classroom, says that research is "absolutely essential" in teaching engineering and science. In his view, education is both retrospective and forward-looking. "We teach the great ideas of the past," he says, "because they are still relevant. Through research, we offer students glimpses of what will touch their lives in the future." Henry H. Perritt, Jr., vice president of the Downtown Campus and dean of IIT's Chicago- Kent College of Law, believes that research and scholarship are important in any discipline. "Faculty research shapes the future," according to Perritt. "It's the same in law and business as it is in engineering and science. The people who are determining the future through their research are communicating new ideas and advances to their students. They are also showing students how to operate in that future environment." Research plays many roles in IIT's educational mission:Research advances knowledge.The first and most important benefit of research is its intellectual and practical value. Research adds to the storehouse of knowledge and is used by the research community and by industry as the basis for other advances.Research is the basis for technology transfer.Commerce and industry rely upon the percolation of new ideas up through the research laboratory and into product development cycles. New ideas translate into intellectual property, patents and practical applications that are driving the world's advanced economies. Both undergraduate and graduate students learn about technology transfer in their laboratory experiences. IIT even has classes on creativity and product development.Research contributes to good teaching.If the goal of higher education is to teach students to think independently and to innovate, then research is a powerful educational tool. It teaches students to defend their hypotheses and their data. At the undergraduate level, research exposes students early to the inner dynamics of a discipline, as well as to new, evolving ideas that will shape society in the future. Peter Johnson, chemistry professor, sends undergraduate students to professional meetings to present research papers under an NSF grant. "It's a good showcase," he says. "And it shows them a different side of learning, leading many of them to pursue teaching as a career." At the graduate level, the Institute of Psychology adds a clinical component to its educational experience that integrates research with theory and practice. Ellen Mitchell, director of the institute, points out that "all of our students engage in classroom, fieldwork and research activities-a combination that assures that they will be effective practitioners."Research makes continuing professional education programs stronger.Even graduating students know that a bachelor's degree is the first step in a long educational journey. Byron Field, student speaker at IIT's most recent commencement, likened his new degree to a milk carton: "There is an expiration date stamped on it." He argued that innovative and successful companies know this and make continuing education a top priority. Donald Ucci, interim chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is a firm believer in the continuing education aspect of IIT's professional master's degrees. They offer an efficient way for people employed in a field to update themselves. "But even in these non-thesis master's programs, people seek us out because of our research," says Ucci. "It's our faculty's research that gives these programs their edge." |
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