First-Hand:James L. Melsa

James L. Melsa

May 15, 2018

Birthplace: Omaha, NB

Birth date: July 6, 1938

Education:

Iowa State University, B.S.E.E., 1960
University of Arizona, M.S,E.E., 1962
University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1965

Employment:

Radio Corporation of America, Associate Member of Technical Staff, Tucson, 1960-1961
University of Arizona, Instructor of Electrical Engineering, 1961-1965; Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, 1965-1967
Southern Methodist University, Associate Professor Information and Control Sciences, 1967-1970; Professor of Information and Control Sciences, 1970-1973
University of Notre Dame, Professor and Chairman of Electrical Engineering, 1973-1984
Tellabs, Inc., Director of Advanced Development Laboratory, 1980-1984; Vice-President of Research, 1984-1986; Vice-President of Research and Development, 19886-1989; Vice-President of Strategic Planning and Advanced /Technology, 1989; General Manager of Data Communications Division, 1990-1992; Vice-President of Strategic Quality and Process management, 1993-1995.
Iowa State University, Dean of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computing Engineering, 1995-2004.

Research and Scholarship

I have written twelve books or book chapters and 125 papers.

Research and the resultant publication of that work has been a regular part of my activities as a faculty member and professional. The focus of my work was initially, as is usually the case, on control systems. This work migrated over a number of years into the areas of communications and digital signal processing. When my career took me out of the academic world for a number of years, I became more interested in area such as organizational development, quality, high-velocity performance, and global competitiveness. When I returned to the academic world as Dean at Iowa State, my publication became much more focused on engineering education and educational leadership/.

Philosophy of Engineering Education

I strongly believe that engineering education must be based on three interconnected and synergistic philosophies. The programs must be learning based, the experience must be practice oriented, and the program must demand active involvement of the student. Let me expand on each of these concepts in greater detail.

Educational institutions that care about educational outcomes need to focus on the real needs of learners. The shift from a teaching-oriented paradigm to a learning-based paradigm is much more than a simple semantic change. It is a dramatic shift in the basic way that one thinks about the educational enterprise. In a teaching-based program, one focuses on the teacher, a sage on the stage; in a learning-based-based program, the focus is on the learner -- the student -- and the “teacher” becomes the guide on the side.

Results in cognitive psychology have shown that the lecture-based methodology is one of the poorest approaches to transferring knowledge. Learning is affected by prior knowledge, enhanced by social interactions, tied to particular situations, and requires a wide range of learning strategies.

The teaching-based paradigm focuses our thinking too exclusively on the classroom as the place where learning takes place. Learning can take place in a wide range of ways: co-op experiences, summer jobs, laboratories, design projects, research projects, case studies, hallway conversations, as well as in classrooms. I would contend, in fact, that very little learning takes place in our current classrooms where the focus is on the transfer of information from the professor’s notes to the students’ notes without passing through the brain of either. This is a task that is better accomplished by a copying machine.

Most schools throughout the ages have spent endless hours trying to teach material that may be better learned. Without a focus on learning, the outcome of our well-meaning attempt to transfer knowledge can be: “I taught, but the students didn’t learn,” as in the phrase: "I taught my dog to whistle, but he didn’t learn." We have spent too much time worrying about covering material – in fact, we cover some things so well that the students can’t find them

Business organizations now demand teamwork. This is where most of our students will spend their lives after their university years. Yet our educational world often tells students not to cooperate in the learning experience, defining that as cheating. There is ample evidence that learning is significantly enhanced through cooperative experiences among students and between students and faculty.

The facilitation of learning is a topic worthy of serious faculty consideration. We need to stop worrying about ”good” teaching and start worrying about how the learning experience for our students can be improved. It is time for us all to become students of the learning process and of how to really measure the outcome of that process.

Engineering may be the only profession largely taught by non-practitioners. We must place more emphasis on real industrial experience and how to bring practice into the educational program. The medical school model of a teacher who practices, coaches learning and does research appears to embody many of these concepts. Integral to this element of the philosophy are student co-ops and intern experiences. This is a win for the students, for the companies that employ them, and for the faculty because these students come back to the university as demanding learners.

The mental model that I would suggest is virtual ownership or significant industrial partnership. We need to seek a rich variety of relationships that include activities such as joint research and development programs, off-campus degree programs, service on industrial advisory councils, and targeted short courses. We must seek to develop a wide range of professional exchange programs between industry and the university. These can involve faculty members spending short and long periods in industry and practicing engineers coming to the university.

We must emphasize the importance of industrial experience as part of the resume of a faculty. I see telecommunications and computers as tools that can be used to provide flexibility in the industry/college partnership. It is critical that industry (a major customer) have meaningful involvement in designing the educational experience for students, the product that they buy.

Finally, we must recognize that knowledge cannot be poured into a student. Learning demands that students be participants not spectators. Knowledge, to be truly mastered, must be constructed, transformed, and extended by the learners. The successful school will empower students with motivation to learn and with the discipline of continual learning. Stated succinctly, “students need to learn the form of learning required to be engineers.”

Problem-based education must be a norm of engineering programs. In this case, the acquisition of knowledge is driven by the need to solve a problem. I like to think of this as a shift from a push system with the teacher saying, “You will learn this because it is good for you” to a pull system with the student saying, “I want to learn this because I need it.”

Engineering education programs have to impart knowledge both as substance and as process. In the knowledge society, students must learn how to think and how to learn. Indeed, in the knowledge-based society, subjects may matter less than the student’s capacity to continue learning and his or her motivation to do so. Education needs to be viewed as a continuum with degrees as milestones not endpoints. We must reinforce the student’s native thirst for knowledge and create a life-long curiosity and desire to learn.

Interwoven with all of the three elements above must be global experiences and opportunities for the development of student leadership. Both will be critical in achieving success in the future and we must find ways to ensure that our students possess them.

ASEE Activities

Immediate Past President 2008-2009
President, 2007-2008
President-Elect, 2006-2007
Vice President for Public Affairs and Chair of Projects Board, 2003-2005
Program Committee for 2004 International Conference on Engineering Education, Beijing, China;
Leader of ASEE Deans’ Visit to Australia, 2003;
US Program Chair of 2005 ASEE/AaeE International Conference on Engineering Education, Sidney, Australia;
Projects Board, member 1998-2001

Other Professional Activities

American Associate for Engineering Societies (AAES), at large member of Executive Committee, 2010-2012, Secretary 2013, Chair Elect, 2014, Chair 2015, Past Chair 2016
Benedictine University, Member of the Board of Trustees, 2008-present: Chair 2015-2019
International Federation for Engineering Education Societies, member of the Board of Directors, 2006-2008
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, member of EAB, 2006-2008
Triangle Fraternity Educational Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors, 2004 -- 2007
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program: Board of Overseers, 2002-2004; Member of the Board of Examiners, 1995-99; alumni examiner, 2001, 2006
Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc, member of the Board of Directors of National Technological University, 2002--2005
University of Arizona, College of Engineering: member of Industrial Advisory Council, 2003-2012
Tuskegee University: Advisory Council of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Physical Sciences, 2001-2003
National Technological University: Member, Board of Trustees, 2000-2002
National Society of Professional Engineers: Educational Advisory Group, member, 1998-2003; chair, 2001-2003
Eta Kappa Nu: Member of the Board of Directors, 1997-99, Vice-President, 2000-2001, President 2001-2002
Member, Illinois Institute of Technology, Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Campus Board of Overseers, 1993-95
Member, External Advisory Board, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, 1993-95
Industrial Telecommunications Advisory Committee, University of Southwestern Louisiana: 1987-95
IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) 1992: Chairman of Finance Committee and Treasurer
IFIP International Conference on Modeling the Innovation: Communications, Automation and Information Systems: Member of the International Editorial Board, 1990
IEEE Control Systems Society: President, 1988; President-Elect, 1987; Vice-President of Finance, 1986; Vice-President of Member Activities, 1984-85; Control Systems Technology Award Committee, 1989; Distinguished Lecturer, 1986-; Administrative Committee, 1980-1986: National Membership Committee, 1972-81; ibid. Chairman, 1980-81
ABET Accreditation Team: 1985-90
National Engineering Consortium: Distinguished Lecture Program, 1989-1992; Board of Directors, 1975-1979; Educational Overseers Council, 1988-
IEEE International Conference on Control and Applications: Steering Committee, 1989
IEEE Proceedings: Editorial Board, 1985-90
Electrical and Computer Engineering Visiting Committee, University of Texas - Austin, 1985-1988
Center for Communications and Signal Processing, North Carolina State University: Board of Directors, 1986-1988
ANSI Technical Committee T1: Secretary of Technical Subcommittee T1Y1, 1984-1987; Secretary of Working Group T1Y1.2, 1984-1986.
IEEE Technical Activities Board: 1988
22nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control: General Chairman
IEEE Awards Board: 1985-1986
IEEE Simon Ramo Medal Committee: Chairman, 1985-1986; Member 1983-1984
MIDCON Technical Program Committee: Chairman, 1981; Vice-Chairman, 1979-80; Member, 1982-85
Department of Electrical Engineering Advisory Committee, Colorado State University: 1978
NEC International Forum on Multivariable Control: Co-Chairman
JACC: Industrial Publicity Chairman
National Electronics Conference: Executive Director for Technical Program, 1974
IFAC Education Committee: 1976-1979
IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society: Administrative Committee, 1977-1979
Journal of Computers and Electrical Engineering: Editorial Advisory Board, 1972-
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernatics: Associate Editor, 1972-1979
American Automatic Control Council, Education Committee: Chairman, 1974-1977; Vice-Chairman, 1972-1974
Southwestern IEEE Conference: Technical Program Chairman, 1972; Technical Editor: 1970
AIAA National Student Activity Committee: Member, 1970-1971
IEEE Professional Groups on Computers and Automatic Control, Dallas Chapter: Vice-Chairman, Chairman, 1969-1970