University/industry partnership vital in global marketplace

By DONNA STEINBERG
Reporter Contributor

Augustine advocates training engineers with the basics of their field and "a lot more of the things that help a person function in society," such as law and economics.

He described his vision of the future direction of engineering as keynote speaker for University/Industry Day, presented by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the Center for the Arts Oct. 30. The event was part of the school's commemoration of its 50th anniversary.

"Engineers will have to have a much stronger background of liberal arts" to acquire the ability to communicate as they work in the demanding international marketplace, Augustine said. "Engineers compete on a nose-to-nose basis with engineers in other countries."

"We'll need people who are very good at things besides cranking numbers," Augustine said. Citing Darwin, he said the most successful engineers are those who are able to adapt to change and move around in the international environment of today's business world. "Things are done so much differently abroad," he noted.

Global competition is largely responsible for another trend, industry's declining investment in research and development, Augustine said. His company learned that lesson bluntly, he said, when investors literally ran out of the room as officials described a plan for major investment in research. As the investors rushed to sell their stock, shocked company executives learned that the average shareholder only stays with a company 18 months. "Didn't we know that it takes 10 to 15 years for R&D to pay off," they were told.

"As a result, corporations fund less and less research," Augustine said. "We're hoping to depend more and more on government and university."

Yet government also is spending less on research, he noted, and the news media has been slow to recognize the consequences of that change. "How quickly you can fall behind," Augustine said, adding, "it's hard to catch up."

"With the half life of most technical articles at about two years," he said that "by 30, an engineer is middle-aged in terms of his career." Lifelong learning is essential, he said.

Partnership between industry and university has become even more important in the global marketplace, Augustine said. Obstacles to overcome include a difference in basic timetable of four years in academics contrasted with industry's focus on the financial quarter, only one-quarter of a year. In industry, where surprise is an advantage, the climate is autocratic, contrasted with the democratic atmosphere of universities, where publishing ideas is expected. In addition, he notes that universities tend to rely on intangible incentives, while corporations thrive on tangible incentives.

Despite differences, Augustine believes university and industry can be more effective working together. Sharing people and facilities are the two basic points of the partnership, with advantages for both partners. "You can hire a graduate student for about 1/100th of what you pay them after graduation," he noted. By the same token, he sees corporate fund-raising to support universities as "good investment for our companies."

He believes that industry must speak out to emphasize to government and the public the importance of funding for university research and development. As U.S. companies compete against foreign businesses whose costs are much lower, in the "terrible squeeze to cut costs," research and development are suffering. Industry must rely on universities to supply talent and ideas, just as universities rely on industry as a market for talent and ideas.

"The American way of life can be no better than its businesses and universities," Augustine said. The consequences of the global contest "will determine the quality of lives of our children and grandchildren."

His speech was sponsored by UB, the School of Engineering, the BusinessCouncil of New York State and the Greater Buffalo Partnership to highlight cooperative efforts between the School of Engineering and industrial partners. The school also presented a new marketing video describing ways in which the engineering school has helped area businesses compete more effectively.

Augustine became chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin in 1996, after serving as president when the company formed from the merger of Martin Marietta and Lockheed in 1994. At Martin Marietta, he became president and chief operating officer in 1986, CEO in 1987 and chairman in 1988. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University.

He is on the board of directors of Phillips Petroleum Corp., Proctor & Gamble Co. and the New American Schools Development Corp. He is chairman of the National Academy of Engineering. In 1994, he co-chaired a study by the American Society for Engineering Education on future directions in engineering education.