Engineering Research Centers:

NSF Program Management and Industry Sponsorship

RCED-88-177: Published: Aug 16, 1988. Publicly Released: Aug 16, 1988.

Additional Materials:

Contact:

Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) Program, focusing on: (1) NSF program operation and evaluation; and (2) industry sponsors' reaction to the program.

GAO found that: (1) research quality was the most important criterion in awarding center grants, with contribution to industrial competitiveness and education following in importance; (2) NSF formally monitored ERC management and research agenda through yearly on-site reviews and ERC-prepared strategic plans; (3) NSF used outside peer reviews to evaluate individual centers once every 3 years, but believed it was too early to evaluate the overall strengths and weaknesses of the ERC approach; (4) a wide range of industries participated in the program, and most intended to continue their support; (5) participants believed that the type and quality of research was the most important reason for sponsoring centers; (6) participants expected to benefit over time through better personnel recruiting and improvement of current personnel, but not through patentable or commercialized products; (7) it was too early to determine the program's impact on engineering education because it had been in place for only a short period of time, and industry sponsors have not hired many ERC program graduates; and (8) participants believed that NSF should increase participants' influence on the ERC research agenda.

Jul 20, 2016

Apr 8, 2016

Jan 20, 2016

Sep 9, 2015

Jul 30, 2015

Mar 13, 2015

Mar 2, 2015

Oct 3, 2014

Looking for more? Browse all our products here