THRIVE

The Acadiana
STEM

Future
Community Plan for Education and Development

THRIVE - Concept
Integrated development approach:
Industry-driven entity

Lafayette
Plan

Partner of the One Acadiana Chamber

Created by community, ULL & industry

Educatio
n
Objectiv
es

City Goals

Entrepreneur
ship Needs

Creates consensus on common

educational & R&D priorities
Develops a strong network of SMEs &
large industry

THRIVE Objectives and Scope

Objective 1
Develop needed
technology work force
through entrepreneurship
education and training
programs

Objective 2
Develop science and
engineering entrepreneurs
and STEMbusinesses in
Arcadiana communities

Scope
Coordinated workforce development (integrated training and retraining)
Community focused, business oriented
Leveraging public-private partnerships to advance business development
STEM and career education for community

Why Industrial Chemistry & Engineering based

STEM as a Focus

Industria
l
Chemistr
y

Current Landscape of STEM Industries

Strength:
Knowledge of processes on both molecular to macroscopic scales allows work on the
most exciting technology areas.

Weakness:
While STEM practice has evolved dramatically, the core curriculum has undergone
minor changes in the past 40 years.

Opportunity:
To convey the excitement of STEM practice to students, to equip them to be versatile
problem-solvers, to give them solid grounding in fundamentals and tools for
engineering analysis and synthesis, illustrated by practice
There are new methods of incorporating new technology for education.

Impact on STEM Professionals

Entry level no longer just design and monitoring

Monitoring, operational advice, optimization largely by technicians
Engineers will design new tools, engineer new technology and become
the player/coach on the operating floor
More than ever, STEM Professionals will bridge the technical and
business worlds to optimize financial performance in real time in a
global market
Engineers will be located in plants and regionally, but will be linked by
a single collaboration and knowledge management network
Work will be done by virtual teams
Customers for service will be global
Chemical Engineers with foreign language skills and global experiences
via internships or IQP/MQP will have an advantage in this global
environment
STEM Professionals must up skill in the traditional core areas
Traditional basics more critical than ever
Design, modeling, reaction engineering, advanced control engineering
Acquire skills traditionally provided in graduate programs
Must add other skills from non-traditional areas
Computing, computer control and optimization
Modeling at the molecular level
Economics and business
Leadership

From Michael J. Dolan

[This material is not to be reproduced without the permission of Exxon Mobil Corporation.]

STEM Challenges
Global competition
Reducing energy
consumption
Reducing waste generation
Complying with legislation
Materials scarcity
Constant need for innovation

STEM Industry (SI) Trends

The SI is cyclical.
The SI is increasingly global.
Mergers of companies and product lines happen often.
Chemical companies are becoming life science companies and spinning off units.
Virtual companies provide out-sourced services including research.
Time-to-market for new products has dramatically decreased.
New IC&E (STEM) workforce can expect to have multiple jobs in their careers.

There is a
need
For Industry

Industrial Engineering & Chemistry Workforce Issues

STEM Concerns
Public perception of chemical is negative.
Potential students dont know the role and contributions of IC&E in
emerging technologies (biotech., nanotech., infotech.)
Enrollments are small relative to other disciplines
Enrollments appear to be cyclic.
Employment opportunities are diverse.
Skills = success, yet few programs offer hands-on learning

There is a need
For Acadiana
Losing the Competition for
Talent

Regional Desires
Historic - We perform well for a region our size because of a wide
range of factors such as:
1. An extraordinarily rich and unique culture centered around
food, music and people;
2. A can-do, entrepreneurial spirit

Need to attract and retain a talented workforce to effectively

compete

A corresponding understanding within the economic

development community

3. A pleasant climate;
4. A robust energy sector;
5. The University of Louisiana;
6. A growing health care economy; and
7. Our connection to the I-10/I-49 corridor and proximity to the
Gulf.

PlanLafayette Issues

There is a need
National Labor Need
Nationally
Job Opening by Skill Level

Middle Skills Jobs Plentiful

National Labor Supply Issues

Education Lag

Demand Supply Imbalances

There is a need
For ULL
To be one of the top 10
recognized research engineering
schools worldwide.
To innovate interdisciplinary
research.
To innovate education and
leadership training.
To be relevant to our industry
partners not just now, but 5 or
10 years from now.
To establish a climate and
culture of inclusion and diversity.

Provide the human capital and the intellectual capital to drive our
innovation society

Educate Tomorrow's Technology Leaders.

Conduct Leading Edge Research and Drive Innovation.

Transfer Discoveries for the Benefit of Society.

There is a need .
For SLCC

There is a need
For the Student

A Practice Curriculum
Opportunities for New
Curriculum

Elements of STEM Practice

Curriculum

IC&E is uniquely positioned at the interface between

molecular sciences and engineering. It can significantly
contribute to emerging technologies:

Alternate/renewable energy
Better health
National security
Improved environment

Enabling sciences and courses:

Chemistry, Biology, Physics,

Mathematics, Business, Engineering

Core principles:

Molecular transformations
Multi-scale analysis
Systems approach to solving
problems

Engineering design:

Process & Product design

Business Skills

Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQP) and Major Qualifying Projects (MQP)

Meeting the Challenges with a THRIVE

Many would be entrepreneurs in Acadiana
do not have the technical know-how to turn
their dreams into reality.

Others dont really know how to navigate the

bureaucracy that everyone has to navigate in
order to open and run a successful business
in this country.
Local STEM companies need trained labor.
A STEMHub can provide ideas, start-up space
and technical support to new entrepreneurs
as well as established businesses.

A Tech Hub Will:

Be a Practice Provider

Help revitalize a corridor

Create jobs

Establish new businesses

Make established businesses more successful

Increase the tax base of the City

Local Economic Development STEM Hub

Goal

Objectives

Targets

Offering

Profit Center

job creation
re-industrialisation / revitalisation
economic development
support to particular target groups or industries

development of Small & Medium-sized Enterprises and clusters

small commercial craft or service companies

in some cases, high-tech companies

hosting and shared services

administrative assistance
consulting
trained employees
coaching, training, networking
access to financing
durability lack of stability of resources

Key Problems

Trends

quality of management and services provided highly dependent

on the quality of the manager

governance, risk of conflicts about the objectives, bureaucratic redtape, time spent in negotiating with different partners

regular development
increasing territorial coverage

TRIVE How it makes Money

Integrated entrepreneurship development approach:

New
Businesses

Advisory/
Entrepreneurs
hip training

Space rental

Community
Education

Hub Start
Integrated development approach:

Financing
facilities

Advisor
y

Location &
Acquisition

Participant selection by a Panel

Project and concept development with
advisory and approval
Project is fulltime owned and run by
participant
Integrated financial assistance
Incubation period ~3 years

Support
Entities

Where to Place THRIVE

FOR SUCCESS OF THRIVE

1.Experienced Tech Hub management:

To render continuous support, coaching, mentoring and motivation to start-up companies

2.Linking business & technology:

Constitute important channels for distribution of knowledge and tools for business success

3.Conducive business environment:

Function not as landlord but to create conducive business environment to participants

4.University involvement:

Availability of graduates, access to certain R&D facilities, and environment of intellectual

creativity

5.Collaboration & networking:

Networking between outside industries, universities, research institutions and the Tech Hub
provides mutual
support & encouragement

THRIVE Impact through focus:

The right technologies for the right challenges or opportunities + Measuring
the (potential) impact of technologies = the right research priorities

Research
&
innovation
priorities

Advanced processes

Implement new
technology

Advanced systems / ICT

Modelling, simulation
and forecasting

Knowledge Workers