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Beginning in Fall 2004, the Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD launches an innovative academic program modeled after the EPICS program at Purdue University that aims at transferring the university's technological expertise to community non-profit organizations. UCSD Teams In Engineering Service (TIES) offers partnerships between engineering students and non-profit organizations in the local community leading them to identify, address and solve engineering problems.
Although it is only 40 years old, UC San Diego is one of the premier public research universities in the nation. Among UC campuses, the Jacobs School of Engineering enrolls the largest number of engineering undergraduates and also ranks high in research expenditures per faculty. With its formidable stature and size, UCSD has long been in the position to develop a cohesive team internship program to serve the local community. UCSD students and faculty are our greatest contribution to the program. We are also fortunate to have strong UCSD affiliates committed to TIES, including the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the California Institute for Telecommunication and Information Technology (Cal-(IT)²), Sixth College, The von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement, and the Jacobs School Corporate Affiliates Program . Each of these affiliates will help to guide the development of the program. Sixth College 's participation illustrates how our partnerships form the collaborative fabric underlying TIES. Its Practicum of multidisciplinary teams participating in hands-on educational projects fosters the blending of critical thinking, writing and social reflection, and the application of technical skills and methodologies. TIES is critical to satisfying this requirement.
UCSD is uniquely located at the hub of San Diego's high technology industries and many of these industries trace their origins to the University. It is appropriate that we leverage not only these relationships to support the non-profit sector but also provide intellectual resources to the non-profit community.
Building on existing courses and infrastructure at UCSD, we will gradually grow our program starting with two or three project teams of 8-15 students in fall 2004. In the next 3-4 years, we anticipate adding two or three projects per year, enrolling more than 100 students in the program by the end of year three. Approximately 20 teams working actively on community projects are envisioned at steady state. The combination of engineering and corporate support will help assure TIES' future. The current program supporters already pledged to TIES illustrates the commitment to developing a successful TIES program at UCSD.
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