True to its mission

Editor's note: Rita Bartczak is founder and CEO of Chestnut Hill Advisors. Brian Ottum is innovation guru at Chestnut Hill Advisors. Kathy Russell is director and story teller at Chestnut Hill Advisors. Peggy Wyllie is president of Evince Market Research and Communications. 

Founded more than a hundred years ago during the early years of the automobile industry, SAE International (SAE) has stood the test of time as a trusted source of expertise and education for the ground vehicle and aerospace industries. Committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity, SAE’s priorities are encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. From its roots as a technical journal publisher, SAE has grown to a global association that connects and educates 200,000 mobility professionals in 43 countries.

Beginning with the early days of auto production and flight to today’s automatic braking, device connectivity and hands-off driving, SAE has evolved along with the industries it serves and become a central part of them. It has not taken this position for granted, however, and one of the ways SAE has retained its centrality is an ongoing commitment to train each new generation of engineers. “SAE is looking to prepare the next generation of engineers who are working not only on automated vehicles but also on new modes of transportation to be more effective in their jobs. Technology changes very rapidly and it’s hard for four-year university programs to keep up and we think we can fill that gap,” says Frank Menchaca, chief growth officer, SAE.

For example, the autonomous vehicle market is expected to grow by 63.5% by 2027¹, with an expected demand for global autonomous vehicles of 4.2 million by 2030². This will result in an increased demand for engineers with skills to design and produce autonomous vehicles. Accordingly, the demand for ground vehicles engineers will grow and they will need to be able to collaborate across disciplines like robotics, lidar, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Experiential learning and teamwork will be even more important to design and produce these new vehicles. SAE is focused on developing these skills through hands-on learning with programs like A World in Motion (AWIM) and Collegiate Design Series (CDS).

A World in Motion taps into 50,000 dedicated global volunteers to bring STEM education to life for students in grades K-8. Over 110,000 students and 1,500 instructors in 11 countries rely on AWIM to convey the basic science of movement that is the foundation of all future knowledge. The SAE Collegiate Design Series provides student teams the experience of designing, building and racing vehicles in a global competition via programs like Formula SAE, Autodrive Challenge and Clean Snowmobile. Through this intense experiential learning, students acquire hands-on design and building skills as well as important soft skills like teamwork that can set them apart from other job candidates. “Formula SAE has opened many doors for my students for jobs at companies including SpaceX. So when industry comes here to find good candidates, all the credentials they need are that the student was on a Formula SAE Team, did well and has my recommendation. And they get the job,” says Robert L. Woods, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, University of Texas in Arlington.

Spurred concern

Throughout the evolution of its professional development, SAE has relied on connecting with its members and customers to build new programs and services. Most recently, a talent shortage in robotics for autonomous vehicles has spurred concern among both industry and engineering program faculty. “Competition is strong. Especially in the Bay Area, there are limited candidates with automotive background. And there are plenty of suppliers and new start-ups who are trying to hire the same talent. Google, Apple and everybody is hiring either robotics, A.I., autonomous driving or electrification engineers,” says Scott Bang, director of engineering at Urban Air Mobility division of Hyundai Motor Group.

To understand this problem and its implications, SAE joined forces with the auto industry and self-driving-technology company Argo AI. SAE engaged market research firm Chestnut Hill Advisors to uncover reactions to a boot camp concept designed to prepare new recruits for full productivity quickly and increase the pipeline of qualified engineers. 

Chestnut Hill Advisors was prepared to take on this assignment given its experience with talent research and having worked with SAE since 2015 to understand industry and academic needs to help engineering students build project-based skills.

The researchers conducted in-depth interviews among faculty, industry original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 companies (large/technically-advanced companies that supply critical components to the OEMs).

The study focused on four key learning objectives: how faculty are integrating industry problems and preparing students for the workforce; how the industry recruits, onboards and trains new employees; common skills gaps among students and new hires; and reaction to the boot camp concept.

The insights pointed to the importance of broadening student skill sets. Faculty members cited strong growth in engineering programs and student interest in robotics, automation, technology and additive manufacturing. While their engineering graduates are in high demand as companies are eager to fill positions, schools face difficulties in helping students to collaborate across disciplines and improve their hands-on skills. 

For their part, industry participants expressed a need for engineers with horizontal skills across disciplines and experience working with vehicles, robots or hardware. But it’s difficult to find candidates with these skill sets who also have knowledge of the autonomous mobility and auto industries. 

The research found that a hands-on robotics boot camp was a fit with the SAE brand. Both academic and industry participants were enthusiastic about the potential of a boot camp that combines in-person instruction, lab-based projects and teamwork and they shared suggestions for content and implementation. “There’s a battle to get talent and it’s a global battle. Any way – like this boot camp – that industry could train and tap the right people quickly and develop those pipelines is great,” says Paul Oh, professor for Unmanned Aerial Systems, University of Nevada.

In evaluating the concept, those who participated in the research found the boot camp unique given its focus on autonomous mobility. Their confidence in both the content and delivery of the program was underscored by SAE’s reputation for expertise, learning and bringing professionals together. Indeed, students benefit by making connections with industry experts, faculty and mentors within SAE and for many, the boot camp can be the introduction to the association and what it can offer to new engineers.

Ready to move ahead

SAE was ready to move ahead given the demand for the boot camp and supporting market insights. Using the constructive feedback from the qualitative interviews, SAE partnered with Venkat Krovi, Michelin endowed chair professor of vehicle automation at Clemson University, to develop the curriculum of its first-ever robotics boot camp. The boot camp employed a hybrid learning approach that combined lecture, lab-based projects and teamwork in a 12-week program, open to both university students and engineers working in the industry.

As plans were coming together to pilot the boot camp in May 2020, COVID-19 struck. For an organization like SAE that had survived the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, there was no option but to continue. The SAE Robotics Boot Camp Pilot was launched virtually and safely in September 2020.

Deeper understanding 

Based on the qualitative research among participants to evaluate the boot camp experience, SAE developed a deeper understanding of student needs and perspectives. Boot camp students were positive in their assessment of their pilot experience, including the course design, assignments and group work. Two examples of feedback from boot camp pilot students:

“The boot camp is what I expected. I believe the course content is very good since it has a lot of practical challenges that help you to be a better engineer.”

“As a technical person unfamiliar with robotics, I like the hands-on approach with the introduction to sensors and how things work behind the scenes.”

Strong majorities found the instructor-led sessions valuable and the cohort meetings effective. “Now, almost 12 months shy of the outbreak’s start, we’ve seen an even greater need for the skills the program conveys,” SAE’s Menchaca says. “The automotive world’s move to more automated transportation is accelerating. The march toward safe, clean, sustainable automated vehicles is underway and we at SAE want to ensure that the industry has a workforce trained to advance it through applied, hands-on learning in a hybrid delivery mode.”

SAE is on a path to unite and advance the new generation of autonomous mobility engineers through its commitment to the robotics boot camp and project-based learning. And through this journey, the SAE brand will continue to be at the forefront as a relevant learning partner and connector of industry and academia. 

References

1 Precedence Research, Oct. 1, 2020

2 Grand View Research Inc., Apr. 6, 2020