Challenges of Implementing A JOINT INDUSTRIAL-ACADEMIC RESEARCH PROJECT As Part of a Nontraditional Industrial Ph.D. Dissertation

摘要

To many people the notion of a distance-education doctorate in engineering may seem ridiculous enough by itself, but add the fact that the prospective student intends to maintain full-time employment as a senior process engineer with a chemical manufacturing company, and the ridiculous notion appears to become an impossibility. Indeed, convincing a university and a corporation, two notoriously inflexible institutions, to do as much "outside the box" thinking as was required for this endeavor was no small task. Despite the potentially daunting obstacles, however, and through a unique partnership between Evonik Degussa Corporation in the United States, Evonik Degussa GmbH in Germany, Auburn University, and the University of South Alabama, this seemingly impossible proposition has become a reality.