Faculty Profile: Dr. K. (Hari) Srihari

Making Research Work

The roster of research and manufacturing firms includes Universal Instruments, General
Electric, Motorola, Sanmina-SCI, Endicott Interconnect, Texas Instruments, Maines, United Health Services. It's a list that any private-sector research consulting firm would be thrilled to have as ongoing clients.

That's exactly how EMRS (Electronics Manufacturing Research and Services) feels about them, too. Except that EMRS is not the private sector; it's the research arm of the Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering (SSIE) in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science. The firms aren't clients, but sponsors of research performed by "consultants" who are, in fact, SSIE advanced-degree candidates who work side-by-side with sponsors' in-house experts and University faculty.

The director of, and guiding force behind, EMRS is SSIE department chair and professor Dr. K. (Hari) Srihari. "I absolutely love my job," he ebulliently says about his department, EMRS, his students and the success of all three. He explains that he now understands and agrees with the answer given by a colleague, former professor Peter Engle, when Srihari asked him some years ago why he worked so hard. "This is my hobby," Srihari remembers him answering, "and they pay me for it."

"I absolutely love my job." -- Dr. K. (Hari) Srihari

He recalls the beginnings of one of those "hobbies," EMRS, in 1989. Then,
as now, its focus was, Srihari says, "to explore research that fosters increased efficiencies, effectiveness and reliability and minimizes the cost of manufacturing."

Back then, it had one sponsor, Universal Instruments, a global electronics productivity specialist headquartered in Binghamton. Today, 15 sponsors support EMRS, where currently about 85 percent of its research is focused on electronic manufacturing and packaging, 10 percent on healthcare and five percent on logistics and transportation.

Back then, about 10 students participated in the program. Today, 38 advanced-degree students are part of it, working on site not only in upstate New York, but also in Silicon Valley, Texas and Alabama. In fact, since its founding and under Srihari's mentoring, more than 150 master's degree students and more than 50 PhD candidates have participated in EMRS, contributing to real-life research with real-life applications.

Today EMRS is one of the single largest research groups on campus and a splendid example of University-industry partnerships with long track records of success. It's also, Srihari proudly notes, completely supported by its industry sponsors, who have consistently provided funding of at least $1 million every year since 1999 ($12 million total since it was founded).

Srihari attributes this success to those who came before. "We remind our students that the group is good because of the excellent work of the students and staff who preceded them. Each one," he says, "helped develop our reputation. The people who are here today are standing on their shoulders."

The reputation they and Srihari have developed is one based on surpassing the expectations of its sponsors, each and every time. EMRS has never lost a sponsor (although there have been brief hiatuses for some during economic downturns). The University's increasingly high academic profile and admissions standards, along with the success of SSIE graduates in the marketplace, add further credence that attracts both prospective sponsors and students.

The secret to EMRS is, well, no secret at all: It's hard work and astute research before a project is even awarded. Says Srihari, "We differentiate ourselves from other research groups by finding out what our customers want. We don't go to them and say something like, ‘Here are EMRS strengths; can you use them?' We want to know their needs, their critical pathways. We try our best to find out about their technical roadmaps and their challenges two and three years from now, and how our research can help."

The professor acknowledges that this kind of approach "may give us ulcers, but it gives our sponsors value because we provide research that has a practical application for them. We are there because it makes good business sense: Our skill sets and expertise meet their business needs." Srihari explains that it's not unusual for EMRS and SSIE to collaborate with other faculty, students and programs, if they are the appropriate experts for a sponsor's research needs. "The sponsor and the project," he says, "drive the resources."

At this point, it may sound that EMRS is more like a business, and it is -- the business of education. Srihari defines EMRS as a three-way partnership: the customer, the University and the student. "The customer," he explains, "gets what it wants done; the University enhances its status as a research university; and the student gets an opportunity to provide and enhance his or her research expertise."

Notes Srihari, "The true bottom line is that we are not a company. We are a University, and our first job is the education of our students. Our faculty and staff understand that the student is both our customer and our product." To students, Srihari says, "We emphasize it's not a research-or-classroom choice, but both, and we expect an A grade. We also expect them to handle other department responsibilities that often have nothing to do with the classroom or research, but which improve our efficiencies as a team."

Students deliver on these expectations because Srihari and the department faculty and staff help make it so, starting with communications and mentoring between all levels. There's a student advisory board, "where ideas for improvement to the department are encouraged, from technology, efficiency, effectiveness, administration, and so forth." There's empowering students, with a team leader assigned to each EMRS project who can make tactical decisions, and providing each student with a PC and other tools to succeed.

Srihari is pleased that, last fall, the department was able to fund all its full-time students. Yet for him, that's not enough; he keeps a list of nine non-funded, part-time students on a whiteboard in his office to remind him that his department's goal is to try to find funding for everyone. He talks about those who did come before -- "a fantastic group of graduates" -- and about an alumni network that has an energy all its own, with people exchanging e-mails about job openings and other events, and whose common denominator is SSIE or EMRS.

He gives credit to a talented, very collegial team of people in his department who work exceptionally well together. "There are two distinguished professors in the building," he says, "and both are in this department," although he fails to name them. The distinguished professor award is the highest honor bestowed by SUNY. It's awarded to full professors who are nationally or internationally recognized for achievements in research, scholarship and creative activity. Among other considerations, a recipient's work must be of such character that his or her presence will tend to elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within his or her academic field and beyond.

Dr. George Klir is one of the recipients. And it's probably no surprise that Srihari is the other.

-- Sandra Kazinetz