Last fall, Charles County Cornunity College offered a one-year course in waste water management to 5 1 operators. I t had to turn many more away. Next fall, it hopes to begin planning to start a two-year pollution abatement technology program leading t o an associate-in-arts degree. The college has applied to the Federal Water Pollution Control ,4dministration for a grant under FWPCA’s new program o n junior college grants. The program i s aimed at increasing manpower supplies at the subprofessional level. The college feels that w i t h its experience i t can present a strong curriculum. Other advantages: i t s new campus i s surrounded by waterways. Only a 30-minute drive from Washington, D.C., the college can bring in experts for short courses and seminars. I t also plans a cooperative program with the Naval Ordnance Station in nearby Indian Head. According to M r s . Jensen, the college would like to use at least part o f an FWPCA grant f o r planning a curriculum. “A good curriculum can’t be developed in a professor’s spare timewhich is how it i s frequently done in this kind of situation. I f we’re to turn out semiprofessionals ready t o step in and do a competent job right off, we have to give careful thought t o the curriculum,” Mrs. Jensen notes. Next fall is the target date for the college, with its 500 students, t o move to i t s new campus. .4fter spending its first 10 years in an old N i k e missile base, the college w i l l occupy three new buildings already under construction o n the 173-acre site. One building still in the planning stage i s a $600,000 sewage treatment facility for training and research. The plant will treat the college’s sewage, plus a limited amount from nearby residential areas t o provide sewage more typical o f that found in a community. Although the plant i s larger, more sophisticated and, consequently, more expensive than needed to treat the area’s sewage, the facility is necessary for an adequate and effective training program. i n the fall of 1969 a $1.3 million building will be ready t o house the pollution abatement technology and data processing departments. The pollution abatement facilities w i l l be able to handle about 300 full time students, plu\ 1000 in continuing education.
QUOTE... AUTO INDUSTRY TAKES OSTRICH STANCE It is no secret that the image of the auto industry has been periodically tarnished in the eyes of the federal government, the public, and the nation’s scientists and engineers. This dilemma, with its resulting mutual lack of confidence, serves no useful purpose. The problem of auto emissions is now being viewed far more constructively by both government and industry than the earlier case of auto safety with its many resulting overtones. The control of emissions presents a great opportunity for the auto industry, or one or more of its more progressive segments. t o take the initiative and to lead the Federal Government rather than maintain its past defensive position. In these days of opportunity, salaries alone do not attract top quality people, particularly scientists and engineers. Rather it is the environment in which they work and the technical and commercial challenges presented by management. If top executives, including directors, cannot understand the total process of innovation and the application of advanced technology and the need for entrepreneurial skills, even the best corporate research laboratory will go unused. Historically the top management of the auto companies. as in the case with ”Big Steel,” has come from “within the industry.” Among the four auto manufacturers, it is hard t o find a single director, for example, who has even been directly engaged in research and development work. Management methods are being rapidly developed t o cope with technological changes, and new techniques for exploiting the innovation process are underway i n most technically based industries. It is extremely important that this essential segment of our free enterprise private sector be properly recognized and its experience, technology and management fully contribute to our economic growth. Aerospace companies have in many cases too Jarge an influence on the federal budget and Congress. On the other hand, such organizations are attempting t o apply their advanced techniques and technology to problems of public concern. The auto industry, with its great experience and background in the private sector, might more appropriately find solutions to many of these challenges. An articulate and respected voice from this industry should be heard as a prin;e representative of a large section of the private economy. The “smog” photosynthesis reaction was postulated as early as 1951, and, unfortunately, history suggests that without California and federal action, the auto industry would voluntarily not have even made the limited progress presently achieved in reducing harmful emissions. And I think it should be pointed out that we have yet t o see the public announcement from the auto industry of pollution control concepts more effective than those required t o meet the current standards. The ideas which give us hope have come from elsewhere. If I may be blunt. this ostrich posture makes an interesting target.
Richard S. Morse Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a speech at the Automotive Engineering Congress, Society of Automotive Engineers, Detroit, Mich.. Jan. 8. 1968
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