Presentation

7-lug-2019

Institution, presentation and objectives

The Department of Engineering at the University of Palermo has been founded in 2019,from the merging of three previously existingengineering departments.

The Departmentmanages, coordinates and supports teaching, researchand the so-called third-missionactivities.The third mission is today recognized as an important academic mission: it involves all the activities addressed at maximizing the social and economic impact of knowledge, such asknowledge transfer, technological transfer and outreach.

The creation of a single large Department of Engineeringwas motivated by the awareness that the response to the complexity of modern societal, scientific and technological challenges increasingly requiresthe deployment of inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches, whose effectiveness largely benefits from an integrated scientific, technological and administrative support framework.

The Department of Engineering supports, within a shared cultural framework, the implementation of:

High-quality teaching, training and learning
Competitive and impactful research
Engaging knowledge transfer and outreachpolicies (third mission)

Teaching.The Department of Engineering offers and supports the implementation of inter- and multi-disciplinary courses, responding to the challengesposed by complex real life scenarios, by efficiently leveraging on the multi-disciplinary expertise of its staff.

The integrated management and coordination of teaching and training activities as well asthe enhanced collaboration between staff coming from different cultural backgrounds - civil, industrial, manufacturing and information technology engineering -promote cross-fertilization and smooth exchanges with the stakeholders, contributing to the regional development of Southern Italy.

Research. The Department of Engineering promotesthe excellence of inter- and multi-disciplinary research. Inter-disciplinary collaboration, shared best practices, encouraged synergy among different research groups and the subsequent expected cross-fertilization are poised to enhance the performance of the Department in next national and international research assessments and surveys, improve its international reputation and attractiveness and increase its capability to attract funding and resources from national and international competitive research programmes.

Third mission. The existence of a common cultural andadministrative framework within the Department facilitatesknowledge and technology transfer processes and the exploitation of knowledge for the benefit of society at large. The Department encourages and supports the creation of patents, spin-offs and startups, with the objective of transforming academic knowledge into regional societal and economic sustainable development and technological innovation. The Department also promotes exchanges and engagement with companies and policy makers, in a constant effort addressed at facilitating aseamless entry of students into employment and at attracting investments into higher education and research.Its inter-disciplinary nature makes the Department of Engineering a key public actor on several topics of scientific and technological interest. Engaging knowledge communication, dissemination, exploitation and transfer as well as outreach activities are part of the core academic mission.

The Department of Engineering is open to collaboration with external scholars, research groups, other academic departments within and outside the University of Palermo as well as public and private research institutes sharing its core values and cultural, scientific and technical themes. The presence, within the Department, of several groups with a broad array of scientific interests favors the formation of larger fundamental and applied research structures, e.g. research clusters or inter-departmental centers.

Mission and core values

The Groups operating within the Department of Engineering share common core values and ideasand, operating within a common framework of rules, implement strategies addressed at raising, pursuing and/or promoting:

Academic missions:

Excellence in teaching and research;
Multi- and inter-disciplinary teaching and research;
Attention to the students and their needs, to ensure the widest possible student access to higher-education, thebest possible level of training and high-level knowledge and skills transfer;
Enhancement of the Department's scientific output, visibility and authoritativeness at national and international level;
Collaboration with external scholars, research groups and institution sharing the Department's themes, values and ethics;
Awareness of the importance of a healthy peer-review culture, based on internationally accepted standards;
The role of the Department as a regional driving force for cultural and economic growth and sustainable development;
Dialogue with stakeholders and policy makers, to promotethe seamless and profitable studentsentryinto employment;
Integration between fundamental and applied research, addressed at bridging the gap between the class/lab and the application to real life problems.

Workplace:

Supportof all research Groups within the Department,aimed atreinforcing strengths and addressing weaknesses, thus enhancing the overall performance of the Department;
Gender equality in all aspects of academic life, from teaching and research to the composition of governance structures;
The creation of an engaging, stimulating, safe, healthy and balanced work environment, respectful of the competences of each actor and open to external cooperation and collaboration;
Appraisal policies focused on the valorization of staff and on the attention to theirlegitimate aspirations, favoring a balanced professional and human growth;
Recognition of commitment, merit and achievements in research, teaching, administration and fund-raising;
Recruitment policies based on the assessment of quality and expertise, as the basefor supporting the international reputation of the Department.

Short description

The Department of Engineering at the University of Palermo counts210 academics, distributed as follows:

31 research fellows and senior research fellows;
52 assistant professors;
75 associate professors;
52 full professors.

The support technical and administrative staff counts 78 units:

The AdministrationManager;
9 Operation Unit Managers, including 3 with technical tasks;
24 Managers of specialized functions, 11 of them with technical tasks;
44 employees, of which 23 with administrative tasks and 17 with technical tasks.

The Department of Engineering is located in the campus of Viale delle Scienze of the University of Palermoand it is hosted within 4 buildings (building n.6, 8, 9 and 10).

The educational offer of Department of Engineering includes, for the academic year 2019-2020, 12 Bachelor Degree courses and 12 Master Degree courses, with a total of about 5,700enrolled students.

The currently active study courses are:

Bachelor’s degree Courses

Environmental engineering
Civil/construction engineering
Electronic engineering
Cybernetic engineering
Innovation engineering for digital enterprises
Computer engineering
Biomedical engineering
Electrical engineering
Safety engineering
Chemical and biochemical engineering
Management engineering
Mechanical engineering

Master Degree Courses

Aerospace engineering
Chemical engineering
Civil engineering
Building systems engineering
Electrical engineering
Electronic engineering
Energy and nuclear engineering
Management engineering
Computer engineering
Mechanical engineering
Engineering and technologies for the environment
Biomedical engineering

Additionally, within the Department of Engineering are currently active 4 PhD courses:

Energy and Information Technology;
Information and Communication Technologies;
Civil, Environmental and Material Engineering;
Engineering of Technological Innovation.