This is the fourth of four papers prepared for a special panel session of the National Collaborative Task Force on Engineering Graduate Education Reform focusing on new educational approaches and processes that better meet the development needs of the U.S. engineering workforce in industry to enhance global competitiveness. Further graduate development of the U.S. engineering workforce in industry is critical to the continuous improvement, invention, development, and innovation of new technology which is the engine for U.S. economic prosperity and competitiveness. This paper focuses on a unique model for workforce development that represents a significant advancement in professional graduate education extending through the professional masters, professional doctorate and fellow levels of engineering practice. This advancement in professional graduate education forms a new partnership for universityindustry engagement for U.S. engineering workforce development that completes a missing piece of the process to better enable U.S. technological innovation which is long overdue. The impact of project-based learning on industrial innovation is evidenced. This model is designed specifically to support the on-site engineering process for continuous improvement and innovation in industry. It purposefully integrates postgraduate professional education for industry's employed engineers with on-site technology development projects that are chosen to be directly relevant to industry's continuous innovation needs and high-end engineering projects. The returns for enhanced corporate advantage generated through this unique model are measured as a matrix of increasing complexity of economic worth of on-site projects and of increasing human proficiency gained for leadership of technological innovation. The Importance of Developing a World-Class Engineering Workforce: Educating Creative Professionals for Innovation and Leadership in Industry The United States of America must remain preeminent in creating new innovative technologies through engineering to enhance its economic prosperity, quality of life, and national security. Our technical capability is the engine that drives our national economy and provides for our national security. Professional development of the US engineering workforce is the critical to our very way of life. The vast majority of engineering innovations are needs-driven and market-focused (requiring

Engineering and Technology, and associate dean for the college of applied sciences at Western Carolina University, and program chair of the Graduate Studies Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Engineering and Technology, and associate dean for the college of applied sciences at Western Carolina University, and program chair of the Graduate Studies Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

This is the first paper in the panel session of the National Collaborative Task Force for reform of professionally oriented engineering graduate education to make it more relevant to the needs of industry to ensure a strong U.S. engineering workforce for competitiveness. Because the practice of engineering for technological innovation is changing and because engineering education cannot meet all of the requirements relevant to the needs and skill sets required for career-long growth of engineers in industry, within the standard four-year baccalaureate curriculum, there is a heightened sense of urgency that major educational reform is needed at the graduate level. The demand for a strong U.S. engineering workforce with advanced technical skills, practical engineering experience, and progressive professional skills from entry-level through executive engineering leadership levels of technological innovation in industry is forcing sweeping reform in engineering graduate education. This paper represents the work of the newly established National Collaborative for Engineering Graduate Education Reform, which is taking a key leadership role with industry to enact purposeful reform in engineering education at the graduate professional level in order to continue the career-long growth process of working engineering professionals in industry to spur innovation, unleash creativity, and enhance U.S. competitiveness. The paper addresses the national importance of this reform, including the role of U.S. engineering graduate education in supporting the growth of the nation's engineers who lead the continuous development of technology for the competitive advantage of technology-based U.S. industries in the global economy; the vital role of industry's capacity to sustain world-class technology development and innovation for the nation's economic growth and national security; and the important role that engineers play throughout their professional industrial careers in conceptualizing, designing, developing, innovating, and leading the systematic process of engineering for continual improvements, developments, and breakthrough of new technologies for corporate competitive advantage.