Leadership Article

ESD Reports Winter 2005

Research Experience Builds Leadership Skills at CTPID

By Nancy DuVergne Smith, CTPID Communications Director

CTPID's role as a multi-industry and multidisciplinary research center offers ESD faculty, research staff, and students focused opportunities to gain leadership skills.

"The type of research CTPID is involved in – policy, regulation, pricing, and managing technology – provides post-doctoral, doctoral, and master's students with the type of education and learning they need to become leaders in their industries," said CTPID Director Fred Moavenzadeh.

"At CTPID, we have 50 to 60 companies sponsoring us, most have top management participating in the program. This gives students a good experience of leadership roles within individual industry and government partnerships."

Building teamwork skills through interdisciplinary projects also is a key ingredient of CTPID research. "Our interdisciplinary programs draw several members of faculty and senior research staff and students from different departments," Moavenzadeh said. "This provides a good environment to learn crucial teamwork skills, which is a feature of leadership."