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College of Engineering's 50th Anniversary

College of Engineering turns 50, looks to the future

Written by Johnathan Silver, The Shorthorn senior staff

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 10:29 PM

Mechanical and aerospace engineering senior J.P. Merkel, center, and mechanical engineering freshman Ryan Moody test the shifter in the 2010 Formula Society of Automotive Engineers� car frame Tuesday in Woolf Hall. (The Shorthorn: Rasy Ran)

The College of Engineering is celebrating 50 years of existence.

The college has come a long way since its transition from idea to Texas’ fourth-largest engineering college. Now, the university is hanging its hopes on faculty and students to launch it toward national recognition for research.

The school began in 1959, a time when computers weren’t around, and a worry of the day was America’s defense after the Korean War. Fifty years ago today, the new school will be celebrating the beginning of its second semester.

The need for engineers is just as great as it was 50 years ago, said Jack Woolf, former Arlington State College president.

Former faculty, students, administrators and those who hold their positions now, reflect on the college’s growth, current status and future in a world where technology is constantly upgrading.

The Past

Two monumental events happened in 1959.

By an act of the Texas Legislature, Arlington State College — now UTA — became a four-year institution. Also, legislators called for the creation of a School of Engineering after industry leaders expressed a need for a state-supported engineering school in North Texas.

There was much activity going on in North Texas and nationwide, said Jack Woolf, the Arlington State College president at the time. The Korean War had ended, but the country was focused on improving defense, through engineering and technology.

“Finding people with advanced engineering degrees was rare at the time,” he said. He said employers were recruiting people from all over the country.

“There was a need for a School of Engineering,” he said.

Many items that students are accustomed to, like cell phones and the Internet, didn’t exist then, Woolf said.

“Our first computer was about the size of an office desk, with 60,000 bytes of information,” he said.

Arlington State College only had a School of Arts and Sciences, and a School of Engineering, after the law took effect in September. The new engineering school offered five undergraduate degrees. Today, the college offers more than 25 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Wendell Nedderman said he jumped at the chance to become the first engineering school dean.

“There wasn’t much here then, but I was convinced there was a future here,” he said. “I said ‘Someday there’s going to be something there, really big.’”

The school had a five year plan from 1960-1965. The goal was for the school to become widely recognized for outstanding graduates, connections with government agencies and up-to-date technology in laboratories.

By 1961, the school awarded its first degrees. But degree plans weren’t accredited, which meant some graduate schools and other groups wouldn’t officially recognize degrees from the young school.

Home school student Ethan Bender makes a final adjustment on his robot before the preliminary round of the First Tech Challenge Southwest Regional Championship on Jan. 31 in the Maverick Activities Center.The First Tech Challenge Southwest Regional Championship is an event used by the engineering department to recruit high school students. (The Shorthorn: File Photo)

Two engineering graduates applied to a graduate program at Purdue University during that period. Purdue decision makers were worried about admitting students with unaccredited degrees. Nedderman said he called the dean at Purdue’s engineering college.

“I said ‘Try these two guys, you won’t regret it’,” he said. “A year later, he called me and said ‘I’ll take everything you’ll send.’ So establishing our credibility and going out into well-known graduate schools was important to us.”

The school then worked for years to gain accreditation at each degree level. By 1968, five degree programs were accredited and 75 percent of engineering faculty had doctoral degrees from 21 universities. UTA’s first doctoral degree came in 1969, for engineering.

The school’s ability to recruit outstanding faculty was the key to its success, Nedderman said.

“Real estate people like to say ‘Location, location, location’,” he said. “In the College of Engineering, it’s faculty, faculty, faculty.”

Nedderman became UTA’s president, serving from 1972 to 1992. During his administration, he had to work to progress the entire university, and couldn’t look at the engineering college with favoritism, but he still wanted the college to excel, he said.

During his presidency, Nedderman oversaw construction of facilities tied to the College of Engineering. Some still stand today, including the 244,000 sq. ft. Nedderman Hall and the 130,000 sq. ft. Woolf Hall.

Alumnus Michael Greene was an engineering student from 1964 to 1969. Today, he’s the vice chairman of Energy Future Holding Corp., formerly known as TXU. He said he chose UTA’s engineering school because it was young and had good professors.

“They prepared us for real-life business experience,” he said.

Greene said the work ethic required of him in the classroom is the same he applies to his career.

“I learned how to be disciplined and to have a goal in front of me,” he said. “I applied that same determination to get a degree.”

David Hullender, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, began teaching classes in spring 1970.

He said he didn’t embrace the idea of teaching because he wanted to work in the engineering industry and was tired after years of academic life. Today, the professor celebrates almost 40 years of teaching with the college.

“I didn’t realize the difference it would make if you’re teaching versus being on the other end of the deal,” he said. “To be able to teach and make a difference in students’ lives wasn’t something I considered.”

The professor said one reason he likes teaching in his field is that technology is always changing and classroom curriculum has to adjust.

“If I can solve problems that are applied to real, physical, engineering systems and then teach students how to do the same thing, that motivates me because I want to learn so I can teach them,” Hullender said.

The professor said he wants to help his students understand the importance of making sure the work they do is correct.

“In today’s world, there are frivolous lawsuits, and there’s a group of people that want to try to get your money, or sue you,” he said. “I want them to understand that when they design something and put their name on it, they need to give it all they’ve got.”

The Present

Today, the College of Engineering has more than 20,000 alumni, a diverse student body, faculty and staff from across the globe, and innovative ideas through research.

One item signifying the college’s growth is the towering construction of the upcoming Engineering Research Building, which will be part of a research complex. President James Spaniolo told The Shorthorn that the Engineering Research Complex will play a key role in the university becoming a national research institution.

Mechanical engineering senior Roy Guzman works on homework Dec. 3 at the SAE workshop in Woolf Hall. Guzman sponsors and does general fabrication for the SAE racing team. (The Shorthorn: File Art)

“Your construction is a reflection of your priorities,” he said. “Engineering is historically and futuristically a strength to the university.”

Bill Carroll, who is entering his 10th year as the College of Engineering dean, said the new building would address constant changes in research and the need to solve problems.

He added that the research building is among a group of goals for the college, which builds on the first milestones the founders wanted to meet. They wanted widespread recognition for programs and outstanding graduates. Now the vision is for the college, and in turn the university, to function on the national stage of academia, he said.

Carroll said he’s worked toward that goal by expanding faculty, bringing in research dollars and recruiting high-quality students.

“The focus lately has been to get more national recognition for what we’ve been doing all along,” he said. “My push is to get more visibility for the college and recognition for the community, which will enable and attract students in the present and future.”

The research building has gained national attention for the Arlington area, Carroll said.

But after the first attempt to get funding, the college’s request was denied. It took much persuasion and support to cover the more than $100 million project. The project’s conceptualization began in the 2001-02 academic year. Then, college officials went to university officers, to the UT System and to the state legislature for support. Funding wasn’t approved at the first try.

“People don’t realize how long it took to get to this point,” Carroll said.

At the time, Texas’ economy was not sound enough for massive projects, Carroll said. They were turning the college down, but they weren’t approving anyone at the time, he said.

In a special session and on the third try, funding was approved for the project in summer 2005. More approvals followed, architects were hired, designing began in fall 2006, and a groundbreaking ceremony and construction soon followed.

While new buildings and research are important, people also make a college, Carroll said.

“The important ingredients for success are the people,” he said. “You’re not going to succeed without good students, faculty and staff.”

Lynn Peterson joined the college in 1982 to teach in the computer science and engineering department and worked in artificial-intelligence research. Today, she’s a senior associate dean for the college and focuses on retaining students.

“The mission of the school clearly is something where it really tries to serve its community, and that’s in sync with what I wanted to do with my career,” she said. “It was a match.”

Peterson said she helped develop the undergraduate program in the department. Although many are focusing on national recognition on the graduate level, Peterson said undergraduate programs also need to improve to at least an equal caliber.

“We have to pay at least as much attention to the undergraduate program,” she said. “The research is obviously very important but so is a strong undergraduate program. There are a lot of recruiting and retention right now.”

Peterson visited the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. in mid-November, when the college received a five-year grant to improve graduation rates in science and engineering.

“We’re working very actively right now to try to get some initiatives in place for next fall, in the hope that we can really make a difference,” she said. “We lose too many people between the first and second years, and we’ve got to stop that.”

Officials in the college want to get started off on the right foot, Peterson said.

“It feeds into the Tier One initiative that everybody else is involved in,” she said. “But we can have everything else in place, and not succeed in this, and not make it. So it’s critically important.”

Mechanical engineering sophomore Clayton Smith enrolled into the college in fall 2008. He said he likes the college because of its reputation and lower attendance cost compared to other engineering schools.

Smith said he especially likes the engineering faculty.

“I like that the professors are knowledgeable, have a lot of firsthand experience and give good advice,” he said. “There’s plenty of variety.”

The Future

When Dean Carroll looks to the future, he said he identifies current and future engineering students as the college’s foundation. He said faculty in the college hope that their students will go into the industry and make national and international impact.

The national economy is sluggish now, but the areas of study in the College of Engineering are labeled as areas of national need.

Hyun Kim, an engineering employer and president of Bynari Inc., a Dallas-based software company, has hired at least five computer science and engineering students and worked with students on their senior projects. She said UTA’s engineering faculty are properly preparing students for work in the real world.

“Most of the students we’ve hired have been very impressive,” she said. “They don’t need a lot of direction. I give them an end result, and they fill in the gaps.”

Some officials said they believe that the college’s future is in the hands of some students who are right down the street from campus, in local high schools.

Martin High School is one of the few schools in the region teaching engineering courses. The curricula are meant to prepare students for a career in the engineering industry, through hands-on classes and big projects.

Martin instructor Rachael Klein teaches Introduction to Engineering Design and an aerospace engineering class. She said there’s a trend in engineering with India and China surpassing the United States in the number of engineers. She said an example would be UTA’s engineering enrollment, which reflects that many students are from foreign countries.

Klein said she works to curve the numbers by teaching her students engineering with the Project Lead the Way program. It’s a pre-engineering program focusing on problem-based learning.

“You learn a concept, apply it, then carry it out in a project,” Klein said.

At the end of the year, students take all concepts learned and implement them into one project. For example, students could get a completed project and be directed to take it apart and reconstruct it.

Martin junior Nick Shepard takes Introduction to Engineering Design at the high school. He said he wants to have a career in chemical or aerospace engineering, and said he would like the idea of designing rockets and new types of aircraft.

“I was always good with math and science,” he said. “So it made sense.”

Martin freshman Toni Han said, if he pursued a career in engineering, he would want it to include aspects of biology. Han said he had an interest in the field, signed up for the introductory class, and said it’s fun.

“We learned how to do drawings by computer and by hand,” he said. “The teacher doesn’t teach too fast, and she works to make students understand.”
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 January 2010 03:58 PM )

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