We are building something truly special here in Minnesota! The extraordinary news emerging from our programs includes great stories of booming enrollments, outstanding new faculty, engaging local industry in our Senior Design Clinic, supporting K-12 engineering education and advancing new degree programs in data science and computer engineering.
This past fall, the University of St. Thomas marked new territory when mechanical engineering was selected as the no. 1 major by incoming freshmen. Today, 12 percent of all St. Thomas graduate and undergraduate students are in the School of Engineering.
The faces and hands which define and shape who we are and the work we do are changing the world around us. In this issue of St. Thomas Engineer, we see the remarkable impact of our five women mechanical engineering faculty on building a distinctive program in a traditionally male dominated profession. The hands of St. Thomas engineering students are also at work signing a K-12 engineering education curriculum at the Metro Deaf School.
This issue also covers the work of our student teams in the ASME drone design competition, the Fowler Business Challenge and their work in solving real industrial problems in the Senior Design Clinic.
St. Thomas is one of a select group of engineering programs from across the nation to foster a broad educational foundation for our students. We celebrate that UST’s undergraduate students are required to demonstrate proficiency in a second language, to study philosophy and ethics, and to make a deep commitment to understanding the faiths and cultures of our world. We are also proud that over 50 percent of our engineering students have engaged in study abroad experiences while at St. Thomas.
The vitality of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area technical community is what keeps us strong. As I have said many times, I don’t think that there are many other communities in the U.S. with the ability to support so energetically the growth and quality of a new engineering program which continues to evolve here at the University of St. Thomas.
St. Thomas Engineer magazine is just a snapshot of the faces and hands of change at work here in Minnesota and across the globe.
