Unexpected Undergraduate Opportunities

Our optical engineering program was the first in the country to earn ABET accreditation–and is one of only a handful of such programs for undergraduates in the nation. Yes, undergraduates get access to our awesome equipment–some as early as their freshman year. That's because we know that early opportunities lead to future opportunities for students, such as Kayla Storie. The 2017 engineering physics graduate parlayed nearly 4,000 hours of work in our multidisciplinary Micro-Nanoscale Devices and Systems Cleanroom Facility into a position as a process engineer at Intel’s Chandler, Ariz. facility. This is a rare opportunity for a freshly minted undergraduate, but our students are up to the task because they've had access to leading-edge facilities and learned from faculty with a wealth of experience.

You don't become a good engineer without putting your knowledge into practice. Our Branam Innovation Center gives students the space and the tools to test what they learn in the classroom, learn from failure, and compete to succeed. It's home to a dozen competition teams, such as our 13-time ASME champion Human Powered Vehicle Team which recently trekked to Australia to take on schools from around the world. And our Chem-E Car team, which placed fourth out of 40 teams at the 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ championships. This dedicated multidisciplinary space is also home to classes that give students the opportunity to gain machine shop safety and specific fabrication skills to bring their creations to life; our MakerLab Club, where students can tinker to their hearts' content using 3D printers and other tools; capstone design projects; and cross-disciplinary humanitarian design teams. Watch the video below to learn more.

In a recent report, “Engineering Change: Lessons from Leaders on Modernizing Higher Education Engineering Curriculum,” ABET, the global accreditor of higher education programs in science, technology, engineering and math, counted Rose-Hulman among six institutions “leading the way in keeping curriculum relevant to the real-world needs of today’s employers in a time of rapid change.”

We do it by carefully considering feedback from our corporate partners, then integrating engineering design experiences that allow our students to use their classroom lessons to develop solutions to real-world problems. Combining solid fundamentals and hands-on practice, innovative faculty members such as Professor Patricia Brackin are creating educational experiences–beginning freshman year–that give our students a leg up in today’s rapidly evolving global economy. Check out this video of a freshman design team in action.