<p>What do past alumni, present students, and future prospective applicants think about Chicago having an engineering school? With technology and applied sciences becoming more and more enmeshed into our daily lives and our professions…I don’t see the future slowing down for those who don’t keep up with the advances and inevitable changes.</p>
<p>Chicago does not get some of the brightest and passionate students applying to the institution because it does not have an engineering program…and we are in the 21st century…</p>
<p>I knew many students who were not certain if they wanted to become an engineer, physician, or a scientist at such a young age…</p>
<p>As a physician, I have met many physicians who were engineering students who switched their career choices in college and have met many engineers who were initially premeds…</p>
<p>I think that would be an amazing idea! I personally have applied for engineering at many of my unis, but still applied to UChicago because I don’t fully know whether engineering is exactly what I want, and UChicago ha such a beautiful campus, great area and one of the best science departments in the US. The only aspect that puts me slightly off UChicago is that it doesn’t have engineering.</p>
<p>UChicago needs to have an engineering school. I personally know too many students (bright ones) who didn’t apply because UChicago doesn’t offer engineering programs.</p>
<p>UChicago needs an engineering school to stay competitive in recruiting new faculty members and retain existing ones. Two years ago, we lost an amazing chemistry professor to Northwestern. He felt this school did not have professors he could collaborate with for the kind of research he wanted to pursue (intersection between chemistry and molecular engineering).</p>
<p>Having seen the wonderful changes that have taken shape in the “college” since I graduated many moons ago…with many of the concerns (donating and active alumni have had proposed and recommended in the 90s and 2000s) finally addressed and implemented by the new admissions director…I strongly believe it has come time for Chicago to have an engineering school…</p>
<p>As others have also noted, I have known too many smart, nerdy, outside the box thinking, passionate friends of mine in high school who could not/would not apply to Chicago because it did not have engineering. They told me they would “fit” in great at Chicago if they only had a school of engineering…</p>
<p>We are in the age of change…dramatic change…in science and technology…I am greatly concerned that Chicago may be left behind if it does not keep up with trailblazing science and technology…</p>
<p>I could see Chicago attracting and matriculating the smartest quirky computer science/engineering/STEM students very suited for Chicago’s academic environment for the new century and beyond if an engineering school existed…</p>
<p>I believe the majority of the alumni would be happy to donate to create a new engineering school that would be commensurate with its world class reputation…</p>
<p>…if I had President Zimmer’s ear or the Board of Trustees I would even suggest considering going after Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. (Chicago dropout) to found the engineering school bearing his name…just a thought…</p>
<p>I don’t think an engineering school would fit in at the U. of C. The most that could be hoped for is creating an applied sciences department within the PSD. Indeed, applied sciences is where the to-be-hired molecular engineering faculty should be. It would take ten years or so to develop a curriculum where one could choose an electrical or mechanical engineering course of study as applied sciences major.</p>
<p>How many engineering schools have been created recently? Olin College of Engineering has, but nothing else comes to mind. By contrast, there have been quite a few universities that have created business schools in the past few decades.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is actually true but I was under the impression that for at least some engineering majors the requirements for an accredited degree would be not be compatible with Chicago’s core (although I suppose they could require some majors need more credits to graduate). I think this is the reason why Columbia’s engineering school has less core requirements than the arts and science school and that the Chicago faculty would not approve such a switch. I think a move towards more interdisciplinary applied science at research would be more successful. </p>
<p>MIT (where I go to school) is a somewhat similar situation with the fields more or less reversed. Historically, MIT was all about science and engineering but over the past several decades has successfully expanded into some humanities and social sciences. MIT’s successes have generally been in fields relatively close to science or interdisciplinary fields that combine science and humanities. MIT’s Media Lab is an excellent example of this. I think if Chicago moves into fields relatively close to its current strengths (e.g. applied sciences) it will be successful but movement into fields far from its current strengths (outright engineering programs) will be less successful. Full engineering programs would take a long time to be established and would probably not allow Chicago to compete with MIT, Caltech, and Stanford for engineering students as those programs are much more established and prestigious.</p>
<p>@UMTYMP. I understand where you are coming from. My idea and many of my fellow alumni believe we should follow the smaller engineering “models” of the ivy league schools…where you still apply to the college along with everyone else without having a separate “application process” and declare one’s major after the first year or so. And as you said, they would have to fudge the common core somewhat like Columbia did…</p>
<p>I know that some of the best engineering schools are UC Berkeley, Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, Stanford, MIT, Caltech…and I don’t see the smaller programs competing with them now or in the future…</p>
<p>I guess I don’t see any particularly large benefits from adding a mediocre engineering school to an elite school like Chicago. Why do you think this would be a good idea for Chicago?</p>
<p>I have met too many outstanding bright young students over the years who are genuinely interested in multiple career options to “limit” themselves to a particular tract at such a young age…it is a travesty…</p>
<p>Many high school seniors want a STEM/engineering within a great liberal education environment…college is for exploring and deciding what you truly want to do…as you know nearly 80% or more in college change their majors or concentrations during their 4 years of study and along the way change their career choice as well.</p>
<p>Chicago offering engineering is just one more option that I believe is long overdue…</p>
<p>I think Chicago’s addition of molecular engineering is likely to be successful because they are already have faculty working in closely related areas and they are committing a lot of money to it. Neither of those would apply to a possible expansion of Chicago into a full engineering program. Also, ABET accreditation requirements don’t leave much for flexibility or exploring. I’m also somewhat skeptical that if a Chicago starts a fairly mediocre and unestablished engineering program it will draw many students.</p>
<p>Chicago has stated it is not interested in providing a typical engineering program. Molecular engineering, with its close ties to basic science, is the type of program that can thrive at the University.</p>
<p>I strongly believe that if there is a will they will find a way…as you know Chicago faculty members are one of the most highly paid professors in the country…and I could see them easily stealing away top professors from other institutions as they have done in the past…after all, it has a reputation of producing many Nobel laureates…</p>
<p>Like that old saying, “if you build it, they will come”…as it is, they will need someone with DEEP pockets to start the ball rolling…</p>
<p>“And as you said, they would have to fudge the common core somewhat like Columbia did…”</p>
<p>That’s not at all what happened at Columbia. When I was a student at Columbia in 1970’s no part of the Columbia College core had anything to do with SEAS. It is only recently that SEAS started to require parts of the Columbia College core as electives: either CC or Lit Hum but not both, either Art Hum or Music Hum but not both, etc… Columbia engineering used to be just like Penn and many other engineering schools with non-technical distribution requirements.</p>
<p>Further, Columbia College has added a two course Global Core requirement and the controversial Frontiers of Science requirement to its core at a time when Chicago has diminished its core. Because the core has grown in size at Columbia College since the 1990’s, it makes more sense these days for many students, especially pre-meds, to be in SEAS over Columbia College. SEAS has created a poor-man’s version of the Columbia College core to draw non-engineering students.</p>
<p>An engineering school isn’t going to happen at Chicago. Maybe an applied sciences department that does molecular engineering, quantum optics, material science and a few other things would work but definitely not a true engineering school with separate departments.</p>
<p>To be a realist about it: I’m sure that if a few alums offer the place a couple of billion dollars to found an engineering school, there will be one.</p>
<p>Matthew Tirrell does a good job of explaining what UChicago is up to in regard to Molecular Engineering and why it doesn’t want to go the traditional route of most engineering schools.</p>
<p>^^ I am very aware about the new molecular engineering vision they are embarking on…but it is very very limited to attract the kind of students I went to high school with back when and the students I meet today. I am also aware of the “traditions” of my alma mater emphasizing the life of the mind/theoretical bent toward knowledge…but, as Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison showed “genius” does not have to end with just “seeking” knowledge…application of knowledge to create/design/make can still fulfill our motto’s mission “so that human life may be enriched.” </p>
<p>As an active alumni living in an affluent town that sends many kids to Stanford, UC Berkeley, all Ivys each year…I am surprised at how few apply to Chicago because it just does not offer a true engineering program…It is disappointing to see that Chicago is greatly handicapped from the outset that parents and students alike don’t see it as a great educational option…</p>
<p>…and this is why I see the number of applications to Chicago in the foreseeable future stalling…lack of a true engineering program will be its RATE LIMITING STEP. I believe those on this forum will agree with me that some if not MOST of their smartest best friends in high school did not even consider applying to Chicago because of this fact.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to see how the application numbers will be in the next 2 to 10 years without an engineering program/SEAS…Chicago is the ONLY elite university without one that is ranked in the top 5 or top 10 or top 20 (even Dartmouth College has one)…</p>