Prospective Engineers discover Opportunities at the 2012 Engineering Expo

Purdue University

Just before Sandy took a run up the east coast, the Fairfax County Public Schools in conjunction with Chantilly High School sponsored an Engineering Expo and College Fair.  The event was well attended by prospective engineers seeking information about colleges and summer opportunities.

And here is a little of what they learned:

• At Harvey Mudd College, the engineering department emphasizes hands-on experiential learning and sponsors “Clinic” projects to connect students with real-world technical problems for corporate clients both domestically and abroad.  And for the first time in almost 2 decades a new academic facility is being built on campus—the 70,000-square-foot Teaching and Learning Center is scheduled to go online in time for the 2013-14 academic year.
  
  
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is launching three new degree programs on its Arizona campus:  Astronomy, Cyber Intelligence and Security, and Software Engineering with an emphasis in Cybersecurity. The Daytona Beach campus now features state-of-the-art NCAA-approved athletics facilities including a track and field complex as well as a new turf softball field.
  
  
• James Madison University’s new engineering department graduated its first class this year and is well on the way to earning ABET accreditation.  The JMU engineering program distinguishes itself from other schools by offering, an integrated business curriculum, a strong liberal arts core, an integrated sustainability focus, and a 7-semester hands-on design experience. 
  
  
• Ohio Northern University’s five-year co-op program includes up to one year of work experience during the third and fourth years of the engineering program.  The freshman curriculum provides a sequence of engineering courses introducing undecided students to all engineering disciplines while building design and technical communication skills. And Ohio Northern offers one of very few Engineering Education programs resulting in a teaching license for grades 7 through 12.
  
  
• The Purdue College of Engineering offers a number of professional practice programs including 5- and 3-session cooperative education opportunities and intensive (6- to 7-month) internships.  About 50 percent of Purdue’s engineering co-op students are hired by their companies, and more than 90 percent of Purdue engineering grads are successfully placed professionally or academically within 6 months of graduation. 
  
  
• The University Of Maryland Clark School Of Engineering includes programs in Aerospace Engineering and Bioengineering, as well as Chemical and Biomolecular, Civil and Environmental, Computer, Electrical, Materials, and Mechanical Engineering.  In addition, UMd offers the only accredited fire protection undergraduate engineering program in the country and is creating a new undergraduate honors program to prepare cybersecurity specialists. 
  
  
• At the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, a private and state coalition supported the Creation of Wilsdorf Hall, the school’s 99,000-square-foot building for collaborative research in materials science and engineering, chemical engineering, and nanotechnology.
  
  
• Virginia Commonwealth University currently offers the most comprehensive nuclear engineering education program in the state and recently received approval to offer a doctoral degree in mechanical and nuclear engineering—the first such program in Virginia.  In addition, the Institute for Engineering and Medicine features one of the largest flexible research spaces in the US and has access to over $4 million in sophisticated nanocharacterization and nanoscale imaging equipment.
  
  
• Virginia Tech’s undergraduate program in Computer Science is located in Tech’s College of Engineering.  Degree tracks include creative/media computing; human computer interaction; knowledge, information and data; scientific computing; and systems and networking.