In this issue ...

Dean's Letter

Alumni Board

Letter from
Alumni President

Ray Thompson
Class of '79

Civil Engineering News

Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Engineering Technology
News

Mechanical Engineering
News

Dave Lebakken
Class of '98

High Speed
Computing Lab

Mock Interviews

Alumni Class
Notes

Interships a Win-Win 

Having completed my first full year as dean of the Lee College of Engineering, I suppose that I'm now a sophomore dean. I enjoyed learning many new things during my freshman year, and expect to make good use of that knowledge in the years ahead.

As dean, I have the extraordinary privilege of trying to provide an environment that will enable discovery and learning. When students, faculty and community partners succeed within this environment, I succeed and we all succeed.

In building the infrastructure needed to sustain a thriving environment for education and research, we have some major tasks before us this year. A few examples include:

• creation of a Ph.D. program in Infrastructure and Environmental Systems,
  
• launching the new Global Institute for Environmental and Energy Systems,
  
• planning a new department in Systems Engineering and Engineering Management,
  
• putting in place a college-wide multidisciplinary design program,
  
• completing the design and programming of the new buildings provided as part of the bond package,
  
• and starting a Leadership Academy for engineering undergraduates.
  

The College of Engineering is in a strong position to achieve all of our goals. USNEWS recently ranked us in the top 100 engineering colleges in the nation. I don’t put much stock in rankings, but this does tell me that all our hard work is making us visible and that our image is good.

Our college possesses a number of strengths that will be important in achieving our goals. These strengths include ever-increasing research funding; expanding undergraduate and graduate programs; new classroom, laboratory and research facilities; and good evaluation and improvement processes.

Of course there are some bumps in the road because of budget uncertainty in North Carolina, but increased enrollment, an expanding externally supported research budget and new funds tied to our reclassification as a doctoral-research intensive institution are headed our way. Through the continued dedication of our faculty and staff, the enthusiasm of our students, and the involvement of our professional engineering partners, we will succeed within our current environment while building an even brighter future. It’s an exciting time for the Lee College of Engineering, and I’m looking forward to my sophomore year as dean.

Bob Johnson

Dean

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