25 years and counting: NMSU College of Engineering works to inspire, train students

LAS CRUCES ? You are smack dab at the start of national Engineering Week. What a perfect time to celebrate an anniversary. New Mexico State University's College of Engineering turns 125 years old this year and the college plans to kick off its celebration this week and recognize it's longevity until homecoming in the fall.

"National Engineers Week is something we celebrate every year with many activities," said Patricia Sullivan, assistant dean of the college. "Our students will do things for the student population throughout the week."

There's a weenie roast today. Next, the campus will swell some with the addition of potential future engineers.

"On Tuesday we've got about 250 high school students from across the state to (come and) tour the college and hear about careers in engineering," Sullivan said.

The week will be capped with the Slide-Rule Golf Tournament.

"It's a fundraising effort for our scholarships," said Linda Fresques, coordinator of communications and special events. "Last year we raised $23,000 for scholarships."

"Our target (this year) is $25,000," said Sullivan.

College of engineering

Sullivan said that NMSU's College of Engineering is the oldest and largest in the state, with an enrollment of about 2,600.

"Through our alums and the work we do, we have made a lot of contributions to the local economy and the state," Sullivan said. "Enrollment over the past three years has been growing, I believe we're over 3 percent. While

the university has been flat, we've actually seen increase in enrollment."

She said the college is working on curriculum revision and focusing on ways to innovate entrepreneurism.

"We've teamed up with the Arrowhead Center and also the business college," she said. "We're creating a culture not only to foster students but to create new businesses or companies that want to hire."

The Arrowhead Center is a business incubator on campus that works with entrepreneurs and utilizes the entire campus as needed.

"We're looking to develop a center for innovation," Sullivan said. "We're working with Arrowhead to create a space where students, faculty and businesses can come in and explore innovation ideas ... (where) they can actually do initial prototypes to help them through the thought process to design something."

Experiential learning

NMSU reports that retention in engineering programs is a problem nationwide. The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness shows that 40 percent of those enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics switch majors.

While some students enter college and might not have an engineering class right away as they as they take developmental math courses, experiential learning could be a way to keep those students on board as they learn.

"The challenge is to keep them committed to engineering until then," said College of Engineering Associate Dean of Academics Sonya Cooper. "We're trying to align project-based learning with our freshman experience to expose students to what engineers actually do."

Fresques reports that engineering students are taking what they learn out of the classroom and laboratories and into the local community and beyond. Students have applied their engineering skills on real-life projects for years and plans are now underway to make experiential learning part of the formal engineering curriculum.

"Experiential learning is the combination of community service and project-based learning," Cooper said.

For example, some students have been involved in mentoring middle and high school student teams participating in a robotics competition. Student volunteers have been involved in restoration of numerous projects, including restoration of the Amador Hotel in Las Cruces.

Groups like the Atomic Aggies, who are preparing for the NASA University Student Launch Initiative competition this coming April, participate in various outreach activities such as recent visits to Boys and Girls Clubs to increase interest in engineering through activities and presentations.

Brook Stockberger may be reached at 575-541-5457; follow him on Twitter @Bstockberger

Source: http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-business/ci_22610347/25-years-and-counting-nmsu-college-engineering-works?source=rss

bulls heat goldman sachs brandon carr knicks coach encyclopedia britannica pi white lion