Another year in the books and what a fantastic year it was. We succeeded in maintaining our high national ranking and fine reputation for excellence during a year of record student enrollment and tight budgets at max space capacity. Moreover, we made a major modification to our undergraduate curriculum to provide students with the option of minors and certificates either by concentrating in-depth in specific areas of ME or pursuing interests outside ME and broadening skills in complimentary areas such as economics, public policy, and international affairs. Such experience will take our students further than ever before as they embark on careers that are inclusive of and span beyond mechanical engineering.
I'd be remiss not to take this time to congratulate the fine work of our faculty, four of whom were awarded NSF CAREER Awards just this Spring - Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb, Alper Erturk, David Hu, and Olivier Pierron. Also newsworthy was Brandon Dixon's receipt of a Gates Foundation Grant, as well as Jon Colton being named a Jefferson Science Fellow. Our faculty continue to go above and beyond the call of duty in both their professorships and research.
I must also show my sincerest appreciation to our outstanding staff for supporting all the efforts of the Woodruff School. Our people are what make coming to work fun. Thanks to our staff making the Woodruff School such a great place to work!
Still, this past year is just one of 125 years we've provided top-tier education to the world's most impressive students. The upcoming academic year marks our 125th Anniversary. We're calling it ME125. We'll be celebrating all year long with some exciting events - looking back on our history, as well as engineering our future. We hope you will join us on more than one occasion in the coming year. Details will be released soon when we launch an ME125 website. Stay tuned!
Best Regards,
William J. Wepfer
Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. School Chair