When I look at the world around us, I am captivated by the role of engineers. From the mobile phones carried by more than 6 billion people, to the computer systems that keep our lights on and stock market operating, we rely on the ingenuity of engineers.

Engineers, in turn, rely on access to modern facilities where they can conduct their research and teach the next generation of innovators. This year, the college completed a Master Plan to keep the college a leader of research and a continued generator of economic vitality.

Among the plan’s chief recommendations is a new environment to support 21st-century teaching and research. Most of our classrooms and labs date to when President Kennedy was in office. They simply do not accommodate today’s equipment or space needs and lack common areas where faculty and students can fuse ideas from across disciplines. The new, 195,000-sqauare-foot proposed building on the Kingston Campus and a new ocean engineering center at the Bay Campus would change that.

New facilities will not appear overnight. But I am personally hopeful that others share my sense of urgency in providing the physical environments necessary to ensure the success of our students and research.

In the meantime, we will continue to innovate even in our current facilities. In the following pages and an accompanying appendix, you’ll find how our most recent innovations are shaping the world around us every day.

Sincerely,
Raymond M. Wright, Ph.D., P.E.
Dean, College of Engineering
Vincent & Estelle Murphy Chair in Engineering

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