Doctor of Engineering, Honoris Causa

John M. Grandin is founding director of the International Engineering Program (IEP) and professor emeritus of German. The IEP is one of the first global engineering programs in the nation, and one of the few that educates truly bilingual engineers. Other schools look to URI as a leader in this field due to the vision of Grandin and his co-founder, the late Hermann Viets, former dean of the College of Engineering.

Dramatic enrollment growth in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures occurred with strong help from the IEP. The program combines engineering study with German, French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin Chinese and now a minor in Japanese. The program attracts outstanding undergraduate students from all over the country and exchange students from partner universities in each of the IEP language areas.

Major financial support has come to the IEP from governmental, corporate and private sources because of the efforts of Grandin and the other IEP faculty working in coordination with engineering faculty. Grandin has received numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Honor from the Federal Republic of Germany. He has published widely on cross-disciplinary initiatives. Grandin is the founder of the Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education, which brings together engineering and language faculty with university administrators and international educators to explore ways to prepare young engineers for the global workplace.