We are leading in times of unprecedented challenges for our world, for our country and for higher education. Over the course of a couple of decades, there have been growing discussions about the role that universities have to fulfill – the role to create a well-trained and ready workforce for all aspects of engineering employment and support within manufacturing companies, service companies, consulting firms, government agencies and elsewhere. Texas A&M University represents one of the schools that has been successful in creating a stream of well-trained engineers ready to enter the workforce.
The mission of the College of Engineering is to serve Texas, the nation and the global community by providing engineering graduates who are well-rounded in engineering fundamentals, instilled with the highest standards of professional and ethical behavior, and prepared to meet the complex technical challenges of society. In 2019, 57% of our graduates were employed immediately upon graduation and poised to fill the gap of engineers needed to make real change in our field.
We are facing the unique challenge of bringing students on campus and preparing them to be the top candidates in the job market. We are working to fulfill those needs for well-trained engineers as the geopolitical situation is continually changing and many of our students are facing financial and other difficulties. We are responding by offering Texas A&M engineering students graduating this spring and summer, with a 3.0 GPA or higher, expedited admittance to a Master of Engineering program through an application process called Quick Admit, to help them become better prepared to enter the job market following the economic storm that we are experiencing right now.
As enablers of that process, our faculty members have responded with resilience by making strides to not only continue with our mission to develop a strong engineering workforce, but to adapt and further expand our research operations and methods for student success. Several of our faculty have been actively involved in COVID-19-related research as a consequence of the sudden needs that the pandemic has created. In addition, faculty have adapted to the new teaching environment by developing and refining techniques for remote and online course and lab delivery while making a sustained effort to provide face-to-face instruction as much as safely possible. Further, they are investigating ways that these instructional techniques can be repurposed into normal teaching activities once the pandemic has concluded.
In this publication, you will see research and advancements made over the past year from our faculty, both senior and young faculty, in the areas of power and energy and biomedical engineering, and in the applications of lasers. We are looking forward to another productive year in spite of our circumstances. We wish the same for you.
Sincerely,
Miroslav M. Begovic
Department Head
College of Engineering Excellence Professor