Anything and everything becomes a possibility because of the University of Tennessee’s
College of Engineering where the journey to excellence began in 1838 with a small surveying
course at what was then; East Tennessee College. Under the leadership of Joseph Estabrook,
scholars in math, science and engineering were hired to catapult the growth of what
was to finally become the University of Tennessee. Long before 1898 when Estabrook Hall was built
to house UT’s engineering program, bachelor’s degrees in civil, mechanical and mining engineering
were already being offered and coveted. That surveying course from 175 years ago is
still offered; only now digital equipment replaces drafting paper.
And those other initial courses have become seven departments, eight nationally-renowned
research centers and more than 100 technology-rich laboratories. Three degrees have spun into
12 undergraduate disciplines, 16 master’s degree programs and 14 PhD offerings for more
than 3,500 students. Our exemplary students will become tomorrow’s
National Academy of Engineering leaders, captains of industry, world-renowned scientists and
inventors. Our graduates represent more than 24,000 alumni in every state and in more than
80 countries. The College of Engineering’s irresistible
momentum is spelled with a capital T—tradition, talent, transformation—led by deans who
understood the power of our potential. Charles Ferris gained national prominence
by founding one of the first cooperative engineering programs in the country;
Nathan Dougherty ran the Southeastern Conference from Perkins Hall while blazing an undeniable
path for Tennessee engineering that led to phenomenal growth in student numbers, faculty
hires, new buildings, the scope of courses, and expanded research. It is no wonder that
the college’s most prestigious award was created and named in Dougherty’s honor in
1957; Under the leadership of Dr. Fred Peebles,
who became dean of the college in 1968, Fred Brown was hired to increase the number of
underrepresented engineering students. Brown’s contributions to education and diversity are
permanently etched into the university’s landscape as the namesake of the university’s
newest residence hall. After four decades, the Diversity Engineering
Program, is a beacon of light to hundreds of students, contributing to the college being
ranked among the Top 50 universities and colleges in the nation for graduation rates of African-American
engineering students. Engineers Day is a UT tradition that began
over 100 years ago with faculty and students constructing the road in front of Estabrook
Hall. Now the annual engineering showcase puts Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathmatics into action for more than 1,200 high school students.
And the signature, leading-edge Jerry E. Stoneking “engage™” program—named for the late
Dean Stoneking—prepares freshmen engineering students with a hands-on curriculum, focused
on discovery, innovation, excellence and teamwork. The extraordinary Tennessee engineering spirit
of other deans like Armor Granger,Charles Weaver, Robert Weaver, Bill Snyder, Way Kuo
and Wayne Davis have fueled an echelon of talented faculty and researchers:
Close to 30 endowed chairs, professorships and faculty fellows have been created by private
investments. Four chairs of excellence,
Coupled with dozens more distinguished chairs and chancellor’s professors prove to be
a game-changing gateway to inventive teaching and progressive research.
Since the 1940s, the flourishing academic collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory
has produced hundreds of joint appointments, including our Governor’s Chairs—nationally
and internationally renowned faculty whose interdisciplinary partnerships place us in
an elite class of premier research universities while strengthening the economic fabric of
Tennessee. Whether it’s solving challenges involving
energy and the environment or designing next generation robotics, the college’s groundbreaking
research is discovering solutions for today’s most grand engineering challenges.
An $18.5 million NSF and DOE grant is driving the creation of a responsive and flexible
continent-wide electrical grid. With $10 million in contracts, the Center
for Transportation Research is seeking solutions to rebuild the nation’s aging transportation
infrastructure. The Scintillation Materials Research Center
is developing crystal-like materials for radiation detectors that will revamp healthcare and
the nation’s security. Scientists at the UT-ORNL Joint Institute
for Advanced Materials are developing the building blocks for tomorrow’s devices and
technologies. The Institute of Biomedical Engineering—an
intellectual bridge with other departments and UT campuses—is unearthing answers to
help the body heal and for medication to be delivered seamlessly through improved medical
devices. Visionaries, like Min Kao and John Tickle,
realize these kinds of discoveries and programs that make a university truly great require
foresight and even greater resources. The Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science building and the John D. Tickle Engineering building are big structures
with even bigger stories. More than just physical footprints, these facilities, along with the
multi-million dollar construction of the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials facility
on the Cherokee Farms campus and an additional new engineering complex in sight, allow the
newest chapter in the lifelong quest for knowledge and understanding to begin for next-generation
engineering students. Steadfast progress continues to propel our
journey. And we're still dreaming of so much more because our distinguished history and
dynamic presence has taught us that anything is possible.