Message from the Dean - August 2009
Dear Friends of UW Engineering,
Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of watching the newest batch of Washington engineers graduate. It's always exciting to share in our students' achievements. Engineering schools not only design tools for the future, we train the people who will shape technology for the next generation.
The ceremony capped off a great year for our engineering students. The College had our highest enrollment ever – more than 2,000 undergraduates and almost 1,300 graduate students. And it's not just about quantity, it's also about quality. Our students this year performed spectacularly. The top UW undergraduate student was one of our own: Pavan Vaswani, a graduating senior majoring in computer science, neurobiology and biochemistry, was awarded the President's Medal for the top academic record among the more than 7,500 graduating students. Pavan plans to pursue an MD-PhD for a career in medical research.
It's not only undergraduates who shone. This year a whopping 12 bioengineering doctoral students picked up national fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. In 2009 UW Bioengineering ranked second nationally for such prestigious graduate-student awards.
Finally, I'm excited to announce that this fall select incoming students will have a "free ticket" to any of nine UW engineering departments. Previously we could offer outstanding students early guaranteed admission to just some departments – this extends that virtually across the board. As dean, I pushed to make this happen because it helps us attract the best students, and gives undergraduates the flexibility to discover their true passion once they get here.
In this issue of Washington Engineer you can find out much more about the research achievements and teaching innovations that make this institution great. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of your summer.
Sincerely,
Matt O’Donnell
Frank and Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering
