January 2009
Dear Friends of Engineering,
Public universities nationwide are struggling with reduced state budgets. Although a relatively small portion of Engineering’s budget comes from the state, we face difficult decisions. In proposing cuts we have established two priorities: preserve what’s closest to our students and to our labs. As we strive to keep the academic and research mission solid, we face a future where positions will remain vacant and much of our flexibility in funding will disappear.
Our local business community also feels the economic crunch. I am particularly concerned that the drying up of venture capital funds will make it more difficult for our research innovations to make it to market. I am working with local investors and UW’s Tech Transfer to ensure that funding is available for the promising ideas of our faculty and students.
When I was at GE we had a saying: “Good companies survive bad times; great companies prepare for good times.” With that in mind, we’re focused on the future with a number of developing initiatives, including the molecular engineering program. We are ready to break ground on a molecular engineering building that will immediately create construction jobs for our local economy. This new program will put us at the forefront of research in clean energy and global health and allow us to compete for growing federal research dollars and integrate modern tools into the engineering curriculum.
Another program on the rise is our Technical Communication department, which changed its name to “Human-Centered Design and Engineering,” a title that better describes its focus. This department, and its collaborators throughout the CoE and UW, is one of the top human-computer interaction groups in the country. I’d like to see this emerging field included in the U.S. News and World Report rankings to recognize excellence in the discipline.
Engineers will play a crucial role in solving today’s challenges, and I remain optimistic in our mission to educate tomorrow’s leaders. Read more about recent news in this issue of Washington Engineer.
Sincerely,
Matt O’Donnell
Frank and Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering