About Us
About the School of Engineering
Welcome to the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering.
Our students blend technology with leadership and management skills, giving them the experience to advance in their careers. Our strong partnerships within the business community keep us current with industry trends and bring practical applications to the educational experience. Industry-experienced faculty and applied learning practices enhance the value of the learning and the lives of the learners.
We understand the needs of working adults,
and our flexible schedules and personal service accommodate the many demands on their time. Our students often begin taking continuing graduate courses as a career enhancing step, but find the benefits are much more - enhancing their entire lives.
The School of Engineering's rapidly growing department
is located on the St. Paul Campus of the University of St. Thomas. The school offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) and Electrical Engineering (BSEE); and Master's degrees in Manufacturing Systems Engineering (MMSE), Manufacturing Systems (MSMS), Technology Management (MSTM) and Systems Engineering (MSYE). Certificate programs are available in: Materials Science, Quality, Product Development, Engineering Management, Manufacturing Management, Medical Device Manufacturing and Medical Product Clinical Studies.
Engineering educational programs are tailored to meet
the technological needs of the companies operating in our region. Accordingly, our curriculum specializes in several key technologies including:
- Mechatronics: the electro-mechanical system knowledge relating to devices from factory automation and robotics to pacemakers
- Embedded Systems: microcomputing as a controller of a complete system
- Finite Element Analysis: numerical simulation of mechanical, biomedical and thermo/fluid systems
- Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow: understanding the thermal properties of electronic systems
- Control Systems: causing a system variable to conform to some desired value
- Medical Devices: design and manufacture
- Manufacturing: strategies implemented through people for production of goods and services.
the School of Engineering offers executive seminars, certificate programs, short courses, in-house training and applied research. All department programming--in engineering, in entrepreneurship, and in the liberal arts--is built upon a firm foundation of values and embedded in the context of industry leadership.
As a high-energy, entrepreneurial unit of the University of St. Thomas, the school supports the University's rationale for existence as expressed in the University's mission statement.
Student Body
The UST School of Engineering serves two distinct student segments, graduate and undergraduate, each with unique requirements and expectations. Undergraduate students include those seeking an engineering major (BSME, BSEE, Pre-Engineering, dual degree, 3-2 program) or engineering minor. Undergraduate engineering students attend the program because UST offers a values-based, liberal arts foundation for an engineering education. Graduate students are working adults seeking to enhance their personal and professional lives through continuing education. Graduate students attend UST because of its applications orientation, industry-experienced faculty, values-based learning, and relevant content responsive to industry needs and the convenient, flexible scheduling of courses during evenings and weekends designed especially for working adults.
Faculty
School of Engineering faculty and staff are comprised of industry-experienced professionals. Each of the eight full-time faculty members (with a combined industry experience of more than 126 years) have earned their Ph.D. degrees in engineering and/or related fields-Metallurgical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering (3), and Management.
The majority of graduate courses are taught by 40 adjunct faculty members who are full-time professionals from area companies. Forty percent of the adjuncts have Ph.D. degrees; 40 percent have masters degrees. The average length of engineering service for part-time adjunct faculty members is 6.7 years.
Their are four full-time and one part-time engineering administrative, laboratory, and technical staff.
Facilities
Equipment and facilities provide the resources necessary for high quality instruction in these technological areas. We are housed in the 210,000 sq. ft. Frey Science and Engineering Center completed in 1997. Our state-of-the art facility consists of Owens and O'Shaughnessy Science Halls as well as a portion of Binz Hall. The engineering faculty designed our 9,949 sq. ft. laboratories to meet the high-tech requirements of the profession and to be flexible and adaptable to changing industry needs. Faculty members equipped the laboratories with tools including production machinery, research instrumentation, test equipment, educational demonstrations and models, and simulation and design software.
We feature a strong infrastructure of human and material resources:
- The entire facility is equipped with communication technologies of the latest types: Intranet, Internet, video, etc.
- All classrooms, faculty offices, and laboratories are connected to UST's "wired campus."
- Wireless networking is available in all engineering classrooms and labs as well as the libraries. Local area networks are linked via high-speed connections to the Internet.
- All teaching, laboratory and faculty computers are replaced when they are three years old with current equipment (a University-wide procedure) to maintain currency in computational tools.
The School's policy is to credential our programs at the highest level. All of our programs are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of North Central Association. In addition, our BSEE, BSME and MMSE programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET).
Industry Advisory Board, Board of Governors
The Industry Advisory Board supplies the voice of industry to the School of Engineering. This group of 28 volunteer executives from industry and other organizations advises on the strategic direction of the school. The IAB's guidance assures that engineering remains customer-focused, responsive, and practical applications-oriented. In addition, a Board of Governors also contributes to the School of Engineering.
Relationships to Other Organizations
The School of Engineering regularly partners with neighboring educational institutions such as the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Dunwoody Institute, several colleges within the Minnesota System of College and University (MnSCU), Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) and on a number of projects, events, and complementary course offerings. Similarly, it partners with other UST departments and divisions such as the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, School of Education, School of Social Work and Graduate Programs in Software.
Relationships with professional engineering societies and government agencies are vital to the program as well. For example, the Science, Technology, and Engineering Preview Summer Camp for Girls (STEPS) program involves the Society for Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and UST in a summer camp for girls interested in pursuing careers in science and technology. This on-going camp is funded in part by Medtronic, ADC Telecommunications, 3M and several other organizations.
The school enjoys mutually beneficial relationships with area businesses such as Seagate, 3M, Medtronic, and Nexen. While Engineering offers on-site courses and interns, companies contract for consulting and applied research. The curriculum development process directly involves industry partners to insure fulfillment of their current and future needs.
A formal 3-2 Program relationship exists between the School of Engineering and the University of Minnesota, Washington University-St. Louis, Kettering Institute, and Notre Dame. Formal articulation agreements guide the flow of students from feeder schools (i.e. state community colleges). The Minnesota Council of Engineering Deans, in which UST participates, tracks engineering enrollments and provide seamless course credit transfer across institutional boundaries.
