Cornell University College of Engineering
Encyclopedia
The College of Engineering is a division of Cornell University
that was founded in 1870 as the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts. It is one of four private undergraduate colleges at Cornell that are not statutory colleges.
It currently grants bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in a variety of applied fields, and is the third largest undergraduate college at Cornell by student enrollment. The college offers over 450 engineering courses, and has an annual research budget exceeding US$112 million. Bill Gates
donated $25 million in 2006 for the construction of a new building for Computer Science.
The College of Engineering was founded in 1870 as the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts. The program was housed in Sibley Hall on what has since become the Arts Quad
, both of which are named for Hiram Sibley
, the original benefactor whose contributions were used to establish the program. The college took its current name in 1919, when the Sibley College merged with the College of Civil Engineering. It was housed in Sibley, Lincoln, Franklin, Rand and Morse Halls. In the 1940s the college moved to the southern end of Cornell's campus.
The college is known for a number of firsts. In 1883, the first course of study in electrical engineering
in the world was introduced at Cornell. In 1889, the college took over electrical engineering from the Department of Physics, establishing the first department in this field. The college awarded the nation's first doctorates in both electrical engineering and industrial engineering. The Department of Computer Science, established in 1965 jointly under the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences
, is also one of the oldest in the country.
For many years, the college offered a five-year undergraduate degree program. However, in the 1960s, the course was shortened to four years for a B.S. degree with an optional fifth year leading to a masters of engineering degree. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Cornell offered a Master of Nuclear Engineering program, with graduates gaining employment in the nuclear industry. However, after the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, employment opportunities in that field dimmed and the program was dropped. Cornell continued to operate its on-campus nuclear reactor as a research facility following the close of the program. For most of Cornell's history, Geology was taught in the College of Arts and Sciences. However, in the 1970s, the department was shifted to the engineering college and Snee Hall was built to house the program. After World War II, the Graduate School of Aerospace Engineering was founded as a separate academic unit, but later merged into the engineering college.
Cornell Engineering is home to many teams that compete in student design competition
s and other engineering competitions. Presently, there are teams that compete in the Baja SAE
, Automotive X-Prize (see Cornell 100+ MPG Team
), UNP Satellite Program, DARPA Grand Challenge
, AUVSI Underwater Vehicle Competition, Formula SAE
, RoboCup
, Solar Decathlon
, Genetically Engineered Machines, and others.
program at Cornell was ranked as being No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report in 2008. Cornell's operations research
and industrial engineering
program ranked fourth in nation, along with the master's program in financial engineering. Cornell's computer science
program ranks among the top five in the world, and it ranks fourth in the quality of the graduate education.
The college is a leader in nanotechnology. In a survey done by a nanotechnology magazine Cornell University was ranked as being the best at nanotechnology
commercialization, 2nd best in terms of nanotechnology facilities, the 4th best at nanotechnology research and the 10th best at nanotechnology industrial outreach.
With about 3,000 undergraduates and 1,300 graduate students, the college is the third-largest undergraduate college at Cornell by student enrollment. It is divided into twelve departments and schools:
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The Engineering Quad, was designed in the 1940s and 1950s on a site previously occupied by the Old Armory and faculty housing, using a master plan developed by the Perkins and Will
firm. It has undergone major changes in recent years, particularly with the completion of Duffield Hall. In 2004, relandscaping with a design inspired by Cascadilla Gorge was completed and its landmark sundial
was restored to its rightful place on the quad (after having been stored in Upson Hall during the construction period). Also, modern and open collaborative working spaces were introduced with the construction of a large atrium
connecting Duffield, which houses research and teaching facilities for nanoscale science and engineering, with Phillips and Upson (1956) Halls. Connected to Upson Hall, away from the quad, are Grumman Hall (1957) and Frank H.T. Rhodes Hall (1990), which currently houses the Cornell Theory Center
. On the southern end of the Quad, next to Upson and near Cascadilla Creek, are Kimball, Thurston and Bard (1963) Halls, all part of a single brick and concrete structure. Thurston is the home to the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics department, and Bard Hall the home of the Material Sciences department. Between Upson and Kimball stands Ward Hall (1963), the soon to be closed down and former building for nuclear sciences. Next to Bard, and across the street from the Cornell Law School
, stand Snee Hall (1984) and Hollister Hall (1957). Carpenter Hall (1956), containing the Engineering Library, stands next to Hollister on the northwestern corner. It is one of the smallest buildings on campus and the site of a protracted anti-war building occupation in 1972. The edge of northern face of the quad, mostly open space, is lined with trees along Campus Road. Across Campus Road is F.W. Olin Hall (1941), the home of the Chemical Engineering department.
Gates Hall, funded in part by a $25 million gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is in the planning stages. The building will be located across Campus Road from Barton Hall on the current site of the Grumman Squash Courts parking lot. It will house the Department of Computer Science and the Faculty of Computing and Information Sciences. Construction of the building is predicted to begin in March 2012.
Design has also been initiated for a new building that will replace Carpenter Hall and the north portion of Hollister Hall, providing new space for the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and for the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
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The College of Engineering offers 13 undergraduate majors, 18 undergraduate minors, 16 MS/PhD fields and 15 Master of Engineering
fields. The College of Engineering grants degrees in the following programs of study.
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
that was founded in 1870 as the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts. It is one of four private undergraduate colleges at Cornell that are not statutory colleges.
It currently grants bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in a variety of applied fields, and is the third largest undergraduate college at Cornell by student enrollment. The college offers over 450 engineering courses, and has an annual research budget exceeding US$112 million. Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
donated $25 million in 2006 for the construction of a new building for Computer Science.
History
Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is a division of Cornell University. It has been part of the university since its founding, although its name has changed over time. It grants bachelors degrees, and masters and doctorates through affiliation with the Cornell University Graduate School...
, both of which are named for Hiram Sibley
Hiram Sibley
Hiram Sibley , was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and later resided in Rochester, New York. He became interested in the work of Samuel Morse involving the telegraph.In 1840, he joined with Morse and Ezra Cornell to create a...
, the original benefactor whose contributions were used to establish the program. The college took its current name in 1919, when the Sibley College merged with the College of Civil Engineering. It was housed in Sibley, Lincoln, Franklin, Rand and Morse Halls. In the 1940s the college moved to the southern end of Cornell's campus.
The college is known for a number of firsts. In 1883, the first course of study in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
in the world was introduced at Cornell. In 1889, the college took over electrical engineering from the Department of Physics, establishing the first department in this field. The college awarded the nation's first doctorates in both electrical engineering and industrial engineering. The Department of Computer Science, established in 1965 jointly under the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences
Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is a division of Cornell University. It has been part of the university since its founding, although its name has changed over time. It grants bachelors degrees, and masters and doctorates through affiliation with the Cornell University Graduate School...
, is also one of the oldest in the country.
For many years, the college offered a five-year undergraduate degree program. However, in the 1960s, the course was shortened to four years for a B.S. degree with an optional fifth year leading to a masters of engineering degree. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Cornell offered a Master of Nuclear Engineering program, with graduates gaining employment in the nuclear industry. However, after the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, employment opportunities in that field dimmed and the program was dropped. Cornell continued to operate its on-campus nuclear reactor as a research facility following the close of the program. For most of Cornell's history, Geology was taught in the College of Arts and Sciences. However, in the 1970s, the department was shifted to the engineering college and Snee Hall was built to house the program. After World War II, the Graduate School of Aerospace Engineering was founded as a separate academic unit, but later merged into the engineering college.
Cornell Engineering is home to many teams that compete in student design competition
Student design competition
A student design competition is a specific form of a student competition relating to design. Design competitions can be technical or purely aesthetic. The objective of technical competitions is to introduce students to real-world engineering situations and to teach students project-management and...
s and other engineering competitions. Presently, there are teams that compete in the Baja SAE
Baja SAE
Baja SAE is an intercollegiate design competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers . Teams of students from universities all over the world design and build small off-road cars. The cars all have engines of the same specifications...
, Automotive X-Prize (see Cornell 100+ MPG Team
Cornell 100+ MPG Team
The Cornell 100+ MPG Team was the first officially registered university team competing in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize Competition...
), UNP Satellite Program, DARPA Grand Challenge
DARPA Grand Challenge
The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense...
, AUVSI Underwater Vehicle Competition, Formula SAE
Formula SAE
Formula SAE is a student design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers . The competition was started back in 1978 and was originally called SAE Mini Indy.-Concept:...
, RoboCup
RoboCup
RoboCup is an international robotics competition founded in 1997. The aim is to develop autonomous soccer robots with the intention of promoting research and education in the field of artificial intelligence...
, Solar Decathlon
Solar Decathlon
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an international competition that challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house...
, Genetically Engineered Machines, and others.
Reputation
Cornell's College of Engineering has been ranked as being one of the top seven engineering programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. The engineering physicsEngineering physics
Engineering physics is the study of the combined disciplines of physics, engineering and mathematics in order to develop an understanding of the interrelationships of these three disciplines. Fundamental physics is combined with problem solving and engineering skills, which then has broad...
program at Cornell was ranked as being No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report in 2008. Cornell's operations research
Operations research
Operations research is an interdisciplinary mathematical science that focuses on the effective use of technology by organizations...
and industrial engineering
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
program ranked fourth in nation, along with the master's program in financial engineering. Cornell's computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
program ranks among the top five in the world, and it ranks fourth in the quality of the graduate education.
The college is a leader in nanotechnology. In a survey done by a nanotechnology magazine Cornell University was ranked as being the best at nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
commercialization, 2nd best in terms of nanotechnology facilities, the 4th best at nanotechnology research and the 10th best at nanotechnology industrial outreach.
Departments and schools
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics
- Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
- Department of Biomedical Engineering
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- School of Operations Research and Information Engineering
- Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
The Engineering Quadrangle
Perkins and Will
Perkins+Will was founded in Chicago in 1935 by and ., on the belief that design has the power to transform lives and enhance society...
firm. It has undergone major changes in recent years, particularly with the completion of Duffield Hall. In 2004, relandscaping with a design inspired by Cascadilla Gorge was completed and its landmark sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
was restored to its rightful place on the quad (after having been stored in Upson Hall during the construction period). Also, modern and open collaborative working spaces were introduced with the construction of a large atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
connecting Duffield, which houses research and teaching facilities for nanoscale science and engineering, with Phillips and Upson (1956) Halls. Connected to Upson Hall, away from the quad, are Grumman Hall (1957) and Frank H.T. Rhodes Hall (1990), which currently houses the Cornell Theory Center
Cornell Theory Center
The Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing , housed at Franklin H.T. Rhodes Hall on the campus of Cornell University, is one of five original centers in the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Centers Program...
. On the southern end of the Quad, next to Upson and near Cascadilla Creek, are Kimball, Thurston and Bard (1963) Halls, all part of a single brick and concrete structure. Thurston is the home to the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics department, and Bard Hall the home of the Material Sciences department. Between Upson and Kimball stands Ward Hall (1963), the soon to be closed down and former building for nuclear sciences. Next to Bard, and across the street from the Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...
, stand Snee Hall (1984) and Hollister Hall (1957). Carpenter Hall (1956), containing the Engineering Library, stands next to Hollister on the northwestern corner. It is one of the smallest buildings on campus and the site of a protracted anti-war building occupation in 1972. The edge of northern face of the quad, mostly open space, is lined with trees along Campus Road. Across Campus Road is F.W. Olin Hall (1941), the home of the Chemical Engineering department.
Future Developments
The College of Engineering has developed a facilities master plan that calls for replacements and renovations of buildings on the Engineering Quad as well as addressing programs housed elsewhere on the campus. Weill Hall, which opened in 2008, houses the Department of Biomedical Engineering. A new physical sciences building, currently constructed between Rockefeller and Baker Labs was completed in late 2010 and houses the School of Applied and Engineering Physics.Gates Hall, funded in part by a $25 million gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is in the planning stages. The building will be located across Campus Road from Barton Hall on the current site of the Grumman Squash Courts parking lot. It will house the Department of Computer Science and the Faculty of Computing and Information Sciences. Construction of the building is predicted to begin in March 2012.
Design has also been initiated for a new building that will replace Carpenter Hall and the north portion of Hollister Hall, providing new space for the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and for the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Degrees
Master of Engineering
A Master of Engineering or Master of Technology or Master of Science in Engineering A Master of Engineering (Magister in Ingeniaria) (abbreviated M.Eng., ME or MEng) or Master of Technology (abbreviated M.Tech. or MTech) or Master of Science in Engineering A Master of Engineering (Magister in...
fields. The College of Engineering grants degrees in the following programs of study.
| B.S. | M.Eng. Master of Engineering A Master of Engineering or Master of Technology or Master of Science in Engineering A Master of Engineering (Magister in Ingeniaria) (abbreviated M.Eng., ME or MEng) or Master of Technology (abbreviated M.Tech. or MTech) or Master of Science in Engineering A Master of Engineering (Magister in... |
M.S. / PhD | |
| Aerospace Engineering | O | O | |
| Applied and Engineering Physics | O | O | O |
| Applied Mathematics | O | ||
| Atmospheric Sciences | O | ||
| Biological Engineering | O | O | O |
| Biomedical Engineering | O | O | |
| Biophysics | O | ||
| Chemical Engineering | O | O | O |
| Civil and Environmental Engineering | O | O | O |
| Computer Science | O | O | O |
| Electrical and Computer Engineering | O | O | O |
| Engineering Management | O | ||
| Geological Sciences | O | O | O |
| Information Science | O | O | |
| Materials Science and Engineering | O | O | O |
| Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering | O | O | O |
| Nuclear Engineering | O | ||
| Operations Research and Engineering | O | O | O |
| Statistics | O | ||
| Systems Engineering | O | ||
| Theoretical and Applied Mechanics | O | O |