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elcome to the 2023 issue of St. Thomas Engineer! It has been another year marked by incredible accomplishments and commitment to the engineering educational experience at St. Thomas. I have always said that our greatest achievement in building this young School of Engineering has been the dynamic, resilient team we have assembled who bring so much of themselves to work every day. There is always more to come with our faculty and staff in terms of innovation around St. Thomas Engineering.
The bright lights on our horizon are now getting bigger and taller. We are deep into the construction phase of the four-story, $110 million Schoenecker Center supporting engineering, arts and the sciences. The new facility is scheduled to open next spring. The building will increase classroom, lab and collaboration space in the School of Engineering by nearly 70%, while advancing innovative programming at the intersection of all the STEAM disciplines. We continue to lead the campuswide effort to support students transferring from Minnesota’s two-year college system. Over the past two years, we have been awarded nearly $4 million in funding to support scholarships and programming to onboard these students. In the past year, research funding to engage students in our labs has eclipsed last year’s record high. And we continue to develop new programs and lab capabilities to engage our students at every level of their experience. Our senior design students even practiced empathic engineering in Peru to help improve conditions for farmers. As one of the youngest engineering programs in the nation, we are building something truly special here in Minnesota. At the heart of this effort is the evolution of a national model of how to engage students from the first-year experience to the Senior Design Clinic, and then continue their growth through our professional master’s degree programs. Excellence in design and discovery requires reliance on the questioning mindset fostered by a liberal arts education, teamwork, hands-on skills and a rigorous technical education that are brought together here at St. Thomas. Our St. Thomas Engineer magazine is just a snapshot of what is going on at the University of St. Thomas’ School of Engineering. I encourage you to drop us a line, follow us on LinkedIn or just plan a visit. We would love to give you a sense of the energy of our students, our faculty and the business community that surround us. And with our University of St. Thomas Engineering team, there is always more to come. Cheers, Don
Dr. Don Weinkauf Dean, School of Engineering
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