Engineering celebrates milestone

The UNL College of Engineering is celebrating 100 years of service to the citizens of Nebraska. In homage to the milestone, university administrators, engineering faculty, alumni of the college and engineering students are celebrating the centennial with a Nov. 5 gala.

While much has changed in engineering over the past century, one thing has not – engineers thrive on solving problems and improving products and processes.

A hundred years ago in Nebraska, the challenge at hand was how to shape the university’s engineering education to help develop the state. Several early Nebraska engineers advocated for the university’s engineering program to grow beyond its 19th century roots in the Industrial College on the Lincoln campus.

In the early 20th century, electrical engineering professor O.J. Ferguson wrote: “Nebraska’s needs for power, to be applied to the daily uses and conveniences of her citizens, are not fully being met. Upon the engineering in Nebraska devolves the duty of changing these practices and conditions. Upon the University of Nebraska falls the task of supplying trained men who can ‘engineer’ these processes. … (It) must vigorously attack the knotty problems which bind our hands and tie our feet. It must break new paths for us to tread. It must open new fields for us to cultivate. It must build new industries to employ our sons and daughters.”

In 1909, the University of Nebraska College of Engineering was established by the state legislature’s House Roll No. 76 (Kotouc bill). With that came an $115,000 mechanical engineering laboratory.

The college’s newly appointed dean, C.R. Richards, was adamant that the facility be designed to serve specialized technical needs. Before the labs were built, most engineering classes were theoretical by necessity. The new labs (known today as Richards Hall) incorporated woodworking and machine shops, a foundry, and laboratories for heat, steam, gas, forging, drafting, and hydraulics, as well as the usual lecture rooms and offices. The college also expanded to East Campus where the 1918 building now known as Chase Hall, home of agricultural and biological systems engineering programs, is named for an early leader.

In the 1920s as dean, Ferguson continued to pursue the college’s development. He wrote: “The College of Engineering is not as well housed on Nebraska’s campus as are some of the other colleges. Nevertheless, we have some good buildings, much excellent equipment, a good sound faculty and body of students. … Nebraska offers a nearly virgin field for the engineer.”

With passing decades, Nebraska’s engineering programs grew-in numbers of enrolled students and in their achievements. Through difficult times for the nation in World War I and II, skills of Nebraska’s engineers were tested. At other times, clever engineering stunts added humor to campus life.

Engineers’ pride in the annual E-Week tradition drew attention, although the Daily Nebraskan once referred to engineers as “shop men … calloused, grimy-handed, north side tenement dwellers.” (The engineers retaliated by stealing the press and producing their own DN edition, expounding the splendors of E-Week.) E-Week legends were extended in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s with a famous feud between engineering and law students. When the words on an E-Week dirigible were changed from Engineers’ Week to Pharmacy Week, law students were suspected. Several hundred engineers approached the law school fraternity house and were hit with rotten eggs. Hosing by police and firefighters ended the incident, and students paid for campus damages.

Primarily, the UNL College of Engineering has been known for such contributions as the SAFER barrier that saves lives in NASCAR, and innovations with nanomaterials for thin films that create super-strong or more energy-efficient surfaces. Additional programs, including the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction at Omaha’s Peter Kiewit Institute, have further enhanced the college’s reputation.

This year, as the College of Engineering celebrates its first century (1909-2009), for the first time more than 3,000 students are enrolled. Much in engineering has evolved (from sliderules to supercomputers) but Dean David Allen heartily agrees with his early counterpart, O.J. Ferguson, who wrote: “The College of Engineering is a forward-looking institution. It sees a future of continually enlarging service.”

– By Carole Wilbeck, College of Engineering

College of Engineering Timeline

2009: The UNL College of Engineering celebrates its first 100 years: 1909-2009. For the first time, more than 3,000 students are enrolled in the college.

2008: $27.6 million in research funding was received by the College of Engineering — a significant portion of UNL’s cumulative $108.3 million in research grant funding in fiscal year 2008.

2000s: Nebraska Engineering established its highly regarded engineering study abroad program. Othmer Hall opened for classes; it was named for chemical engineering alumnus Donald Othmer.

1990s: State-of-the-art facilities with The Peter Kiewit Institute for Information Science, Technology and Engineering opened in Omaha. PKI includes the UNL College of Engineering (including The Charles Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction), and the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Information Science and Technology.

1984: Dr. William Splinter, head of the Agricultural Engineering Department, was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

1970s: Engineering programs moved to Nebraska Hall, augmented by Scott Engineering Center (and the “Link” that connects them). The college’s name became the College of Engineering and Technology, which included engineering technology programs in Omaha, administered by the college in Lincoln.

1962: E-Week’s first 50 years were celebrated. Displays contrasted past and present technological achievements: from huge radio tubes and elementary electromagnets advancing to miniature transistors, “sonic boom” shock tubes, model missile silos and an ion engine for space travel. Attracting an attendance of approximately 10,000 guests, E-Week was the second largest public spectator event on campus.

1956: In a national study of Who’s Who in Engineering, Nebraska had 5.66% of its graduates listed — the second highest engineering school rating in the nation.

1920: Nebraska established a Tractor Test Law. More than 1,750 tractors (ranging in horsepower from 1.5 to over 400) have been tested at the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory. This East Campus facility remains the world standard for tractor performance testing and is part of the Department of Agricultural Engineering.

1912: The annual open house event now known as E-Week began.

1909: College of Engineering formed by Nebraska’s stat elegislature (Kotouc bill)

1902: The Blueprint, the college’s student-run publication for engineering, began (and continues today).

1880s: Engineering’s enrollment increased from 13 students in 1884 to 90 students in 1889.

1877: Civil engineering courses — created by Lt. Edgar S. Dudley, the first Commandant of Cadets at the university — were offered in Lincoln. First equipment included one transit; one 2,000 pound cement tester; and some common surveying instruments

1869: Under its charter, the University of Nebraska included a College of Practical Science, Civil Engineering and Mechanics, and a College of Agriculture — which soon merged into the Industrial College.

Did You Know?

• Nebraska’s engineering program has three campuses in two cities – Lincoln and Omaha.

• The Nebraska Engineering program includes 12 academic units – Architectural Engineering, Biological Systems Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Computer and Electronics Engin-eering, Construction Management, Construction Systems, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Mechan-ics, Industrial and Management Systems, and Mechanical Engin-eering.

• Four degree programs in the Nebraska Engineering program include Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Engineering and Ph.D.

• Three teams from Nebraska Engineering have conducted experiments in NASA’s Microgravity University in the past two years.