Saluting our Schools

Diverse engineering students get support at the University of Iowa

The engineering school attracts top graduate and undergrad students. Programs, mentoring and financial coordination are all part of the Ethnic Inclusion Effort

The University of Iowa’s College of Engineering continues to attract students, setting a record for freshman enrollment in the fall of 2008 despite nationwide declines. U.S. News & World Report ranks the college among the top 20 percent of engineering programs nationally. Nine alumni are members of the National Academy of Engineering.

The college offers BS, MS and PhD degrees in biomedical, chemical and biochemical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer, industrial and mechanical engineering. The undergraduate biomedical engineering program is one of only forty-nine nationwide, and ranks eighth in number of BS degrees awarded.

Interdisciplinary programs are offered in computer-aided design and simulation, human factors, environmental health solutions, biotechnology, medical imaging, hydraulics and water/air resources, photopolymerization, and nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The school also offers a technological entrepreneurship certificate. The program prepares students for launching successful businesses: they explore the venture capital world, investigate the marketability of products and learn about technology transfer. The certificate may be earned concurrently with an engineering degree.

Engineering students excel
Total enrollment at the college now exceeds 1,700. Admission is competitive, with over 1,000 applicants for 300 undergrad places. ACT scores are in the top 10 percent, averaging 27.5 on a scale of 36. About 30 percent enter from community colleges.

The College of Engineering enrolls 15 percent of the university’s merit scholars even though it represents only 6 percent of overall university enrollment. In the past twenty-seven years, the university’s Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, which recognizes leadership, learning and loyalty, has gone to engineering grads twenty-one times. Scholarships are listed on the school’s website.

A professional development office helps students connect with internships and co-ops. Study-abroad programs are available in a variety of engineering disciplines. International programs recommended for engineering majors take place in Australia, Germany, Ireland, South Africa and the U.K.

The job placement rate for 2008-2009 undergrads was over 86 percent. The average salary was over $56,000. The college posts a list of employers on the student information page of its website.

Diversity is a priority
The engineering college is committed to increasing diversity. Underrepresented minorities account for 3.9 percent of undergrads; 6.5 percent of MS candidates and 12.9 percent of PhD candidates are U.S. minorities. Women are 22 percent of all students, 20 percent of undergrads and 30 percent of grad students.

Of tenure-track faculty, 9.6 percent are women and 2.4 percent minorities. The professional and scientific staff is 32.8 percent women, 13 percent minorities.

The college ranks twelfth nationwide in awarding doctoral degrees to women and seventeenth nationally in BS degrees.

Twenty-six student organizations are active in the college. MESA, NOBBChE, NSBE, SHPE and SWE have campus chapters, as do Engineers without Borders and Engineers for a Sustainable World.

MESA’s K-12 tutoring project gained momentum from the charismatic efforts of Kwame Owusu-Adom, who graduated in 2008. His enthusiasm has attracted other grad students to tutoring local kids.

Corporations fund ethnic inclusion effort
Increasing diversity at the doctoral level is the special province of the Ethnic Inclusion Effort for Iowa Engineering, a program funded by corporations to support diversity in the professional workforce. Recent sponsors have included Alcoa, John Deere, Rockwell Collins and more.

Natalie Potter, department assistant, works half time for the program, managing day-to-day operations. Director Tonya Peeples, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, networks with other universities to recruit graduate students.

“It’s important to the college as well as the sponsors to have this program,” notes Potter.

The program’s focus is to recruit and retain underrepresented U.S. PhD students. The program’s office tracks available outside financial support as well as departmental stipends, and follows through to be sure everything is in place for each student.

“We can’t guarantee financial support, but professor Peeples works diligently to find federal grants for our qualified students,” Potter says.

Beyond finances, the program assigns each student a faculty mentor from outside the student’s department. This gives students someone other than their advisor to turn to for advice and direction.

The program organizes events aimed at minority engineering students, like an annual presentation by a campus counseling center rep on strategies for members of underrepresented minorities on a predominantly white campus. Other speakers are brought in from outside or invited from the university’s faculty and staff. There’s a plan to invite Ethnic Inclusion Effort alumni to return to campus to share their experiences. Some programs are open to STEM undergrads from underrepresented minority groups, or grad students from other STEM departments on campus.

“The Ethnic Inclusion Effort offers students as many resources as possible,” says Potter. “We’re the go-to place for them.”

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