Saluting our Schools

Northwestern's McCormick School: diverse and comprehensive

Collaborations with other schools are encouraged. A combined bachelors/masters program and part-time masters program are offered

Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Evanston, IL) has the advantage of size and funding to choose a more diverse student body. Membership in GEM helps by connecting the admissions officers to highly qualified minority grad-school applicants. The fall 2011 class of 800 PhD students is 21 percent underrepresented minorities, not counting international students.

"We still lag in terms of underrepresented minorities in graduate programs," but the school is working hard to change that, says Bruce A. Lindvall, assistant dean for graduate studies. "Not only is it the right thing to do for these groups, but everybody else benefits from having a diverse student body. When graduates get into the workforce, they will be working with people who are different from them."

Collaborations are encouraged
Collaborations with other organizations are encouraged. Biomedical engineering students work with the top-ranked Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to develop prosthetics for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. The department of chemistry collaborates with engineering students on nanotechnology research. Computer science students are working with the Knight News Innovation Laboratory, created with a four-year $4.2 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to improve digital tools used by journalists and community news and information providers.

Student projects gain recognition
Students pursuing certificates in global health technology apply technology to meeting needs in the developing world. A device to monitor babies' breathing and alert the mother if breathing stops, the KMC ApneAlert, was developed by an undergraduate team. The team recently won two prizes: a $10,000 award and entry into the top $150,000 competition for the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology Prize for Primary Healthcare competition, and the 2010 biomedical engineering innovation, design and entrepreneurship award from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.

"Biomedical engineering leads in that kind of innovation," says Lindvall.

Students turned the new Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center into the campus' first renewable energy source by covering the roof with a photovoltaic display. The Centennial solar panel system was designed and funded by Engineers for a Sustainable World and the Northwestern Sustainability Fund. Managed from start to completion by students, the project created the first LEED-certified building at Northwestern.

"The students felt strongly that we needed to be more green," notes Lindvall.

Encouraging graduate education
As the only private university in the Big Ten, Northwestern recruits top students, both as undergraduates and graduates. A combined BS/MS program allows students to begin graduate work before completing their undergraduate degrees. Some students complete both in four years, but others take time to write a thesis or work at a job for a year before returning to complete the masters within the five-year time frame. Twenty percent of undergraduate engineering students take the BS/MS route.

"We do a wonderful job in this country of telling high school students they need more education," says Lindvall. "What we don't do is tell college students they need graduate education. We have many applicants from around the world whose families are supportive of them getting a graduate degree."

Northwestern offers six part-time masters programs for professionals already employed full time. The number of students continuing with graduate education has doubled in the last year to more than 30 percent. Lindvall credits the BS/MS and part-time programs for the increase.

"I encourage students to actively pursue a graduate program," he says. "We're seeing a change in culture here. Students are realizing that approaching the job market with a masters degree is a smart thing."

Working with GEM
Northwestern welcomes Fellows from the GEM program (www.gemfellowship.org), but fewer Fellows are being funded due to corporate cutbacks. In 2010, only eighty students were funded out of 1,200 applicants. Lindvall approached those who weren't offered GEM fellowships and invited them to talk about Northwestern's PhD program, which the school fully funds. PhD students can even participate in a health insurance plan.

More than 80 percent of PhD students enter with only a bachelors degree. The program takes about five years. "If your goal is to get a PhD, you do not need a masters degree," Lindvall notes.

Northwestern's size means a broad range of engineering specialties and projects, but personal attention is also emphasized. Undergrads are encouraged to stay at Northwestern for their graduate work, although about half decide to move on to other universities.

"I'm a big believer in student choices," says Lindvall. "Don't decide that you aren't going to Northwestern by not applying."

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