Engineering Studies
Lafayette Honors Students for Academic Excellence
Lafayette honored more than 85 students for academic excellence at the annual All-College Honors Convocation May 5 in Colton Chapel. Awards and prizes recognized outstanding academic success in all four of Lafayette’s academic divisions—engineering, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. This spring, 42 students will join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most respected undergraduate [...]
Engineers Without Borders Receives National Honor for Honduras Water Project
Lafayette’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is one of three in the nation to be named a 2013 Premier Project by EWB-USA, the organization’s highest honor. It was selected from more than 250 chapters across the nation working on more than 350 projects. Since 2006, Lafayette has been working with residents of El Convento, [...]
Three Students Receive Gilman Scholarships to Study Abroad
By Michele Tallarita ’12 Three Lafayette students are recipients of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which will help fund their study-abroad experiences this spring. Joel Vargas ’14 (Bronx, N.Y.) will travel to the Czech Republic, Nam Nguyen ’14 (Washington, D.C.) to China, and Edwin Liriano ’14 (Bronx, N.Y.) to Spain. Sponsored by the Bureau [...]
Kelsey Lantz ’13 Takes on Water Management in Uganda
By Shehtaz Huq ’14 As a sophomore EXCEL Scholar, Kelsey Lantz ’13 (Washington, Pa) wanted to find empirical raw data to plug into the computer model she’d been developing with Kristen Sanford Bernhardt, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, to calculate the costs of maintaining rural water systems. Her research led her to a [...]
Meet the New Faculty
This fall, Lafayette welcomes seven new professors, bringing the College’s total to 215 full-time, tenure-track faculty members. Over the past several years, the College has been working toward increasing the size of the permanent faculty by 20 percent and decreasing the student-to-faculty ratio from 11:1 to 10:1, one of the initiatives in its strategic plan. [...]
Rijan Maharjan ’14 Works with Prof. Julia Nicodemus to Explore Solar Energy’s Role in Fuel Production
Ask Rijan Maharjan ’14 why he chose to major in mechanical engineering, and he will tell you, quite simply, “I like to do stuff. Real stuff.” Maharjan (Kathmandu, Nepal) is all about keeping it practical. This made him a good fit for his work this summer under the guidance of Julia Nicodemus, assistant professor of [...]
Grand Challenges: Students Take on Water Issues in Haiti, Uganda, and Pakistan
The challenges facing society in this century are large, but not insurmountable, as three teams of Lafayette students are learning firsthand this summer. Each group is working on solutions involving engineering as part of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP). Most schools with active Grand Challenges Scholar programs are engineering schools at [...]
Christa Martinez ’13 Receives National Scholarship for Photography
When Christa Martinez ’13 (Houston, Texas) took a break from art, art found its way back to her. Martinez’s interest in art began in childhood, when she focused on teaching herself to draw well. “Art became the way I could speak,” she says. Her artistic talents led her to enroll in a high school for [...]
Scott Hummel Appointed Interim Jeffers Director of Engineering
Scott R. Hummel, professor of mechanical engineering, has been named the Interim William Jeffers Director of the Engineering Division for a term of two years. The appointment is effective July 9. The announcement was made by Wendy L. Hill, provost and dean of the faculty. Hummel served as co-chair of the College’s recent Engineering Vision [...]
Interdisciplinary Technology Course Blends Engineering and Policy Studies
In the course “Engineering and Public Policy: The Governance of Technology,” engineering studies and policy studies students see how their two fields go hand in hand. “Policy studies students focus on designing policies and navigating political systems to achieve social goals. Engineering studies students focus on designing technologies that can help achieve social goals,” says [...]





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