Engineering Students Will Get New Facilities

Expansion of the new Division of Engineering and Applied Physics will be accelerated, Dean Van Vleck announced yesterday. The expansion will apply both to the division's physical facilities and its teaching staff, he explained.

The expansion stems partly from a desire of the engineering faculty to place greater emphasis on the practical aspects of applied science than it had previously, Richard E. Kronauer, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, said. The plans, therefore, include several new laboratories and more courses of a practical nature, he added.

Kronauer added that three new laboratories are now under construction. They are intended for instruction and research in thermodynamics, hydraulics, and strength of materials. "We intend to keep the labs up to date. They will not degenerate into cast iron museums," Kronauer stated.

He added that more laboratories would be built in the future to handle larger numbers of students and to expend and diversify research. Kronauer pointed out, however, that "all will be constructed within existing buildings as long as present funds last."

New courses will also be added to the curriculum, Kronauer said. "We have three new courses this fall, and we will add more later if student response warrants it," he said. The new courses are all in applied science, one including field trips to industrial plants.

At the same time, Van Vleck said that the division would gradually increase its teaching staff at both the professor and instructor level.

"We want to be able to handle our rising enrollment and get qualified men in new fields of research at the same time," Van Vleck said.

Funds for the expansion will be made available from the Douglas Mackay bequest, the division's principal source of income. Kronauer said that no special drive for funds was planned until the bequest was exhausted. "We are still very much in the black," he added.

"We hope to supplement theoretical classroom instruction with practical work in industrial plants," Kronauer said. Both Kronauer and Van Vleck agreed that it was unlikely that the summer employment would be made compulsory, but Van Vleck said that "students will be encouraged to participate."