Fiscal Year 2020-2021
I M PA C T O F P H I L A N T H R O P Y espite the extraordinary challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic this past year, the College of D Engineering continued its focus on excelling student success and the academic quality of our programs. Philanthropic support from generous people like you helped us attract the most promising students and faculty to our campus, opened doors to life-changing opportunities such as research programs and student club projects, and provided financial resources through scholarships. Whether you supported a program, a scholarship, or other areas across the College; you made a difference. You are empowering our students to build the skills, knowledge, and expertise they need to become the engineers of the future! The College of Engineering is very fortunate to have strong donor support, particularly as we prioritize the growth of our College’s endowment, which directly benefits our students and faculty. Thank you for your continued support of the College. We look forward to resuming full time in-person instruction in Fall 2021 and hope to see you on campus soon. Gratefully, Eugene A. Olevsky, Ph.D. Dean, College of Engineering
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING YEAR IN GIVING
$6.5M
HIGHLIGHTED GIFTS
Total Raised
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
$393,887
Total Awarded in Scholarships
185
Scholarships Awarded
A $3.1M gift to name and endow the fred harris Chair in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) will fund a worldwide search and hiring of a prominent DSP expert. It is the largest cash gift in the college’s history and one of five endowed faculty positions.
The DN Tanks Endowed Scholarship for Diversity will provide scholarship support to students in the Department of Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering.
A $2.7M estate gift will name the Wayne E. and Mary Beitler Leutloff Student Innovation Center in the Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences Complex and fund the Wayne E. and Mary Beitler Leutloff Endowment in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, the first endowed fund in Aerospace Engineering.
POINTS OF PRIDE
NEW
1:19
886
48
TOP 25
Launching online Masters of Electrical Engineering program in Fall 2021
One of every 19 engineers in the U.S. graduates from the CSU system
In Spring 2021, the College graduated 886 students, including 132 master’s students and 4 doctoral students
Joint doctoral program enrollment is at a historic high with 48 students pursuing their doctoral degrees
All departments are in the top 25 for generating engineering workforce in the U.S.
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STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS GENEROUS PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORT ENABLES OUR STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE AND OBTAIN VALUABLE REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE APPLYING ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES. “I am a fifth-year mechanical engineer pursuing a career as a research professor. I come from a disadvantaged background where I have experienced numerous obstacles along my journey that have inspired a deep desire to pay forward all the support I received along my SDSU journey. I hope to pay it forward by teaching and mentoring the next generation of young, disadvantaged scientists and engineers. I want them to see what I discovered as an undergraduate at SDSU: the passion of pursuing a STEM field despite a difficult upbringing.” -C hristopher Oyuela, Class of 2021, BS in Mechanical Engineering, graduated cum laude; a first-generation college student “My scholarships helped me to worry less about my finances and focus more on my research, which I have recently won two awards for! Thank you, donors, for all you do for students at SDSU!” - Alma Rocha, MS candidate in the SDSU College of Engineering, Environmental Engineering program
I M PA C T I N G T H E W O R L D CHARITABLE GIFTS PROVIDE SCHOLARSHIPS AND HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES, LIKE THOSE EXPERIENCED BY THE NASA’s JET PROPULSION LABORARY (JPL) INTERNS, THAT CAN PREPARE THEM FOR LIFELONG CAREERS. “ I am so grateful for my education from SDSU and the opportunities I was presented with; because of SDSU I am here in this position.” – Ana Morino, ’17 BSAE, JPL Systems Engineer
A moment of tremendous pride for the College came on February 18, 2021 when NASA’s Perseverance rover landed successfully on Mars. The Perseverance rover, built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, will search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars. Four College affiliates participated in the guidance and landing control of Perseverance. • SDSU alumnus and JPL Deputy Director of Science and Engineering Directorate Jordan Evans (’93, BSAE) • SDSU alumna and JPL Systems Engineer Anachristina Morino (’17, BSAE)
• Two Mechanical Engineering students interning at JPL - Maxwell Umland (’21, BSME) and Krysta Rhodes (’21, BSME) A 2021 interdisciplinary senior design team was selected as finalists among nine teams from universities across the nation for the 2021 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Special Edition: NASA Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting Challenge, marking SDSU’s first participation in the competition. NASA’s Moon to Mars program is paving the way to extended human presence on the moon and the first manned mission to Mars.
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ABOUT THE COLLEGE ST RAT E GI C I N V E ST ME NTS I N TH E CO LLE G E O F E NG INE E RING H AVE RE S U LT E D I N A HI STO R I C T R ANS F O R MAT I O N IN U NDE RG RADUAT E AND G RADUAT E E DU CATION, R E S EARCH , AND DIVE RS IT Y.
Faculty • 76 tenured/tenure-track faculty members and over 60 percent of our faculty are new hires in the last six years. • 3 faculty members received the prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in Spring 2021; only 7 CAREER award recipients in the history of the College. Their grants will directly support graduate student research and innovative education and outreach activities. Reza Akhavian Asst. Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering
Junfei Xie Asst. Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sung-Yong (Sean) Park Asst. Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Diversity Diversity, equity, and inclusion lie at the forefront of the College’s recent transformation and mission to recruit, retain, and promote a diverse and inclusive faculty, staff, and student body. • The Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program has led the effort to support underserved students in STEM fields for over 35 years. • The Women in Engineering Program, Femineer Program, and student chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers serve as a safety net and launching pad for minority and female students. • The Troops to Engineers Program continues to support military veterans with mentoring, business development opportunities, and industry internships, and has seen 100 percent graduation and job placement success. • Over 50 percent of the students in the College are minorities. • All faculty hired last year were women, including the first-ever female Aerospace Engineering department faculty member. • Of all graduate students, 30 percent are women and 20 percent are Latinx, exceeding national averages for women and Latinx engineers in graduate engineering programs, according to the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). Research •S DSU leads the 23-campus CSU System in research funding with the Colleges of Engineering and Sciences bringing in the majority of research dollars. • Research funding for the University reached $144 million this year and award dollars have tripled during the last 7 years.
Honorary Doctorate Degrees • For the first time in College history, two College of Engineering alumni, Joseph E. Kiani (’85, ’88) and Stephen P. Doyle (’80), were awarded honorary doctorate degrees.
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PA RT N E R S H I P S W I T H I N D U S T RY The College received approval for a new Construction Management (CONM) major (beginning Fall 2021) in the Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering Department, making the J.R. Filanc Construction Engineering and Management Program one of few in the nation to offer both Construction Engineering and Construction Management majors. A $2.5 million campaign to establish the AGC (Associated of General Contractors) Endowed Chair in Construction Management in the Program is ongoing. To date, approximately $1.4 million has been raised by industry partners. The AGC Endowed Chair in Construction Management will be instrumental in attracting and retaining high-level faculty that will build excellence in the program. Industry partners are vital to enhancing our engineering program and developing a graduating workforce with day-one readiness.
ENDOWMENTS P R O V I D I N G R E S O U R C E S F O R T O D AY ’ S S T U D E N T S A N D T O M O R R O W ’ S A Z T E C S SINCE 2018, THE COLLEGE’S ENDOWMENT HAS DOUBLED FROM $11.2 MILLION TO OVER $22 MILLION
New Endowments Alfredo Aldrete and Sandra Pulido Aldrete MESA Endowed Scholarship Carter F. Truitt Memorial Endowed Scholarship DN Tanks Endowed Scholarship for Diversity fred harris Endowed Chair in Digital Signal Processing Rick Engineering Company Endowed Scholarship Supernak Excellence Award Endowment Endowments (Active) AGC Construction Management Endowed Chair Alex Mora MESA Endowed Scholarship Andrew Y. J. Szeto Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Endowment ASHRAE San Diego Chapter Endowed Scholarship Beulah and John Wills Engineering Excellence Endowment Bruce Urquhart & Jacqueline Clayton Endowed Scholarship Byrl Phelps/San Diego Engineers Club Endowment Camille Speer Endowed Scholarship Carol Forrest, P.E. Memorial Watershed Management Endowed Scholarship CEM Excellence Endowment Cheng-Mo Sun Memorial Endowed Scholarship Chuck and Kathy Mendenhall Faculty Excellence Endowment Daniel & Ann Brown Research Support Endowment Daphne Fredrickson Memorial Endowed Scholarship Darrell Asquith Endowment Donald Wilson Bequest Endowment Earl and Christina Myers Endowed Scholarship
Ellen Ochoa Endowment for the Femineer Program Engineering Faculty Endowed Scholarship fred harris Faculty Chair Endowment Georgia Griffiths, G2 Software Systems Endowed Scholarship IBM Excellence in Minority Engineering Endowment Jack R. and Jane E. Filanc Endowment Jack R. Filanc Endowed Scholarship Lowrey Endowed Scholarship Mark E. Filanc Endowed Scholarship McMahon Chi Epsilon Student Chapter Endowment Michael R. Niggli Endowed Scholarship Paul Stuverud MESA Endowed Scholarship Peter John Filanc Leadership Award Endowment Qualcomm Women in Engineering Program and STEM Outreach Endowment S. Falck Nielsen Endowment San Diego Chapter of Women in Defense Endowed Scholarship San Diego Community Foundation Blasker Chair Rose Miah Sanford Stone Memorial Endowment Stephen and Lynne Doyle Endowment Thomas G. Pine Endowed Professorship in Computer Engineering Wayne E. & Mary Beiler Leutloff Aerospace Endowment William E. Leonhard Endowment William Leonhard Endowed Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering Wireless Multimedia Endowment
T O L E A R N M O R E , P L E A S E C O N TA C T K AT E C A R I N D E R AT KC A R I N D E R @ S D S U . E D U