Following WWII, the GI bill allowed those who fought in the war to study any field of their choosing. Many of the GIs in Massachusetts pursued engineering after many of them had received training in engineering during the war. The origins of our College of Engineering came from the returning... Read More

Merit P. White was the first department head of Civil Engineering (1947). In 1948, Robert R. Brown became the first department head of Electrical Engineering. Maurice E. Bates was the first department head of Mechanical Engineering (1947). The first head of the Chemical Engineering Department... Read More

An important factor in the student/faculty/industry relationship was the establishment of student chapters of the national professional engineering societies on campus. The first such chapter to be established was a student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers in January of 1950... Read More

This joint apprentice program between the GE operation in Pittsfield and the UMass College of Engineering in Amherst was a pioneering industry-university partnership that afforded highly qualified high school graduates a full scholarship to UMass along with practical work experience in the GE... Read More

Created in 1973 to recruit and support underrepresented minority students, specifically African-American, Native American, and Hispanic-American students, the MEP was one of the first of its kind in the country. Professor John E. Ritter coordinated the newly instituted program in 1973. In 1975... Read More

The VIP program originated in 1974, when a grant was awarded to the School of Engineering by the Digital Equipment Corporation, which was spearheaded by Andrew Knowles. VIP allowed for students across the country and around the world to experience the UMass Engineering program without stepping... Read More

MIRSL specialized in the conception, design, and implementation of advanced microwave and millimeter-wave systems for remote sensing of the geophysical environment. The research laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was founded in 1981 by Professors... Read More

The Women in Engineering Program’s sole purpose was to recruit women to the engineering field and degree program and support them throughout their careers as engineering students and beyond. WEP students were not only supported as students, but they were educated in the various career... Read More

The engineering quadrangle was filled with sunshine and well-wishers on April 27th, 1991, for the dedication of the college’s new research facility, the Knowles Engineering Building. Speeches and ceremonies praising the facility and the man its name honors, alumnus Andrew C. Knowles III, were... Read More

The Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, or CASA, was initially funded with a $17-million grant from the NSF over five years, an additional $5 million over five years from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, plus more than $35 million in industry... Read More

The Engineering Career and Student Development Center was established to help prepare students for career and professional opportunities and to provide a place where engineering students, faculty, and employers can meet and develop a mutual and beneficial relationship. Located in Marston 114,... Read More

In 2008 the UMass Amherst Institute for Cellular Engineering, or ICE, was funded with a $3-million grant from the NSF to provide graduate students with the fellowships, training, and hands-on research opportunities to build an employment pipeline directly into some of the country’s most... Read More