Dayton Engineer

By Adrienne Zandvoort '19

The School of Engineering is pleased to present its 2018 Annual Impact Report. 

The report highlights the School of Engineering’s significant efforts and lasting impacts in four main categories: cultural impact, societal impact, organizational impact and experiential impact.

“As part of our strategic planning process, we developed this impact report to share just a few of the stories of how our faculty, staff and students are impacting our University and our world,” said Eddy Rojas, dean of the School of Engineering.

Cultural Impact

The Minority Engineering Program (MEP) has played an essential role for the past 20 years within the School of Engineering. This program has greatly contributed to creating a culture of diversity at the University. The program provides peer support, mentoring, academic guidance and professional networking opportunities to underrepresented minorities.

Societal Impact

University researcher, Tarek Taha, works in autonomous systems and is currently in the process of creating a brain-inspired computer chip. Taha received his third National Science Foundation award of $440,000 to guide his development of artificial intelligence at UD.

Additionally, civil engineer researcher, Ӧmer Bilgin, is working to address America’s failing infrastructure problem. By researching Ohio bridge data and types of soil being used, Bilgin hopes to facilitate quicker and more efficient construction of bridge foundations.

Organizational Impact

The University of Dayton continues to support student success after it introduced the fixed net tuition plan in 2013. The School of Engineering is doing its part by investing in an Office of Student Success (OSS), which opened in 2016. Advisers for the OSS help first- and second-year engineering students explore majors and opportunities within the School and on campus. This tailored guidance has been successful in creating a more organized department.