Engineering Trends, September 2009

In a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, the complications in planning for engineering firms made by the current government stimulus spending is discussed.

Currently, engineering firms are seeing boosts in business as a result of government spending. However, hiring too many new workers can be detrimental to small engineering firms, especially if the influx of business is temporary.

President of Hinman Consulting Engineers, Inc., Eve Hinman (NY A ’82), has even considered turning down work because she does not want to expand too fast. We do not want “to hire aggressively into the future and not really know if we can support that new staff,” says Hinman. Read full article

Τ

Two universities officially opened new departments with the start of classes this fall. The University of Houston (TX E) added a new biomedical engineering department, the first department added to the Cullen College of Engineering in 35 years. Read more

While the University at Buffalo (NY N) is awaiting final approval for the beginning of its own new biomedical engineering program.

The program is still awaiting final approval from the state, but is not waiting to raise money to help fund the new program and a new building on campus. Read article

Β

The U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 college rankings have been released. The rankings include several separate rankings of specific college disciplines.

There is a ranking of “top engineering schools” to allow those who are interested to search engineering schools by “location, tuition, school size, and test scores.” See the rankings

Π