ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER
DEAN’S MESSAGE
WELCOME
Union College is a small liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. We are one of the nation’s oldest colleges—we were chartered in 1795, and we are the oldest liberal arts college to offer engineering. We offer four well-established and ABET-accredited majors: Biomedical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. And we recently launched new majors in Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering.
We are a small school environment with big school facilities. Our programs feature close interactions between students and faculty, small classes, and a close knit and happy community of learners, teachers, and support staff. But our programs also feature major equipment, outstanding facilities, and sustained extramural funding that are typically only found in much larger schools.
My name is Ashok Ramasubramanian, and it’s my pleasure to talk about Union College Engineering in this inaugural newsletter.
Our engineering spaces have a combined footprint of over 35,000 square feet (SF). Many teaching and research labs are housed in the recently-completed state-of-the-art Integrated Science and Engineering Complex. Our facilities include a 6,500 SF machine shop, which features a five-axis water jet machine and a dedicated 1,000 SF student shop. We are proud of the extremely high levels satisfaction reported on surveys of our graduating seniors. Indeed, a nation-wide student survey ranked Union College #1 for “Best Science Lab Facilities”.*
And we are expanding further under the Engineering and Computer Science Initiative (ECSI). We are thrilled to be working with architects on the design of a new three-story building to house our expanding programs, especially in Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Environmental Engineering. Look for details in the Spring 2025 newsletter!
* Source: https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=best-science-lab-facilities
The front cover shows the Nott Memorial, the iconic 16-sided building that is the centerpiece of our campus in Schenectady, NY. In reference to this, 16-sided shapes (hexadecagons) are used in this newsletter to showcase significant facts related to Union Engineering.
Integrated Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC)
MEET OUR STUDENT TEAMS
UNION STUDENTS EXCEL AT SAE EVENTS
The Union College Baja Team completed three days of testing at the 2024 SAE Baja Design Competition held this year at Williamsport, PA. The goal of this competition is to design a highly robust, mass production-worthy all-terrain vehicle with 4-wheel drive. 106 collegiate vehicles registered for this event. Our vehicle—built entirely in house— was driven by a woman engineer for the acceleration competition in which we finished 36th out of 106. The team also did well in the maneuverability event, finishing 42nd. Meanwhile, our Aero team returned to action after a pandemic hiatus and braved high winds and cold rainy conditions, eventually getting their plane to fly, while many teams never got off the ground. The crowning moment was the team receiving third place for their design report, beating dozens of larger universities.
Professor Jaron Kuppers of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Aero team advisor says of the students, “I am so proud of the team! They worked incredibly hard to design and build this plane.”
“THE FINAL CLIMB WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 55 DEGREES, TOO STEEP TO EVEN WALK UP, BUT UNION’S VEHICLE MADE IT TO THE TOP AFTER ALL OTHER CARS THAT TRIED IN THE PREVIOUS HOUR CAME UP SHORT.”
Professor William Keat, Baja Team Advisor, Mechanical Engineering Department
BME SUMMER CLINICAL IMMERSION PROGRAM (SCIP)
TURNING OBSERVATIONS INTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN IN A MEDICAL SETTING
86% of students participated in undergraduate research or an internship (data from 2023)
“SCIP PROVIDED US WITH VALUABLE SKILLS, RELATIONSHIPS, AND EXPERIENCES IN THE MEDICAL FIELD, WHICH HAS HELPED INTRODUCE US TO POSSIBLE CAREERS AND OPPORTUNITIES WE HOPE TO PURSUE IN THE FUTURE.”
—K yle Collins, Class of 2025
Our Biomedical Engineering (BME) program provides students a unique opportunity to be immersed in the day-to-day work of the largest hospital and only Level I trauma center in New York’s Capital Region, Albany Medical Center (AMC). Students spend over 20 days shadowing medical doctors and staff in different clinical settings where they identify problems that can be addressed through innovative engineering solutions. BME faculty assist the students before and after their time in the clinic to come up with a set of engineering problems that are tackled throughout the BME students’ two-term senior capstone design sequence. The partnership between Union College and the AMC Office of Translational Research, Innovation, and Technology Transfer (OTR) received funding in 2019 from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to expand the coursework and resources for BME students. In 2022, the Beno Sternlicht (1950) Fund for Student Learning in Innovation was established to provide support for eight BME students to participate in SCIP annually.
BME FACULTY MEMBER AWARDED NSF GRANT
STRENGTHENING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
We congratulate Dr. Stephanie Curley for her prestigious research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in only her second year at Union College.
Dr. Curley is the Mary H. ‘80 and Richard K. Templeton ‘80 Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, one of several faculty lines that are part of significant enhancement and expansion of our engineering programs resulting from two transformative multi-million dollar gifts from the Templetons. Her research, now funded through a new NSF Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) grant, will increase the fundamental understanding of which proteins are required to create a strong and protective immune response against the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. This will ultimately lead to improved vaccination strategies to prevent the bacterial infection associated with this debilitating disease. Dr. Curley’s $199,984 grant includes significant support for student research. Through this project, undergraduate students will develop and hone their biomedical research skills in areas including experimental design, data collection, and analysis. Additionally, undergraduate students will be introduced to this research through the development of a new course in immunoengineering.
Dr. Stephanie Curley
CIVIL ENGINEERING RETURNS
OPPOSITE PAGE:
Undergraduate student researcher in Dr. Curley’s lab LEFT: Environmental Engineering students cleaning up near Hudson River for the River Keeper program
AND WE ARE ADDING ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING AS WELL
We are delighted to announce the re-launch of our major in Civil Engineering and the introduction of Environmental Engineering. The new programs are now registered with New York State and we are actively preparing for ABET accreditation.*
Under the leadership of Dr. Carolyn Rodak, inaugural chair of the new Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), the new programs are off to a terrific start. Our student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is already active and participated in a recent riverbank clean-up as part of the Riverkeeper program. The ASCE student club is working toward national recognition, with an eye to competing in the Steel Bridge and Concrete Canoe competitions in Spring of 2026. After an exciting and informative visit to the 2024 Regional competition, the club has been hard at work networking with local companies, such as STS Steel just down the street in Schenectady, NY, to make this dream a reality!
We admitted our first class in Fall 2023 and in our Spring 2024 trimester, we offered our first CEE class in Engineering Graphics. We are currently working with architects on the design of a new building to house our expanding programs, including CEE. Details to follow in the Spring 2025 newsletter!
*According to ABET regulations, a program cannot be accredited before graduating their first class. Our first class will graduate in Spring 2027 and we will seek accreditation immediately afterward. Please note that accreditation is retroactive.
