Santa Clara University

Our SCU Solar Decathletes have been busy with a groundbreaking ceremony and steel delivery that has Radiant House taking shape. See their progress on YouTube.

Check out the latest news and highlights of Santa Clara's entry in the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Solar Decathlon.

The following piece, written by electrical engineering alumnus David Njuguna '08, M.S. '10, was extracted from the proposed Jesuit University of Eastern Africa's JU e-Newsletter.

I believe that the best gift one can ever be given is education; not just any education, but one that allows for respectful exchange of ideas. Leaving the comfort of my home in Kenya, I travelled to the USA to study at the Santa Clara University School of Engineering. Though not my first choice, attending a Jesuit institution turned out to be the best thing that has ever happened to me in my quest for higher education. It has allowed me to see the world in a different light with respect to the importance of social justice, ethics, community, freethinking, and building, using the engineering skills that I learnt during my time there.

The values that I shared and obtained, while in this community, have afforded me the opportunity to have a better understanding of the world as a whole. I remember with nostalgia substituting food for fines in the library, for overdue books. I did not mind the penalty knowing that though I was fined it helped me put food on the table of a needy person. For me, education at a Jesuit institution came with some very special characteristics, key among them being the level of intellectual rigor encouraged by the teaching staff who continually set very high expectations for the students in both their studying and community activities. We learnt the spirit of community, the sense of embracing different kinds of people from all parts of society, as well as the integration of both ethics and social justice values. All this with the goal of making better future leaders that have a sense of purpose, driven by the right values for the human race and encouraging free thinking on all topics irrespective of their palatability. I fondly recall chatting with friends at Benson Center over a cup of coffee, enjoying an invitation for conversation and lunch with the Jesuits at their residence at the University.

I believe that the Jesuit University of Eastern Africa will provide a higher level of education that has yet to be experienced in this region. It will be an education centered in a high level of thinking, and doing at the same time; more so for the local community. An education grounded and steeped in ethics and social justice as the pillars of building a new community that respects each other in spite of their ethnic differences. An education that will set the beginning of changing Africa, one student at a time, by showing them that real change is possible through individual participation. Later, helping their fellow citizenry within their communities as a whole instead of following the “me first” mantra that has produced the current social quagmires.

Although 55 percent of college undergraduates are women, only about 20 percent of all engineering students in the United States are women.

With numbers like that, organizations such as theSociety of Women Engineers (SWE) become all the more important, not just for providing opportunities for personal and professional enrichment for undergraduate students, but also for reaching out to local high school girls interested in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Last week, the Santa Clara community recycled a ton of e-waste. Actually, it was more than a ton. Staff and students came together to donate 2,198 pounds of old and broken electronics to the e-waste drive organized by SCU's Solar Decathlon team.

The SJ Business Journal reports that Google engineering interns make over $6K per month. Check out the good news from other companies.

Tim Hight, Ph.D., has been the faculty project manager for all of SCU's Solar Decathlon projects. He has seen the project grow into one of SCU's areas of distinction, as the University has placed 3rd in its past two competitions. Read more about Dr. Hight's experience with the team and about the Solar Decathlon's impact on SCU.

The School of Engineering's new Frugal Innovation Lab has had a busy and productive year.  Read all about it in the 2012 year end report.

SCU's chapter of Engineers Without Borders will provide a Honduran community access to clean water while empowering community members to improve their quality of life. Read about the students' recent trip to begin the initial surveying process.

For the SCU 2013 Solar Decathlon team, the challenge of building a solar house is testing more than just design and engineering skills. The U.S. Department of Energy’s competition is putting the students in many roles they have never explored.

Congratulations to Professor Terry Shoup (mechanical engineering), who recently received the President's Special Recognition Award from Santa Clara University President Michael Engh, S.J. In awarding this distinction, Fr. Engh recognized Shoup as "an outstanding scholar who has served the SCU community with wisdom and a steady guiding hand since 1989 as a faculty member, a senior administrator extraordinaire, and a leader both within and outside of the academy."

Engh continued, "His 13 years of service as dean of the School of Engineering saw the doubling of both the number of endowed professorships in the School and the number of donors.  He pioneered five “pipeline” programs to encourage underrepresented students to consider the engineering profession.  He created two advisory boards – one for engineering alumni and the other for minority programs – and established a special fund to promote student leadership in the School.  He also oversaw the introduction of the Engineering Study Abroad program in 1990, the construction of the Civil Engineering Strength and Materials Lab in 1995, and the creation of the Mission Control Center in 2000.

"He helped the School address the emerging field of sustainability by introducing a certificate program in Environmental Engineering in 1993.

"In 2011, the Silicon Valley Engineering Council inducted him into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, which celebrates the accomplishments of area engineers, technical leaders and scientists.

"In addition to serving as the engineering dean, he has served as interim dean of the School of Education, Counseling Psychology and Pastoral Ministries, interim vice provost for Enrollment Management, and interim executive director of International Programs.   Most recently he chaired both the successful search for the new dean of the School of Education and Counseling Psychology and the School of Engineering’s Centennial Steering Committee.”

The School of Engineering and the University are fortunate, indeed, to have the  this scholar and leader in our midst.

In its annual ranking, “America’s Best Colleges 2013,” U.S. News & World Report ranked Santa Clara University second overall among master’s universities in the West. At 93 percent, SCU has the highest freshman retention rate of all master’s universities. Santa Clara’s average undergraduate graduation rate, 86 percent, was the third highest rate of the 625 master’s universities across the country.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) invites students majoring in CS, COEN, ELEN, MECH, and OMIS to join Cisco for a very special networking event on Wednesday, September 26 from 6:00-8:00 pm in the Benson’s California Mission Room. The event will be set up as round robin networking where groups of students will have 10-minute rotations with professionals across Supply Chain, Sales, and IT. These rotations will give students meaningful insights into Cisco's culture, job functions, and opportunities that are available.

Interested students should contact Rahul Krishnakumar.

Flyer (PDF)

SCU's 2013 Solar Decathletes are gearing up for competition. Check out their website.

Undergraduates Russell Wetherley (mechanical engineering) and Catherine Borst (mechanical engineering) learn about social justice first-hand by taking part in SCU's Walk Across California.

It takes more than engineering knowledge to complete a Senior Design project. Read one team's account of their experience here.

The School of Engineering was honored to have Nathan Rogers '12, civil engineering, present the valedictory remarks at the 2012 SCU commencement ceremony. Watch the video here.