Armour Institute of Technology - Cycle Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING During the past year, the electrical depart- ment inaugurated a comprehensive rehabili- tation program. This program has been par- tially completed and includes the more effi- cient use of available space, the painting and decorating of all laboratories, lecture rooms and offices, the installation of modern light- ing the repair of motors, generators, meters and auxiliary equipment. The motor-generator set, received from the General Electric Company, for the study of wave form, has been completely installed with switching and control equipment so that variable single or three phase wave-forms may be studied. A systematic method of detailed supervi- sion of all equipment and meters has been adopted. Daily records of all damaged equip- ment arc maintained so that responsibility may be established and the apparatus may be repaired and replaced in service with mini- mum delay. The electrical department office, formerly in the same room as the advanced electrical measurement laboratory, was moved to an- Erncst . Freeman other room, increasing the space available for the junior laboratory. This provided space for the permanent connection of many pieces of standard equipment involving com- plicated circuits so that the student may de- vote more time to the major problems of the experiment and less time in making compli- cated connections. It also provided required space for the development of experiments in electronics, necessitated by the modern de- velopments in this field. The plan of arranging the program so that the laboratories may be used in the morning as well as in the afternoon has proven very satisfactory and has reduced the conflict in regard to the use of meters and equipment to a minimum. Display cases have been arranged in which interesting electrical equipment and instru- ments which are seldom used and others rep- resenting various stages of development of the art, are displayed. The increase in confidence in the equip- ment, the pleasure in working under the im- proved conditions, have resulted in a general improvement in morale and a decided in- crease in the efficiency of the students and the department as a whole. Tu (Iily-fit e

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George •'. Gebhardt The Mechanical Engineering Department at Armour has always functioned since the date of its inception as an undergraduate school. The few applications for post-gradu- ate work and specialized research have not been of sufficient moment to warrant the added expense. Barring a few minor changes the curriculum is substantially the same as that adopted 10 years ago, and how well it was planned is evidenced by the fact that today it meets in every respect the ideal course in mechanical engineering as formu- lated by the Wickcndcn Committee of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. While research, pure or applied, has not been undertaken by the department as an organization, a vast amount of work of this nature has been carried on by the in- structors in their individual capacity. In fact, many of the members of the faculty have achieved national fame through their contacts, in this connection, with industrial concerns. These contacts have not only re- flected credit upon the individual and the Institute but have opened up positions for graduates which would otherwise have been unobtainable. There has been no change in personnel during the past year and the department enters the new year with its faculty intact. DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Barring replacements and a few instru- ments of precision no additions have been made to the equipment. Most ot the appa- ratus is old and some of it is obsolete, but insofar as the teaching of fundamentals is concerned, it matters little how old the equip- ment is, provided the instructors arc masters of their art and know how to impart knowl- edge to the students. It is the faculty and not the equipment which makes a school really great. The Mechanical Engineering Department has the faculty and Armour is a great school. Not so many years from now, when the present depression and gloom have been for- gotten, there will be founded in the City of Chicago, the greatest engineering school in the world, and the nucleus of that school will be the Armour Institute of Technology, and its outstanding department, the Depart- ment of Mechanical Engineering. Meanwhile let us put our shoulders to the wheel and keep the old cart moving until we catch up with that limousine de-luxe which is waiting for us just over the hill. Twenty-four

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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Melville B. Wells Both the faculty and the students of the Civil Engineering Department realize now, more fully than at first, the great loss that they sustained in the death last year of Doctor Alfred E. Phillips, for many years the head of the department. However, those upon whom the responsibility for the guidance and development of this branch of our school now rests have had the advantage of long association with him, know his plans and his ideals, and they arc following these as closely as possible. No changes have been made in the subjects taught or in the time given to them. Changes have been made in the faculty, however, and in the assignment of subjects. The transfer of Professor H. T. Heald to the Dean’s Office has reduced his teaching time so that he now has but one class in Strength of Materials each semester. Two new instructors have been engaged. Assistant Professor Harold A. Vagtborg is teaching Highway, Water Supply, and Sani- tary Engineering, also Contracts in Engineer- ing. Professor Vagtborg is a graduate of the University of Illinois. He is now a member of the firm of Allen and Vagtborg, Municipal Iinginecrs. The good work that he is doing as a teacher is appreciated by everyone in the department. The Structural work for the students in Architecture, that has been done by the Civil Engineering faculty, is now in the hands of one instructor who gives all of his time to it. Assistant Professor Sholto M. Spears is doing this work very satisfactorily. His problem is to find a way to adjust the requirements of Structural Design to the specal methods used by the Architects in most of their other studies, and he is meeting with success in the solution. Professor Spears has been en- gaged in structural work since his graduation in Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky in 1922. There has been no change in the subjects of the courses offered in the Aeronautical Option of the Civil Engineering Department, but the content of the courses is being changed each year to keep up with the rapid advances in the science of Aeronautics that results from the research and study that is going on. Each member of the faculty recognizes the fact that similar, though less rapid changes arc going on in the other branches of en- gineering included in the curriculum. Each man is endeavoring to have some part in these changes and to improve his work both in the material taught and in the method of teaching. Twenty-six