Carnegie Mellon University - Thistle Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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SCHOOL OF APPLIED SCIENCE THE Day School of Applied Science was the first of the Carnegie Technical Schools to be opened to students. On the opening day, October 15, 1905, 122 students enrolled, of whom 60 were graduated last year. On November 20th of the same year the School opened its doors to night students and 148 young men enrolled in the various engineering courses, a large number of whom are still in attendance. 'Fhc School was quartered in the buildings designed for the School for Apprentices and Journeymen. These buildings were then not completely finished, but in such condition as to offer accommodations of a rather primitive order. The tales told by the charter members of the faculty and student body about the difficulties met and the obstacles overcome would make interesting reading. These conditions served, however, to knit together the faculty and students in the close lies to which those who followed after fall heir. The Department of Mechanical Engineering was the first to leave the shelter of the Trade School building. In 1907 Machinery Hall was completed and the instruction in Mechanical Engineering has since been given in that building. The Department of Machine Design was also quartered in Machinery Hall for one year. The corner stone of the new Science buildings, the permanent home of the Engineering School, was laid by the Class of 1908 during their Commencement Week. Throughout the present year the departments have been moving to their new quarters, and the close of the year will sec all departments settled in permanent quarters for the first time since the opening of the School. The new buildings are admirably adapted to their purposes, and will doubtless serve to increase the efficiency of the work and to strengthen the spirit and morale of the School. In addition to recitation rooms, spacious laboratories and drawing rooms, the buildings contain two lecture rooms with inclined floors, each seating 300, and two small lecture rooms, each accommodating 100 students. The latter are designed particularly for the use of the Chemistry, Electrical and Physics Departments, and are fully equipped for demonstration purposes. The number of students now enrolled in the School is 784. about equally divided between the Day and Night Classes. The growth has been steady throughout the four years in spite of considerable advances in the entrance requirements rendered necessary by changing conditions, flic territory from which the Night Classes must draw their students is necessarily limited to districts which are reasonably accessible, because of the fact that the students are without exception engaged in work during the day. The history of the School shows, however, many instances of students attracted to the Pittsburg district by the oppor- »5

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JOHN II. LEETK, A.8. Dean of the School of Applied Science

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Utilities offered in the Night Classes. The Day School has a large field from which to draw, and in the present enrollment is represented a considerable range of territory. In the present student body are residents of 24 states and 13 foreign countries. The School now offers courses in Mechanical, Civil. Electrical. Chemical, Metallurgical, and Mining Engineering, in all of which students are enrolled in both the Day and Night Classes. In these courses it is aimed to give thorough training in the technical branches necessary for successful work in the various fields and in addition the effort is made to develop creative ability and the quality of resourcefulness which should make the training productive. Another distinctive feature of the work of the School is the care which is taken to direct the work of the student along the lines for which he shows the greatest natural aptitude, for it is only by giving the right boy training in the proper direction that the ideal of the School can be fulfilled. Another feature that has attracted some attention is the inclusion of lectures upon subjects of general educational value. The demands of an engineering course prevent any considerable time being given to subjects not closely related to the course of study, but the necessity of some knowledge of topics fundamental to any educational training is equally imperative. To meet these conditions courses of lectures delivered to the classes as a whole have been devised. The coming year will sec the establishment of a new course, that in Commercial Engineering, which purposes to train young men for the business rather than the purely technical side of engineering. The need for such a course has long been felt in industrial circles, and in being among the first to organize such a course the Carnegie Technical Schools have but responded to the demands of the industrial life of their environment. 16