Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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ENGINEERING By Daniel Clemens Sa re, M. S. Associate Dean of the .School of Engineeririii It is nexer easy for an educational group tu be exacth sure of how well it is discharging its various responsibil- ities. A given dejiartnient. for example, can be in big de- mand b undergraduates but passed by at the graduate lex el. Its facullx max be known as strong in theorx but unproductive in experimental research. Or the reverse situations may be true. Only xvhen all possible indices are up does the group know that it is certainly on the right track to progress. This is by way of a report that exery conceixable in- dicator is noxx showing that the School of Engineering is rapidlx approaching a recognition for cpialitv on a par with the long-established reputations of the other three divisions of Princeton University. The competition for entrance to its undergraduate curriculum is presently the most intense on the campus. The growth of demand for its graduate programs is becoming a problem for the Graduate College. In ever increasing numbers its facultx members are xvinning recognition as significant con- tributors in more and more aspects of advanced research in the engineering sciences. A lot of the credit must go to the individual facultx members and to the departmental groups xvithin the School. An equally strong factor has been the high aver- age qualitx of the students xvho have chosen the School for scholastic concentration and who have responded to the challenge of its traditions of hard work. Perhaps the major explanation, however, is the vision of the late Dean Arthur Greene, who established the School in 1922. of Dean Emeritus Kenneth Condit xvho led it from 1940 through 1954. and finally of Dean Joseph Elgin who this year assumed its direction. All three have been dedicated to the proposition that Prince- ton is perhaps one of the best locations in the nation for the development of an engineering school of the high- est quality. The proposition is rather simple. Engineering educa- tion xvas once primarily concerned xxith training in best practices for the application of basic scientific principles to enaineering needs. As the role of the engineer in in- Professors J. C. Elgin, E. F. Johnson, jr.. Driinrlment oj Chemiral Eitsineeriiis Professors W. D. Hayes, D. C. Sayre, C. D. Perkins, Chairman, Department oj Aeronautical Engineering Professors C. P. Tschebotarioff. W. M. Angus, Chairman, P. Kissani, F. A. Hearock. Department oj Civil Engineering

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Professor J. Turkevitcli. Ueparlment of Chemistry Prfifessor W. Feller, Department of Mathematics Professor N. H. Furinan, Department of Chemistry- search is better than the prolileiii uliich initiated it. The all important task of good research and teaching involves the problem of problemization. The scientist sensitive to values described by the humanist cannot easily forget the wonder and grandeur of nature and of human nature. The scientist sensitive to man ' s increasing relationship to man as man ' s artifacts turn him more on himself cannot easily forget his social responsibility. In the Princeton context, the natural scientist can learn how to do and at the same time become aware that to answer the question of ' what for? he must go bevond the confines of scien- tific method itself. Professors C. P. Smyth, G. Dougherty, H. N. Alyea, R. N. Pease. Chairman, E. Pacsu. Department of Chemistry 28

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Professors A. F. Buddinglon. E. Sampson, Y. T. Tlumi. Jr.. (Chairman, Department oi Geological Engineering Professors H. M. Chandltr. Jr.. W. C. Johnson. Chairman. C. H. Willis, Department oi Electrical Engineering Professors A. E. Sorensun. E. ' W ' . Suppiger, C. P. Kitteredge. W. E. Reaser Department of Mechanical Engineering dustrial and public affairs advanced it came to be realized that be. of all professional peo|)le. must also possess tbat balance of outlook and judgment of buman values which is best acquired through a study of liberal arts. As scieni;e advanced and the demands of industrv and the national welfare began increasingly to use up the stockpile of accumulated knowledge, it became obvious that the engineer must increase his study and contacts with modern developments in mathematics, physics, chemistry and other disciplines in the pure sciences. As a result modern engineering education can best flour- ish only where the direct teaching of engineering subjects can be intimately mingled with high level instruction in the humanities and science. Where could one find better traditions of training in the humanities and science to mingle with engineering than at Princeton? 30