An innovative and entrepreneurial spirit is part of our Vandal DNA. Senior engineering students competing at our Engineering Design EXPO are pursuing ideas that advance renewable fuels or create better virtual cattle fencing, among other innovative concepts. Vandal business and engineering teams are also fine-tuning a medical device that prevents infections in patients admitted for extended hospital stays and pitching the invention to industry. Industry partners are crucial to the success of our students, especially in the growing field of cybersecurity. U of I has been a cybersecurity leader since being recognized as one of the first seven Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency. Supplying the talent to protect our digital infrastructure is vital in today’s world and important to partners like Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL). SEL already employs more than 300 Vandal alumni, is a top recruiter of graduates from the College of Engineering and is a supporter of our record-breaking research engine. Today, I’m proud to announce – thanks to support from SEL – the expansion of our cybersecurity degree program. A new $2.5 million investment from the Palouse-based company over the next five years will fund direct program support and contracted research focused on developing inherently cyber-secure industrial control systems. This research will not only protect our nation’s utility infrastructure, but it will have broad application in control systems deployed throughout the country. It represents the significant, impactful and sought-after solutions our university produces to benefit our state, region and the nation. That spirit of innovation motivates us to continue recognizing the hard work and trailblazing thinking of our Vandals through events each spring like the Undergraduate Research Symposium and Engineering Design EXPO. EXPO normally fills the Bruce M. Pitman Center with more than 500 K-12 students interested in learning more about engineering from teams of U of I seniors presenting their ideas and prototypes. Today’s virtual EXPO features senior engineering teams presenting their projects online. Projects are still completed in conjunction with industry sponsors and other clients, each looking to our Vandals to improve their output. Student posters and descriptions are available for public viewing, and volunteer judges are scoring technical presentations throughout the day. An extended EXPO experience open to all fifth- through 12th-grade students is taking place over the next few weeks. The EXPO tradition continues this year with support from SEL, presenting sponsor of our virtual event. I want to share my deep gratitude for SEL’s continued generous investment and support of our College of Engineering. They recognize the value in our graduates, many of whom go on to work for SEL. The company’s support is an investment in U of I students that we see returned through events like today’s EXPO. It also nurtures the culture of innovation Vandals demonstrate every day in the classroom, the workplace and beyond. |