Many conversations are happening right now about the value of a college education. In the College of Engineering & Computer Science, we’re exemplifying that value, focused on ensuring that we provide the optimal educational environment where learning and innovation occur simultaneously through a community of students, faculty, staff, and external audiences involved in meaningful work. Purpose and community are often undervalued aspects of a college degree, and we’re focused on developing workforce-prepared graduates, ready to lead in an era of rapid technological change. In engineering and computer science, new and innovative learning/teaching spaces are the new currency. Our educational spaces are more than just our physical surroundings. Innovative spaces can help deliver a challenging curriculum; foster interactive learning, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration; expose our students to new technologies; and ensure that our college remains a competitive option for students who are deciding where to further their education.
Our two main buildings – one built in the ’70s and the other in the ’90s – predate the mainstream use of technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and navigation, and cybersecurity. Our original complex was also built to accommodate an enrollment of 1,900 students. Today, we have 4,900 students utilizing our educational and supportive spaces, so our faculty and staff have been highly creative and resourceful in providing students with a top-notch education.
That’s why our priority is to make the Engineering & Computer Science Innovation Hub a reality. Currently, we have a $67.5 million investment from the state, plus seed donations from donors. With the funding, along with money we will raise, Phase 1 of this project will construct a 42,000 GSF (gross square foot) Innovation Hub.
No space within the Innovation Hub will be “owned,” in the traditional sense, by a specific department. Rather, these will be flexible spaces that adapt to active learning clusters related to disciplines represented in our college. We want to maximize the potential for collaboration with our various disciplines and with the community, our industry partners, community colleges, and K-12 schools.
Currently, we are validating our feasibility study and casting a vision for active learning clusters that could be related to advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, bioengineering, navigation/controls/critical systems, and advanced computing (software development).
The college will lead the effort, working with an architectural design firm, to bring our vision to reality in a way that supports our unique needs while building community that elevates student success. We need more than the valuable feedback we’re getting from our internal constituents. Now is the time for alumni and industry to engage with us to ensure that this new building will buzz with activity, creating social opportunities on behalf of the communities we serve.
Phase one is exciting but falls short of our college’s true need to expand educational opportunity. In March, I was part of a team from our university who attended two full days of meetings with senators and assembly members in Sacramento to advocate for the needs of our campus. We also focused on the role engineering and computer science can play for workforce development in Orange County and the state of California and reiterated the need for the resources to complete phase two of our project.
Our goals, and everything that we do here at the college, are focused on providing our students with the best possible experience. They are our future engineers, app developers, innovators, and technology leaders. What our students learn in our rigorous programs creates opportunity, builds confidence, and changes lives. In May, we celebrated with more than 1,000 ECS graduates (and their families) as they crossed the stage and turned the tassel, signifying one of the most singular meaningful experiences of one’s life – the completion of a college degree. They are ready and their accomplishments are made possible by our faculty, staff, industry partners, supporters, and donors, who are unfailingly committed to that mission.
Susan Barua
Dean, College of Engineering & Computer Science
