College of Science and Engineering

Mission

The College of Science and Engineering serves the science and engineering needs of Washington State and the global community by advancing scholarship and educating thoughtful leaders and problem-solvers.

Strategic Priorities

  1. Western's College of Science and Engineering (CSE) seeks your support to meet the demand for more graduates in healthcare professions. Achieving our funding goals will help remove barriers to access for the estimated 500 students campus-wide including:
  • Reduced time to graduation
  • Greater availability to junior-level courses prior to the senior-level courses
  • More opportunities to pursue majors with tight enrollment caps

CSE is working to remedy these issues by building faculty, technical, and advising staff, together with capital improvement and expansion (including the Carver Biology Labs), allowing us to increase the enrollment capacity of all of the biology and chemistry courses currently limiting Western’s ability to produce graduates ready to pursue careers in healthcare. Our plan is paired with a phased capital project that would provide the necessary space to accommodate new personnel as well as instructional labs needed to increase course access. It also complements a strategic initiative designed to increase access to select courses in physics, math, and chemistry, to increase advising capacity, and to enable co-horting of STEM majors.

  1. Build-out of the new engineering program in electrical engineering
  • Build the newly-accredited electrical engineering program strategic direction to accommodate growing demand
  • Projects range from instrumentation to lab support, to the naming of a lab or building which will enable us to construct a specialty in imbedded systems/cyber physical systems/computer engineering and become a regional leader in those areas
  • By expanding in this area we will provide opportunity for up to 50 undergraduates a year with a goal of establishing a masters program and associated research partnerships
  1. The Mars 2020 Lab Project
  • Establish funding for the Mars lab, allowing for connections to Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) in Pasadena, CA and enabling research students to fully participate in the Mars Rover 2020 landing and exploration.
  • Phase 2 of the plan is to build on the current strengths of the program and construct a planetary science-focused program which bridges physics and geology thereby creating a planetary geology minor or major.
     

Recruitment Scholarships

The College of Science and Engineering plans to implement a cohort model for entering freshmen interested in science in order to repair bottleneck issues and get student access to the classes they need when they need them. Scholarships for entering students would be critical to this program, as they would increase diversity, retention and student success.

Undergraduate Research Support

Research is one of the most effective tools for educating students in science and is a hallmark of the Western experience. Our current funds enabling students to do this research over the summer are very light and the ones that do exist are in very high demand. Increasing the funding for summer research will enable more students to gain critical skills and provide an incredible opportunity for educational enhancement.