College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology

A Family Tradition, High-tech Future

Rachel Laub’s older sister, Abi, started it, enrolling at Weber State as a geosciences major. Rachel followed, as a computer science major. In the fall of 2019, Abi and Rachel’s younger sisters, twins Ariel and Ivie, started as first-year students. Another younger sister, Micah, a student in Early College, which allows high school students to take college courses, will graduate from high school in 2020 with an associate’s degree from WSU.

Suffice it to say, Weber State is a Laub family tradition.

Much like Rachel’s choice in university, her chosen major could have been easy to predict. She discovered her affinity for computers and technology in eighth grade. Before graduating from high school, she completed three certifications in information technology, received the Sterling Scholar Philo T. Farnsworth Governor’s Award and won the National Center for Women & Information Technology award for aspirations in computing.

Recently, Rachel was honored as a finalist for the 2018 Women Tech Council’s Student Pathway Award, given to college students who have shown outstanding service or outreach in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

“The Women Tech Council is an amazing group of innovative women who want to change the world,” she said. “Being a finalist for the Student Pathway Award was a privilege.”

Rachel came to WSU on an ambassador scholarship. Since enrolling, she has offered guidance to others pursuing their passions as an admissions ambassador, and shared her love for technology with peers in the Society of Women Engineers club and the Science, Technology, Engineering Programs club.

Engineering Growth

Two new buildings and four new programs will help Weber State continue educating students for high-demand positions in engineering and technology fields in Utah and around the nation.

Construction is underway for the Computer & Automotive Engineering Building at Weber State University Davis. The 50,000-square-foot building will support growth in the College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology. In addition to providing a location for computer science and software engineering courses, the building will be the new home for automotive technology. This $20-million project, funded by public and private sources, is scheduled to open in 2020.

Weber State will break ground on the Noorda Building for Engineering, Applied Science & Technology in spring 2020. The Utah State Legislature appropriated $50 million for the 143,000-square-foot facility, which will house WSU’s mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, computer science, professional sales and product design and development programs.

Additionally, four centers will be housed in the building: The Concept Center, the Center for Technology Outreach, the National Center for Automotive Science & Technology and the Alan E. Hall Center for Sales Excellence. The Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering & Science (NUAMES-North) high school has also guaranteed $7.5 million to operate its charter school in the building. The expansion to facilities coincides with an expansion of programs. The university recently added two master’s degrees in computer science and electrical engineering and two bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and manufacturing systems engineering.

Blast Off for STEM

WSU partnered with Hill Air Force Base to take 300 fifth graders from local elementary schools on a Mission to Mars in the spring of 2019.

The Mission to Mars Link-up Day allowed the students to apply their research on sustaining life on the red planet. Teams built habitats and presented their life-support system models, team mission patches and uniforms, and stories or plays about their journeys to Mars, to a team of judges at WSU’s Swenson Gymnasium. The College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology (EAST) and the Hill Air Force Base STEM Outreach Program have sponsored the event annually since 2012.

“It is a pleasure to work with the Hill Air Force Base team and local schools on Mission to Mars,” said Dana Dellinger, director of EAST’s Center for Technology Outreach. “We share the goal of helping kids maximize their STEM education now and go on to pursue degrees and careers in STEM fields.”

Along with Mission to Mars, EAST sponsored a wide range of outreach programs in 2018–19, including a digital technology camp for girls and 2D video gaming and welding camps. The college is also an affiliate partner for FIRST® Robotics for Utah, which runs STEM programs and competitions like FIRST® Tech Challenge, FIRST® LEGO® League and FIRST LEGO® League Jr.

EAST Camps:

Summer camps offered in 2019

760

Students who participated in the 2019 WSU Prep summer STEM school, a free academic program for students in the Davis, Ogden and Weber school districts

412

2018–19 FIRST Robotics for Utah teams hosted by WSU

Powering Real-World Experience

Weber State students in the Building Design & Construction program are gaining practical experience in their field by designing net-zero-energy homes for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon.

WSU’s design team was selected as one of 11 internationally in the year-and-a-half-long competition that challenges students to design and construct efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy.

In the spring of 2019, the Wildcats spent a weekend in Golden, Colorado, where a panel of judges evaluated their design work and advanced them to the next round. The team will now work with Redfish Builders to construct a duplex and triplex in Salt Lake City. In July 2020, they will take models and renderings of their project to Washington D.C., for the final segment of the competition.

WSU Students Help Build Net-Zero House for Habitat for Humanity

Weber State students collaborated with a number of community partners to design and build the first affordable, net-zero energy home in the Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes. Featured in the July 2019 event, the house demonstrates how existing homes can be retrofitted to achieve net-zero energy. A Habitat for Humanity project, the home went to a family who lost their home to the tornado that hit Ogden in 2016.

Dream It, Design It, Build It

Thanks to a partnership between Weber State, the Davis and Ogden-Weber technical colleges, and the Davis, Morgan, Ogden and Weber school districts, Utah high school students have a direct line to an education with stackable credentials that leads to high-paying jobs in building, design and construction.

The new Utah Architecture, Engineering & Construction Pathway recruits students as early as the eighth grade. They then continue through high school and technical college, earning up to 14 hours of Weber State credit.

“This is all being driven by the industry, what they need us to prepare their employees to do, so those they hire can hit the ground running,” said Jeremy Farner, associate professor in the construction and building sciences department.

Utah high school students who take four of the approved pathway classes are guaranteed an $8,000 scholarship to Weber State to continue their education.

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Division of Workforce Services provided $200,000 to kick off the program. The legislature approved $260,000 annually from the Strategic Workforce Initiative to help the effort succeed.