The opening of the Computational Science and Engineering Building this fall was an exciting time for the entire Hopkins community. The building itself combines the best of form and function. Sited on the new Decker Quad, adjacent to Mason Hall, its presence contributes to Homewood’s new “front door.”
The building makes a strong statement about the Whiting School of Engineering’s commitment to leadership in cross-disciplinary research. The centers, institutes, and labs devoted to the fast-growing fields of robotics, computational medicine, and language and speech processing are housed here. But in addition to that, I believe the building makes an even more important statement about the school’s long-standing commitment to pushing the boundaries of every discipline in engineering, producing ground-breaking research, and educating students in ways that effect positive change in the world.
On the building’s ground floor, across from the robotics high bay (one of the most technologically advanced and largest robotics research spaces in the world), is a 60-foot-long multi-media display that offers an absorbing snapshot of the school’s strengths, breadth, and history.
As I walked by earlier this week, a video of Abel Wolman ’13 appeared on one of the plasma screens. It occurred to me that his vision from almost a century ago—the importance of providing clean drinking water to the world—and the role Hopkins Engineering could play in improving health and society, remain integral elements of the school’s vision today. Moving along the display, I was struck by how its many examples of faculty, student, and alumni research and accomplishments provide evidence of this commitment. Examples range from a highly-advanced “feeling” prosthetic hand and videos that show WSE’s important contributions to robots being developed for deep underwater exploration, to plaques that honor significant alumni discoveries over the years and the school’s historic milestones. I encourage you to visit and see for yourself.
Many thanks for all that you do, whether it’s volunteering, or providing internships and scholarship support. You help ensure that Johns Hopkins Engineering can continue its valuable work.
Sincerely,
Nick Jones
Dean, Whiting School of Engineering
“It’s hard to say to a potential investor, ‘I’m going to go explore the ocean… we’ll probably make discoveries that will change the world some day, but I don’t know what they are.’ So, you end up doing shipwrecks.”
That’s how Dave Jourdan ’84 describes his career as a deep-sea ocean explorer.
The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-2608
410-516-4050 | engineeringinfo@jhu.edu
