Dear Alumni, Colleagues and Friends...

James Sherwood

01/01/2024

I am thrilled to share the news that The Wall Street Journal has ranked UMass Lowell as the No. 1 public university in Massachusetts, No. 10 overall in the state and No. 137 overall in the country in its 2024 Best Colleges in the United States ranking. 
The Wall Street Journal based its rankings on the following:
  • Student outcomes (70% of the score), such as graduation rates and graduate salaries—that is, the value added by colleges and universities and the contribution that a school makes toward student success.
  • Learning environment (20%), which considers student survey data on learning opportunities through interactions with faculty as well as the quality of teaching, career preparation, facilities and whether students would recommend the college to another student.
  • Campus diversity (10%), which includes opportunities to interact with students from different backgrounds, as well as student body diversity, which includes ethnicity, family income, disabilities and international status. 
We truly appreciate this recognition. It reflects the high quality of teaching and advising made by our dedicated faculty in the Francis College of Engineering and other colleges, and how invested we are in providing an excellent learning experience to every student.
Last November, the American Council on Education, which helps to manage the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, announced that the criteria for classifying the research status of universities—that is, R1 versus R2—is going to be simplified in 2025. The new R1 category, which is the highest, will include two thresholds: $50 million in total research expenditures and 70 doctoral research degrees awarded. 
UMass Lowell is currently classified as R2. However, with annual research expenditures now at more than $100 million and annual doctorates awarded at more than 125, the university is well-positioned to achieve R1 status next year. This is yet another national recognition of the university’s growth in stature. 
As I have shared previously, I am passionate about our co-op program at UMass Lowell, and the college offers co-op opportunities for both master’s and undergraduate students. The master’s co-op is a great option for international students seeking to complement their graduate education with a U.S. work experience.
To increase the co-op participation of our undergraduates, we will require students in all engineering majors to take a one-credit co-op preparatory course starting in the fall. The goal is to help them learn how to create a professional résumé, do a job search, prepare for an interview and develop soft skills. Hopefully, more students will realize the value of co-ops and dispel the misconception that co-ops will increase not only their time to graduation, but also the cost of their education.
If you are a company wanting to learn how you can engage in our co-op program and build a pipeline of talent from our campus to your organization, please send me an email (see below), and we will find a time to talk—or to meet at your place. 
This issue of Engineering Solutions highlights some of the most popular minors that are available to our undergraduate engineering students. These minors are one of many features that differentiate the Francis College of Engineering from other engineering schools in Massachusetts and across the nation. 
For example, our newest minor, sports engineering, is the first undergraduate program of its kind in the country. Prior to this, any undergraduate who wanted to study this field had to consider engineering programs in Europe and Australia.
Another very special minor is sound recording technology, in which electrical engineering students can gain skills for a career in the recording industry, TV and radio broadcasting, system design, and audio engineering research and development.
Engineering undergraduate students can also choose to minor in aerospace studies, which provides deeper understanding and education in aeronautics and space sciences. This minor is particularly well-suited to technical majors such as mechanical engineering and physics. 
While the college does not yet offer a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, we are going to start a doctorate in the field in collaboration with the Kennedy College of Sciences, which already offers an aerospace sciences option under its physics Ph.D. program. These doctoral programs will offer seven tracks of study: space mechanics and engineering; aerospace dynamics, controls and stability; space communications; aerospace thermofluid systems; space environment; aerospace systems engineering, and structural dynamics. 
We already have several aerospace research collaborations with industry and NASA, and these new academic programs will provide another degree choice for our graduate students as well as a source of aerospace talent for academia, industry, government labs and space agencies. 
Feel free to contact me (James_Sherwood@uml.edu, 978-934-3313 or via LinkedIn) if you have a story to share, or if you would like to partner with the Francis College of Engineering. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
James A. Sherwood, Ph.D., P.E.
Dean, Francis College of Engineering
University of Massachusetts Lowell

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