Scholarships For All Students

First new engineering school in 40 years seeks brightness, creativity

-- Frances Richards

Work in progress: Franklin W. Olin College of
Engineering to open near Boston in fall 2001

With more than 300,000 high-tech jobs going begging in Silicon Valley alone, there is a growing need to train engineers who are qualified to quickly enter the workplace, says Richard Miller, president of the nation's first new engineering college in 40 years. Scheduled to open its doors to students in fall 2001, the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA, was established through an endowment of more than $300 million -- one of the largest gifts in American higher education -- from the F.W. Olin Foundation of New York.

The new college is planning to change the way engineers are educated. Olin will combine top-tier engineering curricula with entrepreneurship training, and it will provide students at the four-year college with work experience at some of Boston's best high-tech firms, says Miller.

With the Internet-linked global economy on the rise, business leaders, the National Science Foundation and the engineering community have called for changes in the way engineers are educated. These changes include an increased emphasis on business and entrepreneurship, teamwork, communication skills and interdisciplinary studies, all in the context of a rigorous preparation in the fundamentals.

The school's mission is to provide the best and most innovative engineering education to the world's brightest and most enterprising students. So that Olin can enroll the most talented students without regard to financial ability, all admitted students will receive a four-year scholarship covering tuition and room costs -- a total of nearly $130,000. The entering class will include 60 to 100 freshmen and seven sophomores in fall 2001. Enrollment will be capped at about 650 by 2006.

Through a unique partnership with neighboring Babson College, ranked number one in entrepreneurship, Olin will offer students an interesting combination of engineering study and entrepreneurial thinking. The campus is currently under construction on a 70-acre site.

For more information:

Circle 601 - F.W. Olin College of Engineering or connect directly to their website via the Online Reader Service Program at http://www.1rs.com/004df-601