Enhancing Our Connections

The work of building the pipeline of tomorrow’s engineers and scientists begins well before students arrive on campus in Terre Haute. Rose-Hulman is actively engaged in a variety of outreach programs that make early connections to future students and spark excitement about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

For example, this past April, robotics teams from 32 Indiana high schools and family/community groups gathered for the FIRST Indiana Robotics state championships at Rose-Hulman. Teams had been working for a few months with teachers and mentors, creating from-scratch robots about 4 feet tall and 125 pounds, designed for a game involving processing cargo for transportation.

More than 2,000 people, including several alumni judges, gathered in Rose-Hulman’s Sports and Recreation Center to watch the robots take on the challenge in the state championship. Alliances of robotic teams were tasked with gathering specific balls, delivering them to the center of the playing field, and preparing the cargo for transport.

“This showcased how exciting robotics and STEM can be for those actively involved in the building and competing of the robots—and the fans who came to watch the event,” says the event’s organizer, Carlotta Berry, PhD, the Lawrence J. Giacoletto endowed professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Everyone was on edge to see which team was going to come out on top after completing several competitive rounds.”

Meanwhile, Rose-Hulman was one of two national sites hosting the prestigious 2022 Ross Mathematics Program over the summer. The six-week program welcomed 60 students ages 15 to 18, engaging them in intensive mathematics programming, exploring number theories and expanding their mathematical thinking.

The instruction was conducted by the Ross Mathematics Program associated with the University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University and Ohio Dominican University. This was a fitting complement to the regular summer pre-college programs offered by Rose-Hulman as a regular outreach.

Inviting young potential scientists, mathematicians and engineers to campus in the summer helps “create an environment that gives highachieving high school students from across America the opportunity to explore their interests in science, engineering, and mathematics as well as build college preparedness and competitiveness,” according to Rick Stamper, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Rose-Hulman has offered summer educational outreach opportunities for more than 50 years with Operation Catapult being the anchor program. The most recent newer offerings included both on-campus and at-home programs for high school students with STEM interests. “Students in summer programs get to interact directly with Rose-Hulman faculty and students and have a firsthand experience of what college life is like at Rose,” says Tom Bear, vice president for enrollment management.

One of the newest concepts is the Rose Power program, aimed at students in the ninth grade. It offers insights into STEM careers and inspiration from women role models, with attendees on campus for six days working in the institute’s innovation centers designing and building gadgets alongside faculty and students.

Rose Power is just one of the initiatives aimed at building STEM interest among high school students. Another is the PRISM EMERGE program, also an outreach to ninth grade high-school girls. Programs such as these are instrumental in Rose continuing to attract a diverse pool of applicants.

AUGUST 26, 2021

A new school year started with the opening of the New Academic Building, a 70,000-square-foot, $29 million building that features state-of-the-art design studios, collaborative workspaces and science labs.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Rose-Hulman was featured in The Princeton Review’s The Best 387 Colleges’ “Great Lists” for career services and professor accessibility, while also being highlighted as a Best Value College.

2021-22 TIMELINE OF ACHIEVEMENTS

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

The 2021-22 academic year started with a record 643 first-year students, more than 2,100 total students, and 89% of students and staff members filing proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

For the 23rd straight year, Rose-Hulman ranked No. 1 among U.S. undergraduate engineering colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Engineering departments earning top marks were civil, computer, electrical, and mechanical.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

The computer science program climbed into the top 9% of all programs across America, tying for 51st in U.S. News & World Report’s survey of educators familiar with computer science departments.