Enriching the Student Experiences

There’s nothing quite like living and learning among a population of equally curious individuals. The student experience at Rose-Hulman brings together exceptional instruction and invaluable hands-on, collaborative real-world ventures with faculty and other students. Surrounding that unique learning environment is an institutional experience that emphasizes collegiality, diversity and support.

The Rose Show is just one example of a student experience that’s uniquely Rose-Hulman. It’s essentially a World’s Fair of ingenious ideas, a showcase of everything from machine learning solutions to sustainability concepts to mobility devices and software applications.

The William A. Kline Innovation Award is essentially a “best in show” prize, named in honor of a great Rose thinker who was associate dean of innovation and supervisor of the Branam and Kremer Innovation Centers before his passing in March 2021. The Rose-Hulman Rover Team earned the honor at the most recent Rose Show for creating a remote-controlled arm able to lift heavy objects, type on a laptop keyboard and complete other tasks. The overarching intent was to

MARCH 23, 2022

The Wabash Battalion ROTC unit earned the 2022 MacArthur Award as the country’s No. 1 Army program based on its performances in readiness training and commissioning lieutenants for military service.

MARCH 24, 2022

A panel of five alumnae showcased the power of women in STEM in discussions that provided advice to current female students. The event was part of the campus’ Women’s History Month celebration.

MARCH 31, 2022

A crypto gift from alumnus/ trustee Koushik Subramanian established a fund for advancing technologies in digital assets. It also showcased how alumni are finding creative ways to support the institute.

APRIL 2-3, 2022

The inaugural Sawmill Society Weekend brought members of the innovative, entrepreneurial-minded alumni network together to share insights and experiences with others and students.

APRIL 7, 2022 develop a device that could be useful for a rover exploring Mars or the Moon.

A special Rose-Hulman Giving Day brought 602 gifts from alumni, faculty, staff, and friends to contribute a record $491,180 to meet the institute’s greatest needs, including student scholarships.

Another innovation on display at the Rose Show was a device designed by biomedical engineering students to attach to a treadmill for children undergoing therapy for low motor control in their legs, helping them improve their walking gait and stamina. Senior civil and environmental engineering students tackling real-world needs designed a multiuse trail, a new fire substation, improvements to an outdoor entertainment venue, along with an enclave for a Ghana village.

Also spotlighted at the Rose Show, mechanical engineering students collaborated to develop a new greenhouse and rainwater collection system to help Terre Haute’s ReTHink organization support community gardens. And a group of electrical and computer engineering students developed a way to support outdoor play and exercise for students at the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

The first Sawmill Society Weekend event, in April 2022, brought entrepreneurial alumni back to campus to share insights and experiences with other alumni as well as current students. The 2022 event included sessions on forming a startup company, angel investing and bringing diversity to entrepreneurship.

The Sawmill Society is composed of alumni and Rose-Hulman friends who have experience creating or leading tech or business enterprises, and its mission is to spread ideas, inspirations and networking opportunities that could support future endeavors. It has more than 80 members, including successful entrepreneurs and angel investors, and many of its members provide mentorship opportunities.

Women’s History Month provided an opportunity for conversations about “The Power of Women in STEM.” That was the topic of a panel discussion that brought five alumnae in front of a large group of current

APRIL 11, 2022

A Green Chemistry Commitment has the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry adapting green chemistry theory and practice, improving green chemistry accessibility, and working toward a sustainable future.

APRIL 14, 2022

APRIL 15-16, 2022

Indiana’s best high school and family/ community robotics teams competed on campus in the exciting “Ultimate Sport for the Mind” challenge during the FIRST Indiana Robotics state championships.

APRIL 20, 2022 women students. They discussed ways to overcome gender inequalities in the workplace and shared ideas for helping women’s fresh STEM project perspectives earn the respect they deserve.

U.S.

Rose-Hulman is committed to sustaining excellence in the experience of all diverse populations, among students, faculty and staff. The institute’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion manifests itself in a variety of efforts across campus.

Among the prominent examples from the past year is a new $644,873 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Indiana Youth Programs on Campus initiative. The program supports colleges and universities in creating enriching summer camp experiences for students historically underrepresented in higher education.

The Lilly Endowment grant provides three summers’ worth of support for Rose Power Camp, an experience for girls who want to build confidence and skill by working in innovation centers. The first Rose Power Camp was a six-day experience focused on using the machines, tools, fabrication equipment and other resources at Rose-Hulman’s Branam and Kremer Innovation Centers and the New Academic Building.

The grant also supports three summers of Operation Catapult, the campus’ signature hands-on STEM camp inviting students to design, build and present a project from scratch. This past summer saw three 11-day sessions of Operation Catapult, which included challenges such as coding a computer program using Python, creating autonomous functionality for a car, designing a Frisbee thrower and, of course, building a catapult.

The importance of diversity and inclusion in STEM fields was highlighted at the 144th Commencement, when the Commencement address was delivered by Karl Reid, EdD, an engineer, writer, educator and national advocate for diversity and inclusion in engineering. Dr. Reid had been to campus before as executive director with the National Society of Black Engineers, when he visited to help the student chapter and the institute expand diversity recruitment.

Rose-Hulman also added Juneteenth to its calendar of official campus holidays. Also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, Juneteenth recognizes the date in 1865 when all enslaved African Americans in were officially emancipated.

Investing in Mental Health Services

Improvement in mental health is another aspect of Rose-Hulman’s commitment to sustaining excellence in the student experience. The institute is collaborating with nearby Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and DePauw University on MINDful Connections, a Lilly Endowment, Inc., grant aimed at elevating mental health support. The three institutions are working together on improvements in mental health counseling and support services.

The consortium will enable Rose to more efficiently and effectively focus on preventive care strategies and increase student access to mental health services. The three institutions will be able to share knowledge, experiences, and resources—like psychiatrists, counselors, and telehealth services—while retaining the ability to customize resources to the needs of their individual campus’ student populations.