A Legacy of Excellence

“Only a very small part of the actual knowledge content of a profession may be imparted to a university student. The main thing is to train the mind.”

Charles J. Tilden, 1915
More than a century later, this statement made by Johns Hopkins University’s’ first professor of civil engineering, still rings true.
Training the mind through the integration of research and education and through a fearlessness when it comes to pushing the boundaries of disciplines are what distinguished Johns Hopkins Engineering at the time of its founding and are the reasons for its leadership today.

Notable Accomplishments

  • 1913-1915

    Abel Wolman, one of JHU’s first engineering graduates, develops a water chlorination system that has provided millions of people with access to safe drinking water.

  • 1950s

    Professor Stanley Corrsin constructs a wind tunnel on the Homewood campus that led to landmark findings in the fundamentals of turbulence.

  • 1957

    Research by Dean, William Kouwenhoven, culminates in the creation of the closed-chest defibrillator and the development of CPR.

  • 1967

    Percey Pierre becomes the first African American in the U.S. to receive a doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering.

  • 1993

    Avi Rubin, a professor of computer science, reveals significant security flaws in Diebold electronic voting machines that make them vulnerable to hacking.

  • 2009

    Louis Whitcomb, a professor of mechanical engineering, develops the navigational software used to send an autonomous underwater vehicle to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

  • 2012

    ChemBE professor, Sharon Gerecht, develops a hydrogel that can promote the formation of new blood vessels and hair follicles in skin damaged by severe burns.

  • 2019

    The “virtual heart” models developed by BME’s Natalia Trayanova’s are being used to diagnose and treat atrial fibrillation in the first FDA-approved clinical trial based on computer modeling.

2020 COVID-19 Map

A map that tracks the spread of COVID-19, created by CaSE’s Lauren Gardner, receives over a billion hits a day, making it the world’s leading information source for this data.

Visit JHU's Coronavirus Resource Center

Johns Hopkins Science Review

Between 1948 and 1960, JHU produced an educational television series featuring world-renowned scientists and scientific “firsts.”

100 Gallons a Day, 1959 - Johns Hopkins scientists explore issues related to water consumption in the U.S.

Concrete with Muscles, 1954 - Johns Hopkins scientists and engineers explain the composition and uses of concrete and cement.

Tomorrow’s Careers - A discussion of career options for the men of the graduating class of 1956.