Dear WSE community, 

The start of a new academic year is always exciting. but this fall—a time when AI and data science underpin so many of our endeavors—is particularly energizing.

In this issue, you’ll read about a new institute for data science and artificial intelligence that will have a truly transformative impact on the Whiting School, allowing us to nearly double the size of our faculty over the next five years.

This accelerates our progress toward achieving the vision we collectively developed for the Whiting School. We committed to building out core areas of research—not only in artificial intelligence, data science, and machine learning—but also in bioengineering, energy, the environment, and resiliency in extreme environments, all aimed at improving the lives of individuals and empowering communities to thrive. Growing at such a scale will mean we can enhance our offerings and reputation in all these fields. With this transformational investment, we can execute our vision of moving from a high level of excellence to one of preeminence among engineering schools worldwide.

Our expansion will have a ripple effect, given that each new faculty member will also attract more doctoral and master’s students, more postdocs, and more support staff. To underscore the magnitude of this growth and its significance for our school, consider where we stood a decade ago. Back then, the Whiting School ranked around 45th among engineering schools in terms of faculty numbers. Fast forward to today, when we are 25th in size. And in five years, we expect to be one of the largest engineering schools in the country.

We are living in an incredibly exciting time for the Whiting School, which presents us with an exceptional opportunity to positively impact not only our local community and region but also the world. This unprecedented investment will ultimately increase our ability to further excel in every aspect of our activities.

Best wishes,

Ed Schlesinger
Benjamin T. Rome Dean