ASU launches mechanical engineering program, expands STEM offerings

Alabama State University is expanding its STEM offerings, including adding a mechanical engineering degree program.

About 20 students are signed up for the new discipline, which will begin in the fall, said Derrick Dean, ASU’s director of engineering. With the addition of the new degree, the university formed the engineering department. Along with mechanical engineering, the department includes biomedical engineering.

About 25 students have graduated from the biomedical engineering program, which began in 2016.

“Everything was from scratch,” Dean said about the department. The university had to recruit students and faculty and build the curriculum. Dean is searching for three faculty members to fill spots for the mechanical engineering program.

Dean said the program complements other degrees that ASU offers, which ties to in-demand skills. “It is also a field that meets a lot of the demand for our region,” Dean said.

This summer, Hyundai is funding a program to help incoming engineering freshmen. Hyundai is contributing $100,000 to help new students with basic science and math skills as well as allow them to develop hands-on projects. The program will include industrial site visits.

Dean said he hopes to make this a yearly program.

“This can and will prove to be very valuable to making that transition,” Dean said.

ASU officials also hope to create a data science minor, which they plan to premiere in the fall of 2025, said Michelle Foster, the chairwoman for the Department of Math and Computer Science and the associate Dean of the College of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser’s public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or on Twitter @gladlyalex.