Penn State Fayette offers new four-year engineering degree
Penn State Fayette will offer a new four-year bachelor's degree in electro-mechanical engineering technology for the first time in the fall 2018 semester. The program's core courses will be taught in the campus' new Engineering and Arts Suite in the Eberly Building.
Eric Morris | Herald-Standard
This photo shows equipment in one of two electrical engineering technology labs at Penn State Fayette’s Engineering and Arts Suite. The campus was recently approved to offer a four-year bachelor’s degree in electro-mechanical engineering technology that will build on the school’s already existing two-year associate degree program in electrical engineering technology.
This photo shows equipment in one of two electrical engineering technology labs at Penn State Fayette’s Engineering and Arts Suite. The campus was recently approved to offer a four-year bachelor's degree in electro-mechanical engineering technology that will build on the school's already existing two-year associate degree program in electrical engineering technology.
Herald-Standard
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, was recently approved to offer a four-year bachelor’s degree in electro-mechanical engineering technology. Campus officials have called the new program a “game changer” that will increase enrollment and meet workforce needs for area businesses.
Penn State Fayette will offer a new four-year bachelor's degree in electro-mechanical engineering technology for the first time in the fall 2018 semester. The program's core courses will be taught in the campus' new Engineering and Arts Suite in the Eberly Building.
With approval of new program to be offered for the first time this fall, aspiring engineers and working professionals can obtain a bachelor’s degree without leaving Fayette County.
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, is currently enrolling students for a four-year electro-mechanical engineering technology (EMET) degree program that prepares graduates for a variety of fields, including aeronautics, energy supply, industrial automation and robotics.
Dr. Charles Patrick, chancellor and chief academic officer at Penn State Fayette, said the campus considers the new program a “game changer” that will increase enrollment and meet workforce needs for area businesses.
EMET professionals combine the fundamental principles of both electrical and mechanical engineering to design, develop, manufacture and test computer-controlled mechanical systems.
“Today’s industries need people who can work on systems, machines and products that have both electrical and mechanical elements, the primary aim of this program,” said Patrick.
While the campus previously offered a two-year associate degree program in electrical engineering technology (EET), the majority of engineering students at Fayette would continue on to University Park to finish their degrees, Patrick said.
Now, students can stay locally and earn a bachelor’s degree while saving money on tuition and room and board, he said. Individuals who have already completed the EET degree can finish the EMET degree in two years.
Patrick said Penn State runs a marketability analysis before deciding whether to approve a degree program in order to determine the sustainability for jobs and job growth.
“In these fields, we have job growth and predicted job growth over the next few decades,” Patrick said. “These are high-paying jobs. Folks do very well in these programs.”
The new degree program will likely draw initial attraction from working professionals at local companies who already have two-year degrees and wish to continue their education.
Regional industrial companies Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Boeing, Johnson Matthey — all of which operate locally and employ engineers — supported the creation of the program during the proposal stage.
“There are eight to 10 local companies that are hiring people with these degrees,” said Dr. Nathaniel Bohna, Penn State Fayette associate teaching professor of engineering and program coordinator.
About two dozen employees of nearby Advanced Acoustic Concepts, a local developer of sophisticated sonar processing systems used by the U.S. Navy, hold associate degrees from the school’s EET program, said Patrick. The company will contribute students to the inaugural EMET cohort.
The addition of the EMET at Fayette brings the campus’ four-year degree total to 11, five of which have been added since Patrick’s arrival in 2014.
The EMET is offered as a four-year degree at four other Penn State campuses — Altoona, Berks, New Kensington and York. Bohna said student enrollment in the programs at these campuses has been strong, reaching upwards of 250 at one school.
Patrick said Fayette would like to see its new program hit triple digits for enrollment within four years.
Campus officials say an exciting draw of the EMET will be the backdrop of program: the campus’ new 9,100-square-foot Engineering and Arts Suite, installed last fall on the third floor the Eberly Building to house the engineering department.
The space features four traditional classrooms, one computer lab outfitted with 24 receding monitors for multi-use workspaces, one arts classroom, two electrical engineering technology labs built to simulate industrial environments and a 3-D printing lab.
Patrick said the university is providing support for the purchase of additional lab equipment to accentuate the new program.
Bohna, one of four full-time faculty members who will teach the EMET, said the hands-on program will equip students to be well-versed in both electrical and mechanical systems and to be workplace-ready after graduation. Coursework is designed to equip students with the interdisciplinary skills necessary to meet the complexity of modern industrial systems.
Penn State Fayette will apply for program accreditation by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, which can be done upon the graduation of the program’s first student.