Dr. Emily Allen, Dean, College of ECST
Dear Friends,
Our last InSights Online came to you in February 2021, eight months ago. Since then we’ve ramped up our in-person classes (about 40% are in-person this semester), returned to our research labs, and continued with some new ways of delivering our education and support to students. Working in person, even masked, is much better than talking to people on Zoom! Those unplanned hallway conversations are so important, because so much gets lost when every conversation has to happen by appointment. Nevertheless, we are grateful that we’ve been able to continue our work of educating students throughout the pandemic. Thanks to Higher Education grants from the federal government, every student who needs one has been given a laptop and hotspot for improved online communication and studying. This Fall, though, we are excited to have our Capstone Senior Design projects working in-person in our Makerspace and other labs, back to designing, building, and testing prototypes in person and together. Just yesterday I visited with our students at the Capstone Design poster session. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm and their joy in being able to work together again.
One piece of news is that the Technology Department’s proposal for a new bachelor’s program in Engineering Technology was approved to begin in the fall of 2022. The new degree program will eventually replace the current Industrial Technology program. Once the first group of students graduate, we’ll seek ABET Accreditation for the Engineering Tech program. The new program, besides having a title more recognizable to industry, will combine many of the best hands-on learning of the existing program, with added focus on engineering principles and design.
We recently hosted a virtual “meet and greet” with our veterans and military-connected students, partnering with the campus Veterans Resource Center. These students are typically older than their peers and have significantly more life experience and often families. We try to make sure we take their needs into account with our programming, and we found the students are very positive about their experience at Cal State LA. Said David Strickland, Air Force veteran and senior ME student, “I wish I could have split myself in two to take advantage of all the opportunities at ECST!” Can’t get much better than that!
We’ve got two big events coming up, both on Thursday, November 18. In the morning we will hold our annual Sikand SITI-Center Symposium on Urban Sustainability; and in the evening we’ll be joining the ECST Alumni Network for a get-together with alumni speaker Alicia Lopez, PE, ('93) from Nevada Energy. Registration information is below.
We hope you enjoy this issue of InSights – please dig in and read some alumni stories of resilience and dreaming big, including from Holocaust survivor Sigmund Burke, ’63 BSCE, and Ebenezer Onyeogaziri Henry, ’21 Aviation Administration.
I hope that each of you enjoys the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays with loved ones, and are enjoying more freedom to travel these days. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contribute to ECST
Want to help us provide the best education possible to current students?
Please donate to:
- the Acceleration Initiative
- the ECST Student Success Fund
- the Dean’s Fund for Innovation
- the Makerspace Fund
For more information about making an impactful gift, please contact me directly at ([email protected]) or Kevin Doody at ([email protected]). You can also give online at https://campaign.calstatela.edu/give
Connect with Fellow ECST Alums
Want to connect with fellow ECST alums? Join me, along with ECST Alumni Network Chairs Maida Lopez (BSEE ’03) and Ricson Chude (BSME ’08), to hear ECST updates, meet other alumni, and learn about the ECST Alumni Network and its mission to support you! For more information on the network, to register for upcoming socials, and to sign up for the Alumni Network mailing list, please visit the ECST Alumni Network website.
Join the ECST Speakers Bureau
Looking for a way to give back to students? How about joining our Speakers Bureau? This new ECST initiative will help us create a repository of potential speakers for the College. We’ll be able to share your interest in speaking with the appropriate departments, student organizations, alumni network, and faculty. We’ll ask you to fill out an online form with the background information, and then we’ll get in touch when the right opportunity arises. This might be a presentation by video conference or in-person when we’re back on campus. Thanks for signing up!