For anyone working in the semiconductor industry in Oregon, it is no surprise that a recent report estimated a need for a 24% increase in semiconductor-related credentials. Meeting those needs is a focus for the State of Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which requested the assessment. It is part of the State’s broader efforts to reinvigorate the semiconductor industry supported by the federal CHIPS and Science Act and Oregon’s CHIPS Act.

Wyatt Weaver started down several academic paths before he found the one that took him where he needed to go.

“I explored architecture, energy systems engineering, and civil engineering before ultimately deciding on mechanical engineering,” said Weaver. “It was a roundabout journey, and I’m surprised I didn't discover my true passion sooner.”

In August, with the congratulatory cheers of June’s Commencement celebrations still ringing in their ears, a group of five 2024 College of Engineering graduates took their senior capstone project on an epic, two-week road trip.

In 2020, Kendra Sharp helped organize an international development design summit in Thailand. That’s where she met Bryan Hugill, who owns an organic rice farm in the northeastern part of the country.

Richard Wirz sometimes jokes that the word “aerospace” makes no sense.

“Aero means air, and space means the absence of air,” said Wirz, executive director for aerospace research programs and Boeing Professor of Mechanical Engineering Design at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering. “It’s like I study air and no air. Why are they even in the same category?”

While working as a senior mechanical design engineer for a large tech company, Samantha Kang, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, bristled at the thought of migrant workers on the manufacturing floor being paid less than $4 an hour, to make a product that sells for hundreds. This social inequity motivated Kang to leave the industry.

Can you harvest energy from your rain gutter? Can you recoup energy by mounting a wind turbine on the front of a Bronco? Can you build a knife-throwing machine?

These are the kinds of questions that inspire Quint Crispin, B.S. manufacturing engineering ’00, to create YouTube videos that illustrate the math behind engineering principles and document the process of iterating on an idea.