Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University was originally established as the School of Engineering in fall 2005 and became the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering (WCE) in August 2011.  The WCE is located in Holmes Hall, a building that was specifically designed for student-centered teaching of engineering and computing courses in an active and collaborative learning environment. The College currently has 23 faculty and staff and around 700 students and offers undergraduate engineering degree programs in bioengineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering, and software engineering as well as an undergraduate degree in computer science for students who were on campus before fall 2011.  The BS in Bioengineering, BS in Civil Engineering, and BS in Environmental Engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org/.  We will apply to have the software engineering degree accredited after the first students graduate with the BS in Software Engineering in May 2015.  The BS in Computer Science is being phased out with the last students expected to graduate by 2014.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment outlook for our engineering degree programs is among the best with 72 percent growth in projected employment for bioengineering (also called biomedical engineering), 24 percent in civil engineering, 31 percent in environmental engineering, and 32 percent in software engineering between 2008 and 2018.  Projected job growth in software engineering should result in 295,000 new jobs in this field!

Come visit us in our administrative office, 208 Holmes Hall (HE), or our advising office, 219 HE

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

2012 Engineering Extravaganza Summer Challenge

The U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering hosted its first engineering camp for high school students this past June 2012.  The Engineering Extravaganza Summer Challenge was developed and delivered by Drs. Csavina, Kunberger and Zidek with funding from the Heartland Educational Consortium, a partner in the FloridaLearns STEM Scholars program.  The week-long camp hosted 40 students from Heartland school districts including the following high schools: DeSoto, Moore Haven Jr/Sr High, Hardee, Clewiston, LaBelle, Avon Park, Lake Placid, Sebring, and Okeechobee’s Freshman Campus and High School.  The summer camp highlighted the four disciplines of the engineering programs at FGCU (Bioengineering, Civil, Environmental and Software Engineering) with half-day, discipline specific sessions filled with hands-on laboratory and design activities.  The highlight of the week was the four-day colossal design challenge which entailed teams designing a room-size Rube Goldberg machine.  Students displayed their machines in motion on the last day with faculty mentors, students and parents watching from the side (to see the YouTube video highlights click here!).

Faculty Positions

The U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering is currently advertising for applicants for the position of Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, and also for Assistant Professor of Software Engineering.  Please visit our Self-Managed Online Application Resource (SOAR) at http://jobs.fgcu.edu for posting details, EEO/AA policies, and application instructions.