SEAS History
The study of engineering at the University of Pennsylvania can be traced back to 1850 when the University Trustees adopted a resolution providing for a “Professorship of ‘Chemistry as Applied to the Arts’.” In 1852, the study of engineering was further formalized with the establishment of the School of Mines, Arts and Manufactures. The first Professor of Civil and Mining Engineering was appointed in 1852. The first graduate of the School received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1854. Since that time, the School has grown to six departments. In 1973, the school was renamed as the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
The early growth of the School benefited from the generosity of two Philadelphians: John Henry Towne and Alfred Fitler Moore. Towne, a mechanical engineer and railroad developer, bequeathed the school a gift of half a million dollars upon his death in 1875. The main administration building for the School still bears his name. Moore was a successful entrepreneur who made his fortune manufacturing telegraph cable. A 1923 gift from Moore established the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, which is the birthplace of the first electronic general-purpose Turing-complete digital computer, ENIAC, in 1946.
During the later half of the 20th century the School continued to break new ground. In 1958, Barbara G. Mandell became the first woman to enroll as an undergraduate in the School of Engineering. In 1965, the University acquired two sites that were formerly used as U.S. Army Nike Missile Base (PH 82L and PH 82R) and created the Valley Forge Research Center. In 1976, the Management and Technology Program was created. In 1990, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Biomedical Science and Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Science were first offered, followed by a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology in 1997.
The School continues to expand with the addition of the Melvin and Claire Levine Hall for computer science in 1996, Skirkanich Hall for bioengineering in 2006 and the upcoming Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology which is scheduled to open in 2013.
Read more about this topic: University Of Pennsylvania School Of Engineering And Applied Science
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)