But during the 1930s all engineering education in the state was consolidated at Georgia Tech. The sole exception was agricultural engineering, a degree program at UGA since 1928. A biological engineering degree was added here in 1993. Though a number of faculty from biological and agricultural engineering participated in the symposium, they emphasized that building comprehensive engineering at UGA is a university, not departmental, initiative. John Watson, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and currently a program director within the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, spoke at lunch about current demands for a mixture of expertise that cuts across disciplines.
Biomedical engineering needs faculty in math, cell biology and other fields.
Following lunch, symposium participants spent the afternoon in breakout sessions, then came back together to discuss what happens next. One group will begin to study how a faculty of engineering would be structured. But the ultimate success of any effort depends on individual commitment, Dale Threadgill reminded the group before adjournment. It takes people to move things forward. This site works best with the latest version of Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.