Company Profile
Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution Department
Company Overview
Texas A&M – Dwight Look College of Engineering
Texas A&M is located in the twin cities of Bryan and College Station, with a population of more than 175,000, and is conveniently located in a triangle formed by Dallas, Houston and Austin. Texas A&M has more than 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled. Research expenditures at Texas A&M total more than $820 million annually, ranking in the top tier of universities nationwide. With an endowment valued at more than $5 billion, the university ranks fourth among U.S. public universities and 10th overall. Texas A&M is aware that attracting and retaining exceptional faculty often depends on meeting the needs of two careers and having policies that contribute to work-life balance. For more information visit http://dof.tamu.edu/content/balancing-work-and-life. With 390 tenured/tenure-track faculty members and more than 12,000 students, the Dwight Look College of Engineering is one of the largest engineering schools in the country. The college is ranked seventh in graduate studies and eighth in undergraduate programs among public institutions by U.S. News & World Report, with seven of the college’s 13 departments ranked in the Top 10. The Look College is ranked second in research expenditures by the American Society for Engineering Education.
The Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution (ETID) is unique among the Dwight Look College’s 13 departments due to its strong focus on applied research and undergraduate education. Currently, the department has 35 tenured and non-tenured faculty members to support academic program in electronic systems engineering technology (ESET), manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology (MMET), and industrial distribution (IDIS) with an overall enrollment of approximately 1,200 undergraduate and 140 graduate students. The faculty also supports approximately $3 million annually in applied research and professional development efforts spanning areas that include embedded systems, communications, advanced manufacturing, intelligent product design and development, supply chain management, and educational research.
Company History
History of the University
Texas A&M is the state's first public institution of higher education. With a current student body of more than 60,000 and a physical campus of more than 5,200 acres, Texas A&M is also among the nation's largest universities. Our origins, however, are much humbler: we owe our existence to the Morrill Act, approved by the United States Congress on July 2, 1862. This act provided for donation of public land to the states for the purpose of funding higher education whose "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanic arts."
The State of Texas agreed to create a college under the terms of the Morrill Act in November 1866, but actual formation didn't come until the establishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas by the Texas state legislature on April 17, 1871. A commission created to locate the institution accepted the offer of 2,416 acres of land from the citizens of Brazos County in 1871, and instruction began in 1876. Admission was limited to white males, and, as required by the Morrill Act, all students were required to participate in military training.
Texas A&M underwent many changes in the 1960s under the presidency of Gen. James Earl Rudder. Under his tenure the college diversified, opening its doors to African-Americans and formally admitting women. Participation in the Corps of Cadets was also made voluntary. In 1963, the Texas state legislature officially renamed the school to Texas A&M University, with the "A" and "M" being a symbolic link to the school's past but no longer officially standing for "Agricultural and Mechanical."
Since that time, Texas A&M has flourished to become one of the nation's premier research universities. Along with the University of Texas and Rice, Texas A&M is one of only three Tier 1 universities in the state. In 1971 and 1989, respectively, Texas A&M was designated as a sea-grant and a space-grant institution, making it among the first four universities to hold the triple distinction of land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant designations.
While membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary in 1965, the Corps has nonetheless continued to play a key role in the university. The Corps is often referred to as the "Keepers of the Spirit" and "Guardians of Tradition." Texas A&M remains one of only six senior military colleges, and the Corps of Cadets is the largest uniformed body outside the national service academies. As such, it has historically produced more officers than any other institution in the nation other than the academies.
The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened in 1997 on west campus, making Texas A&M one of only a few universities to host a presidential library on their campus. President Bush maintains an active role in the university, hosting and participating in special events organized through the library.