Engineering a Brighter Future

This summer, a small but mighty team of three Tulane University students presented their proposal for a modular lunar habitat to a panel of leading NASA and aerospace industry experts. The trio was one of just 14 teams nationwide selected as finalists in the prestigious NASA 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems - Academic Linkage, or RASC-AL competition. They were also the third team from Tulane to be selected as finalists in the national competition in the past four years — an incredible achievement considering the competition also includes MIT, Virginia Polytechnic and State University and Texas A&M University, schools with huge teams and renowned aerospace programs.

The strong showing by Tulane at the RASC-AL competition isn’t just a testament to student achievement. It is also indicative of the university’s expanding and influential engineering program — one that has regained its national standing after the School of Engineering was merged into the School of Science and Engineering in 2006.

“Engineering research and education are an integral part of Tulane,” President Michael A. Fitts said. “They are central to our ethos and founding as an outward-facing institution. With major new curriculum offerings and an interdisciplinary approach, our engineering faculty and students are working to build more resilient communities and habitats, create precision health diagnostics and therapeutics, expand artificial intelligence, advance space science and more.”

Expanded programs

Adding to its already robust curriculum, the School of Science and Engineering began offering three engineering minors to undergraduate students beginning in the fall of 2024: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and materials engineering.

The program is continuing its expansion this fall with the introduction of two Master of Science Programs, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. These graduate programs will join the PhD and master’s programs in materials engineering that the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics already offers.

“For Tulane to achieve its potential as a leading research institution and contributor to the economic success of the Gulf South, strong engineering programs are absolutely essential,” said Matthew Escarra, professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics and co-director of Tulane Instrumentation for Nanoscience & Innovation. “The new minors in electrical and mechanical engineering, launched this academic year, have already seen strong participation from existing students in majors ranging from engineering physics to economics.”

The Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering was the first to reestablish a civil engineering program at Tulane with a minor for undergraduates in the fall of 2023. The Civil Engineering – Water Resources and Environmental minor has been so successful that this fall, the department is expanding to a major for undergraduates.

This is alongside the graduate programs already thriving within the department. Starting in 2023, the department began a PhD program and both resident and non-resident Master of Science programs in River-Coastal Science and Engineering.

“Our new minor in Civil Engineering gives students the opportunity to explore how engineers develop innovative solutions to reduce the risks posed by natural disasters to both human communities and natural ecosystems,” said Ehab Meselhe, Nicholas Altiero Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering. “This program lays the foundation for a future full undergraduate major in Civil Engineering – Water Resources and Environmental — a significant milestone for our department and for Tulane as a whole.”

“Tulane University, guided by the strategic vision of President Fitts and Provost Robin Forman, recognizes engineering education as critical to the Gulf South’s economic vitality, innovation and community resilience. Engineering at SSE isn’t just growing, it’s driving our region forward,” said Hridesh Rajan, dean of the School of Science and Engineering. “With enthusiastic support from faculty, staff and our generous alumni, engineering at Tulane is roaring back to life. Over the past two years, we’ve introduced four engineering minors: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, materials engineering and civil engineering. Most exciting of all, this summer we’ve launched three new degree programs — a BS in Civil Engineering, and MS degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering — underscoring Tulane’s commitment to engineering excellence.”

In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of engineering education at Tulane, the School of Science and Engineering has joined with the School of Architecture and Built Environment to establish a first-of-its-kind dual graduate degree, a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Science in River-Coastal Science and Engineering.

Hands-on experience

Engineering competition for Tulane students is not limited to outer space or out-of-state contests like RASC-AL. Students in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics and the Department of Biomedical Engineering compete in the annual “Truss Bust” in which teams build a model bridge using one sheet of wood and a laser cutter from the Scott Ackerman MakerSpace.

Each bridge must support at least 20 pounds, but the students are also competing to see which bridge can support the most weight. The contest, which this year was held in Pocket Park on the uptown campus, is an exciting affair for students and onlookers alike.

The Truss Bust is one example of the numerous ways engineering students use the state-of-the-art Scott Ackerman MakerSpace. Students in Tulane’s biomedical engineering program made national news in late 2023 when CBS Mornings covered their efforts in using the MakerSpace to build training wheelchairs for children.

Students in the Team Design class taught by Katherine Raymond, senior professor of practice and associate chair of biomedical engineering in the School of Science and Engineering, partnered with the nonprofit MakeGood to design and produce mobility trainers, or training wheelchairs, to help children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, limb deficiencies or other medical conditions prepare to operate actual wheelchairs.

To make the trainers, the students first had to learn about the needs of the children who would ultimately receive them. This is part of a human-centered design process at Tulane whereby students cultivate empathy for those they will be serving.

Tulane students’ passion for service doesn’t stop at their local community, either. The Tulane chapter of Engineers Without Borders is now in its second year of a project that builds composting toilets and provides access to clean water in Ghana. Last summer, the students visited the Sokode-Ando community to begin planning their project. Their first trip was an assessment trip during which students talked with local community members about their needs and planned the next steps of building the necessary facilities.

Using that same human-centered design process, the Engineers Without Borders team interviewed the people who would be using the facilities, with the aid of a translator, to ensure they would be helping in the best way possible.

Students have also partnered with Humanity and Community Development Projects (HCDP) for the Ghana effort. The team is basing its design on composting toilets already in use in the nearby community of Dzita. The students are returning to Sokode-Ando this August for their second trip, when they will begin construction.

“It was my experience with Engineers Without Borders that helped me pursue my interest in civil engineering and inspired me to pursue a career in this field,” said Lily Baughman, who served as president of the Tulane chapter during the last academic year as she completed her master’s degree in materials science and engineering.

World-class faculty

Attracting world-leading faculty is essential to building and maintaining a top engineering program, and Tulane’s engineering faculty is proving to be second to none.

“At any leading research university, it is the faculty who define what is possible, and we are in very good hands,” said Provost Forman. “From their path-breaking research that offers exciting glimpses of a healthier, more vibrant future, to the creation of innovative, engaging degree programs and research opportunities for our students, our engineering faculty are leading the way in building a more ambitious, energetic and impactful School of Science and Engineering and Tulane. And if you want a reason to be excited about our future, just look at the absolutely spectacular cohort of faculty who have joined us over the past several years.”

One such faculty member, Matthew Montemore, the Robert and Gayle Longmire Early Career Professor in Chemical Engineering, made headlines earlier this year with a study published in Science that showed a new, potentially greener way to produce a crucial industrial chemical used to make everyday products. This came after he received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2024.

Montemore’s breakthrough study could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the manufacture of ethylene oxide, which has an estimated $40 billion global market. The team found that adding small amounts of nickel atoms to silver catalysts can maintain production efficiency while eliminating the need for chlorine, which could save money, decrease carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere and make production safer.

Escarra is another recipient of a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. In 2024, he worked with a team of students, four of them seniors studying engineering physics and one a PhD student in materials engineering, to build a solar energy conversion system on the roof of Donna and Paul Flower Hall. The system, called the “Sunflower Receiver,” harvests sunlight to generate electricity and heat.

Escarra originally developed the project in collaboration with Daniel Codd at the University of San Diego. The test on the roof of Flower Hall came after the project was awarded funding from the Tulane Innovation Institute Provost’s Proof of Concept Fund in 2023. The system consists of a large, dish-shaped mirror which tracks the sun, and a hybrid receiver which features an array of high-efficiency solar cells mounted on a coil painted black. Once the device has absorbed sunlight, it creates electricity and heats water that runs through the coil.

In August of 2024, former President Joe Biden visited Tulane and announced up to $22.9 million in funding for MAGIC-SCAN, a Tulane project that aims to create a machine-learning-assisted imaging system capable of identifying even the tiniest remnant of cancer during surgery. The funding came from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, also known as ARPA-H, a federal funding agency established in 2022 with bipartisan support to rapidly advance high-potential, high-impact biomedical research.

The MAGIC-SCAN project is led by Quincy Brown, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Brian Summa, associate professor of computer science. Both Brown and Summa are also affiliated with the Tulane Cancer Center.

Impactful alumni

This year was the 25th anniversary of the Tulane Engineering Forum, which took place on May 9 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The forum is a joint venture between the School of Science and Engineering and engineering alumni, through the Society of Tulane Engineers.

“It’s great to see a long legacy, where we’ve had support and engagement from not only the engineers and the community but also sponsoring companies,” said Chuck Mart (E ’81, E ’82, E ’86), the chairperson of the planning committee this year and a Tulane alumnus.

The forum brings together engineers in academia and industry from across the country for learning, networking and career development. The impact that Tulane engineering has had on Louisiana and the world is clear at such a wide-reaching and long-lasting event as the Tulane Engineering Forum.

Even recent alumni are making an impact on the Louisiana community. Franziska Trautmann (SSE ’20), who studied chemical and biomedical engineering at Tulane, is one of the founders of Glass Half Full, a local nonprofit that recycles glass into sand that is used for coastal restoration projects.

Glass Half Full works with ReCoast, a program led by Julie Albert, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, as well as other Tulane faculty, to study how sand made from recycled glass can be used for coastal restoration. The work that ReCoast does ranges from characterizing the safety of recycled glass sand and testing how well vegetation grows in the recycled sand to analyzing the most effective locations for restoration work.

The project brings together Tulane faculty, alumni, current students and community members, and is another highlight of interdisciplinarity at Tulane, with collaborators from ecology, materials engineering, coastal engineering and environmental science.

Tulane’s engineering program grows stronger every year, fueled by the drive of its students, the brilliance of its faculty and the dedication of its alumni. With such a dynamic community and visionary leadership at the helm, the future of engineering at Tulane is brighter than ever.