As another academic year draws to a close, I can’t help but look back and be extremely proud of all that our students, faculty, staff and alumni have accomplished.
In February, we received the exciting news that our own Alice E. Smith, the Joe W. Forehand Jr. Distinguished Professor of industrial and systems engineering, was elected for induction into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). She is the first full-time engineering faculty member at Auburn University to be inducted into the NAE, and she is being recognized for her advancements in computational intelligence as applied to modeling and optimization of complex systems. Her work in this area ranks among the best in the world, so her election into the NAE comes as no surprise to those who work alongside her every day. Her career has been filled with accomplishments as a researcher, author and educator, and she has been a catalyst in helping the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering continue its upward trajectory as one of the best in America.
In March, Auburn University was re-designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE) by the National Security Agency, making Auburn one of only 11 institutions nationally to hold CAE designations for cyber operations, cyber defense and cyber research. Our presence in Huntsville, which has played a huge role in our recent CAE designation, will continue to grow as the university’s board of trustees recently approved the expansion of the Auburn University Research and Innovation Campus with plans for a new facility in Cummings Research Park intended to accommodate new partnerships between the Auburn University Applied Research Institute and the Department of Defense.
The 50,000-square-foot building will include flexible laboratory and office space. It will also accommodate the operation of a Big Area Additive Manufacturing printer in the integration of mission command capabilities into projects such as developing custom augmentations for the Polaris MRZR Alpha 4 ultralight tactical vehicle. But the main feature will be a 30,000-square-foot high bay laboratory allowing for critical radiation-hardening testing that ensures the resilience of electronics in the harsh radiation environments encountered in space.
In this issue, you’ll also read about our undergraduate research opportunities, our programs for veterans, our engineering studentathletes, the growth of E-Day — the college’s annual open house for 7th graders through high school seniors — and much more.
We hope you’ll enjoy reading about all the great things happening around the college and we look forward to an even more successful 2025-26 academic year!
War Eagle!
Mario R. Eden
