{"id":8137,"date":"2021-12-17T12:17:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T12:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137"},"modified":"2021-12-17T22:21:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T22:21:41","slug":"from-the-dean-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137","title":{"rendered":"From the Dean"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2021\/12\/dean-fall-2021.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-8138 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2021\/12\/dean-fall-2021.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"334\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a>One year ago, our campus was filled with uncertainty. As COVID-19 ravaged our nation, a vaccine on the horizon gave us hope for a return to normalcy.<\/p>\n<p>One year later, we are almost there.<\/p>\n<p>This fall, for the first time since March 2020, Auburn University returned to a new \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Classes are full, most of the campus is vaccinated and masks have been removed for those individuals who are. Cases are on the decline and the future looks promising.<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019ll remain on guard and follow guidelines to ensure we continue to provide a safe learning environment, we\u2019re hopeful this semester is just the beginning of a bright future.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the pandemic taking its toll on universities across the nation, I&#8217;m happy to report our undergraduate enrollment remained steady, while our graduate enrollment rose to its highest number in our college\u2019s history. In addition, we maintained our Top 30 ranking among public engineering colleges in the recent U.S. News and World Report\u2019s Best Undergraduate Programs.<\/p>\n<p>Since our last issue, we officially dedicated the new $22 million, 42,000-square-foot Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory, celebrating with members of the university, community and state officials and partners.<\/p>\n<p>In August, our Autonomous Tiger Racing team made history as the first indy car to ever complete an autonomous lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team will seek to make more history in 2022 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway\u2026 and perhaps beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Our students continue to thrive and amaze me, while our faculty pushes the limits of research to drive forward our state, region and nation. You should all be so proud of the resiliency and fortitude shown by our students, faculty and staff this year.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know if I have ever been as impressed as I am in how everyone has pulled together to get through this year with the determination to forge ahead and make Auburn, and the world, a better place than they found it.<\/p>\n<p>War Eagle!<\/p>\n<p>Christopher B. Roberts<br \/>\nDean of Engineering<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One year ago, our campus was filled with uncertainty. As COVID-19 ravaged our nation, a vaccine on the horizon gave us hope for a return to normalcy. One year later, we are almost there. This fall, for the first time since March 2020, Auburn University returned to a new \u201cnormal.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From the Dean &raquo; Auburn Engineer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the Dean &raquo; Auburn Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One year ago, our campus was filled with uncertainty. As COVID-19 ravaged our nation, a vaccine on the horizon gave us hope for a return to normalcy. One year later, we are almost there. This fall, for the first time since March 2020, Auburn University returned to a new \u201cnormal.\u201d [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Auburn Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-17T12:17:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-17T22:21:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2021\/12\/dean-fall-2021.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christopher Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Roberts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137\",\"name\":\"From the Dean &raquo; Auburn Engineer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-17T12:17:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-17T22:21:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/#\/schema\/person\/1079e496cf15a9d98a38406f1efbed06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From the Dean\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/\",\"name\":\"Auburn Engineer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/#\/schema\/person\/1079e496cf15a9d98a38406f1efbed06\",\"name\":\"Christopher Roberts\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35f222d41b60d1e976f31bc67aa8f433?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35f222d41b60d1e976f31bc67aa8f433?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Christopher Roberts\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?author=35\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From the Dean &raquo; Auburn Engineer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=8137","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From the Dean &raquo; Auburn Engineer","og_description":"One year ago, our campus was filled with uncertainty. 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