Did You Know?

The Lloyd MacGregor Trefethen Award is named in honor of Lloyd Trefethen, professor of mechanical engineering, and is presented annually to a mechanical engineering senior who has conducted outstanding undergraduate research. During World War II Trefethen was an officer in the merchant marine and the U.S. Navy. He was executive secretary of the National Science Board during the first years of the National Science Foundation. He joined Tufts University in 1958 and introduced graduate research programs in the College of Engineering.

To funnel more students into engineering careers and help kids pass the science portion of the state MCAS test, Massachusetts is introducing engineering classes into more and more of its primary and secondary school classrooms. Tufts alumni and former Dean of the School of Engineering Ioannis Miaoulis believes this is a wise move.

Kids spend a month learning how volcanoes work and not time learning how cars work. How often do you find yourself in a volcano versus a car? In the college environment, engineering is up there with the other sciences, and it should have the same standing at the high school level.

Ioannis Miaoulis
Director and President,
Museum of Science
The Boston Globe
October 15, 2005