Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science - History

History

Engineering education at Yale has a long history, starting in 1852 with the appointment of William Augustus Norton as Professor of Civil Engineering. At the time engineering was part of the Scientific School, which was renamed the Sheffield Scientific School in honor of Joseph Earl Sheffield in 1860. In 1863, Yale granted the first American Ph.D. in engineering to Josiah Willard Gibbs, who later taught at Yale and became one of the founders of the field of thermodynamics. In the first half of the twentieth century, a gradual reorganization of engineering education at Yale took place with the integration of Sheffield programs with Yale College and Graduate School and the creation of a School of Engineering. In 1961, the school was reduced to a department within Yale College. Since that time, engineering has undergone a renaissance at Yale. In 1970, Becton Center (designed by Marcel Breuer) was opened, replacing Winchester Hall and North Sheffield. The appointment of D. Allan Bromley as Dean of Engineering in 1994 provided much needed momentum. Dean Bromley was a forceful advocate for engineering at Yale. New programs in biomedical and environmental engineering were introduced during his tenure. Bromley also instituted the Sheffield Fellowship, to recognize technological leaders, the Sheffield Distinguished Teaching Awards, and the "Select Program", a five-year combined B.S. M.Eng. degree program, all named to honor the Sheffield Scientific School. In 2000, Paul A. Fleury was appointed Dean. Yale Engineering celebrated it sesquicentennial in 2002. The Malone Engineering Center was opened in October, 2005, designed by Cesar Pelli and named for the father of John C. Malone, a major donor. In 2008, T. Kyle Vanderlick began as dean and the school was reestablished as the School of Engineering & Applied Science. In July 2010, the School of Engineering & Applied Science was reorganized, with the Department of Mechanical Engineering becoming the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, the Department of Chemical Engineering becoming the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and the Department of Applied Physics leaving the School of Engineering to become an independent department within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.