University Of Missouri - Rolla

Missouri University of Science and Technology, or Missouri S&T, is a public research university in Rolla, Missouri. It is a member institution of the University of Missouri System. Most of its 7,645 students (fall 2020) study engineering, business, sciences, and mathematics. Known primarily for its engineering school, Missouri S&T offers degree programs in business and management systems, information science and technology, sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts. Its Carnegie classification is as a "STEM-dominant", R2 doctoral university with "high research activity".

History

Missouri S&T was founded in 1870 as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (MSM), the first technological learning institution west of the Mississippi River. Early in its history, the School of Mines was focused primarily on mining and metallurgy. Rolla is located close to the Southeast Missouri Lead District which produces about 70% of the U.S. primary supply of lead as well as significant amounts of the nation's zinc.

The school was founded under the auspices of the University of Missouri in Columbia in order to take advantage of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to "teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." The act endowed Missouri a federal land grant of 30,000 acres for each of the state's two senators and nine representatives at the time—or . The endowment said that the land could not be sold for less than $1.25/acre and as such was a minimum endowment of $412,500 for Missouri. There was an intense debate in the state over the location and number of schools before it was finally decided to have one school in Columbia and a branch in the mining area of southeast Missouri.

Iron County, Missouri ( Ironton) and Phelps County, Missouri (Rolla) made bids for the school. Iron County's bid was valued at $112,545 and Phelps County's bid was $130,545 so the Phelps bid was officially approved on December 20, 1870.

Classes began on November 23, 1871, in a new building that the city of Rolla had just built. The college had an enrollment of 28 and three graduates in 1874. The college bought what is now called the "Rolla Building" for $25,000 in January 1875. That building is now used as the Mathematics and Statistics Department's library, chair's office, part of the main office, and other faculty offices following a $2 million renovation in 1995.

Initially, the school only offered degrees in civil engineering, metallurgy, and mining engineering. However, by the late 1920s, the school had added degrees in ceramic engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. The school became home to Missouri's first operational nuclear reactor in 1961.

In June 2018, the school was approved by the state's Coordinating Board for Higher Education for designation as "highly selective" in its undergraduate admission criteria, joining only Truman State University among the state's public universities at that level. As such, first-time, full-time students seeking degrees are generally only admitted if they have a "percentile score" of 140 points or greater, a combination of their high school class and college testing ( ACT or SAT) percentile ranks. Missouri Department of Higher Education guidelines state that schools in this category may admit up to ten percent of students with lower percentile scores, and will automatically admit those with an ACT (or equivalent SAT) score of 27 or better.

Changes in hierarchy and name

Until 1964, the school was considered an offsite department of MU's School of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, reporting to the main campus in Columbia (although it began fielding sports teams in 1935 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association). As such, its presiding officer was originally called a director (1871–1941), then a dean (1941–1964). In 1963 the University of Missouri System was created with the additions of standalone campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis. A year later, MSM was upgraded to an autonomous standalone campus as the University of Missouri at Rolla and its presiding officer, like that of its sister schools, was granted the title of chancellor. The curriculum was expanded to include most of the science and engineering disciplines, as well as social sciences and liberal arts such as psychology and history. In 1968, the campus name was slightly altered to the University of Missouri–Rolla, thus conforming to the naming scheme of the other three campuses. Business and management programs were gradually added in the following years. On January 1, 2008, UMR became known as Missouri University of Science and Technology or Missouri S&T for short.

In making the case for changing the name, then Chancellor John F. Carney III noted that Rolla in 2007 was "one of the few technological research universities in the nation. A technological research university (polytechnic university or institute of technology) may be defined as one in which a majority of students are enrolled in engineering, the sciences, business or mathematics; the graduate and research programs in those fields are robust; and exceptional academic programs in the liberal arts, humanities and social sciences complement and provide context to the technological strengths of the institution."

He noted that more than 70 percent of its enrollment was in engineering and more than 90 percent was in engineering, business, science and math—significantly higher than engineering schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He noted "The university's name, however, does not reflect the distinctive nature of the campus. Often, UMR is viewed as a 'satellite' or 'branch' campus due to its name or as a 'feeder' campus for the University of Missouri-Columbia (commonly referred to as the University of Missouri). This branch-campus designation hinders many of our efforts to achieve national recognition and a strong reputation as a technological research university."

He noted, "Of the 1.1 million seniors in the nation who took the ACT in 2006, only 551 non-Missouri seniors – or .05 percent – sent their scores to UMR." He also noted that the school's acronym of UMR got it confused with the University of Minnesota Rochester.

Among the other names that were considered were Missouri University of Science and Engineering, Missouri Technological University, and Missouri Science and Engineering University.

Chancellors

The naming structure for the head of the university has changed reflecting its changes through the years. The head currently reports to the University of Missouri System.

The chancellor lives on campus at the Chancellor Residence (constructed in 1889 as the "Club House" dormitory, converted to a room house, before becoming the Missouri State Geological Survey headquarters and finally becoming the residence for the then-director in 1905).

In August 2018, a committee was announced to lead a nationwide search for the next chancellor, the office having been filled on an interim basis since May 2017. In May 2019, Mohammad Dehghani of Stevens Institute of Technology was announced as the next Missouri S&T chancellor, to begin service in August 2019. Dehghani had previously held leadership positions at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Johns Hopkins University Systems Institute, at which he was a founding director.

# Charles Penrose Williams, Director, 1871–77
# Charles Edmund Wait, Director, 1877–88
# William Holding Echols, Director, 1888–91
# Elmo Golightly Harris, Director, 1891–93
# Walter Buck Richards, Director, 1893–97
# George E. Ladd, Director, 1897–07
# Lewis Emmanuel Young, Director, 1907–13
# Leon Ellis Garrett, Acting Director, 1913–15
# Durward Copeland, Director, 1915
# Austin Lee McRae, Director, 1915–20
# Charles Herman Fulton, Director, 1920–37
# William Reuel Chedsey, Director, 1937–41
# Curtis L. Wilson, Dean, 1941–63
# Merl Baker, Dean 1963–1964, Chancellor 1964–73
Dudley Thompson, Acting Chancellor, 1973–74
# Raymond L. Bisplinghoff, Chancellor, 1974–76
Jim C. Pogue, Interim Chancellor, 1977–78
# Joseph M. Marchello, Chancellor, 1978–85
John T. Park, Interim Chancellor, 1985–86
# Martin C. Jischke, Chancellor, 1986–91
# John T. Park, Chancellor (initially interim), 1991–2000
# Gary Thomas, Chancellor, 2000–05
# John F. Carney III, Chancellor, 2005 – August 2011
Warren K. Wray, Interim Chancellor, September 2011 – March 2012
# Cheryl B. Schrader, Chancellor, April 2012 – May 2017
Christopher G. Maples, Interim Chancellor, May 2017 – July 2019
# Mohammad Dehghani, Chancellor, August 2019 – present

Historic $300 million gift

In October 2020, the university received the largest single gift to any university, public or private, in the state of Missouri. The $300 million gift from June and Fred Kummer established a new foundation to establish the Kummer Institute for Student Success, Research and Economic Development. The gift also will establish a new college of innovation and entrepreneurship at Missouri S&T, develop new areas for research, provide scholarships and fellowships for students, and bolster the Rolla region's economy.

Military service

Military service has long been a tradition at the college. Beginning with the American Civil War, students and faculty have served in all major American conflicts.

Civil War

Three individuals: James Abert, George D. Emerson, and Robert W. Douthat served in the American Civil War and as faculty.

World War One

When the United States entered WWI in April, 1917, a total of 65 members of the university, students and faculty, entered into the service for First Officers Training Camp.Ebmeyer, Ernest (1920). ''War Records''. Rolla, Mo: University of Missouri. School of Mines and Metallurgy. p. 3. Almost half of the enrolled student population was involved in The Great War in some capacity, as the total enrollment was 186, down from 301 students. In total, nine men from the university sacrificed their lives. Two men received the Distinguished Service Cross from General John J. Pershing.Christensen, Lawrence; Ridley, Jack (1983). ''UM-Rolla: A History of MSM/UMR''. Columbia, Mo: The Curators of the University of Missouri. LCCN 83-080194 One man, H. F. Allison, is credited with the first shot fired in France from a member of the American Expeditionary Force.

Inter-war years

In 1920, the college started its Reserve Officer Training Corps. An integral part of university life, at least half of all students made ROTC a part of their curriculum from 1924 to 1940. Of the 931 students enrolled in 1940, 534 were also ROTC Cadets. Two cadets from these inter-war years eventually made the rank of general: Byron E. Peebles and Walter P. Leber, from the classes of 1936 and 1940, respectively.

WWII

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, MSM faced the repeated challenge of students seeking to immediately enlist to help the war effort as had occurred in 1917. The 1941–42 administration, including Curtis Laws Wilson, instead encouraged the student body to finish their training as that would make them more useful to the military.

Campus

Bertelsmeyer Hall

Bertlsmeyer Hall is located at the intersection of 11th street and State Street. The construction of Bertelsmeyer Hall broke ground in April 2013. It was named after James E. Bertelsmeyer (BS ChemE 1966), who contributed $5 million towards its construction. The building was dedicated in October 2014 and is the current home of the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department.

Castleman Hall

Castleman Hall, completed in March 1991, was dedicated in October 1991 as a new home for the alumni and development offices, and the music and theater departments. Featuring a 660-seat performing arts center, the building occupies the city block between Main and State Streets, and Tenth and Eleventh Streets. The alumni and music offices had been in Harris Hall since the 1970s. The Alumni Association moved to the Hasselmann building in 2015.

Curtis Laws Wilson Library

The Curtis Laws Wilson Library is the main academic library on campus. Wilson served as dean of the school from 1941 to 1963. The library's third floor is strictly a quiet study area with multiple rooms circling around the main area. The IT Helpdesk Walk-In Center is located on the first floor. The Miner Break Cafe (currently a Starbucks) is also located in the front right corner of the first floor.

The basement of the library is a quiet study area and is also home to several campus organizations, including:
* Video Communications Center, which provides video services to the university and produces distance education courses.
* KMST, a radio station licensed in Rolla, Missouri; in 2017, operations moved to the University of Missouri–St. Louis
* State Historical Society of Missouri, Research Center-Rolla, which provides access to records and papers relating to area individuals, families, and organizations
* University Archives, which houses the historical, legal and cultural records of the university

Harris Hall

Harris Hall opened in 1940 after Director William Chedsey was able to secure $80,000 from the Works Progress Administration and $50,000 in state funding. Harris Hall housed the Civil degree program for nearly two decades. As of April 2021, parts of the building are used by the Army ROTC Stonehenge Battalion, and Air Force ROTC Detachment 442. The building is named after Elmo Golightly Harris, one of the university's first directors, and the first chair of the department of civil engineering. Harris also led the first class held in the building.

Hasselmann Alumni House

The Hasselmann Alumni house was dedicated in 2015 as the home for the Miner Alumni Association and as a venue for campus and community events. It is named for Karl Hasselmann, a 1925 graduate in mining engineering, who had a prominent career in the oil industry. The Miner Alumni Association was organized in 1921 and publishes the ''Missouri S&T Magazine'' (formerly the ''MSM Alumnus''). Alumni and other professionals also support the institution through discipline-specific academies which elect members for contributions to their professions and to the campus. These S&T groups serve an advisory role and include the Academy of Chemical Engineers, the Academy of Civil Engineers, the Academy of Computer Science, the Academy of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Academy of Engineering Management, the Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers, the Academy of Miner Athletics, and the Mines and Metallurgy Academy.

Havener Center

The Havener Center is a multipurpose campus center for student life and activity. It is named for entrepreneur Gary Havener, a 1962 graduate in mathematics. It was dedicated in 2005 to house the Student Life offices, the campus bookstore, a food court, a gameroom, meeting space, etc.

Leach Theatre

Leach Theatre is located in Castleman Hall and has a maximum seating capacity of 650 audience members. The theatre was opened in 1991 and plays host to approximately 100 events each academic year, including campus events and touring performances of groups such as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Ballet, Stomp, as well as off-Broadway shows such as ''Cats'', ''Evita'', and '' 42nd Street''.

Millennium Arch

The university developed a new way to make deep cuts in granite and worked with artist Edwina Sandys who used the method to create the Millennium Arch sculpture. The Arch is a single trilithon with the stylized silhouettes of a man and a woman cut from the two uprights. The figures cut from the uprights stand nearby as freestanding statues. The work, which is located on 10th Street facing Castleman Hall, was developed as a project of the High Pressure Waterjet Laboratory of the Rock Mechanics & Explosive Research Center at Missouri S&T.

There are two similar but smaller megaliths, showing the same silhouette, on each side of the sidewalk entrance to the Rock Mechanics & Explosive Research Center.

Missouri S&T Stonehenge

Missouri S&T Stonehenge is a partial reconstruction of the original Stonehenge monument located on Salisbury Plain, in southern England. Missouri S&T's version of the ancient structure is located on the northwest corner of campus, and was dedicated on June 20, 1984, during the summer solstice. It features a diameter ring of 30 stones around a horseshoe of five trilithons through which various sightings of sunrise and sunset can be made. About 160 tons of granite were used to construct the monument. The rock was cut by Missouri S&T's water jet cutter equipment, which used two waterjets cutting at a pressure of 15,000 pounds of force per square inch (103 MPa), slicing across the surface just like a conventional saw. The cutter moved at a speed of about 10 feet per minute (50 mm/s) and cut between one-quarter and one-half inch (6 and 13 mm) on each pass.

After completion, Missouri S&T Stonehenge received an award from the National Society of Professional Engineers for being one of 1985's Ten Outstanding Engineering Achievements.

Nuclear reactor

The school operates the 200 kW Missouri S&T nuclear reactor on-campus for educational, training, and research purposes. It became the first nuclear reactor to have become operational in Missouri, and first achieved criticality in 1961.

Parker Hall

The construction of Parker Hall was completed in 1912. The building housed the campus library until the opening of the Curtis Laws Wilson Library. Parker Hall is one of three buildings (The Rolla building and Norwood Hall being the other two) that are from the school's first 50 years. As of April 2021, Parker Hall holds the Visitor Center, Admissions Office, Registrar, Student Financial Assistance, Accounting and Cashier's Office, and administrative offices.

Jack Carney Puck and Plaza

The Jack Carney Puck and Plaza is a small, circular stage in the center of the campus. It is used for many student events, and is particularly active during St. Patrick's Day festivities. The Puck is a common gathering area, and tours given to new students often start at the landmark. The stage is recarpeted each year to reflect the next "Best Ever" St. Patrick's Day. Reconstruction of the area around the Puck began in late 2020 to renovate the landmark in honor of former Chancellor John F. "Jack" Carney III. The campus landmark's dedication was celebrated in October 2021.

Schrenk Hall

Originally known as the New Chemistry Building and built in 1940, Schrenk Hall is home to the Chemistry and Biological Sciences departments.

Solar Village

Officially opened in December 2010, the Solar Village consists of four entries by Missouri S&T in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Students, staff, faculty, and donors of Missouri S&T designed, constructed, and competed homes in each of the first four Decathlons including the Solar House in 2002, the Prairie House in 2005, the Solar House in 2007, and the Show-Me House in 2009. In 2012, the Solar Village was one of two highlights in a video short that won recognition from Second Nature and a Climate Leadership Award for the campus. In 2014, the Solar Village was expanded to include a microgrid system and an electric car charging station, and in 2016, Missouri S&T announced a second, EcoVillage, composed of Decathlon entries including the 2013 Chameleon House and the 2015 Nest Home.

Kummer Student Design Center

The Kummer Design Center was dedicated on May 20, 2011. It was named after Fred and June Kummer who donated $1.25 million of the $2.75 million project, which was funded entirely by private gifts to the university. Fred Kummer is an alumnus of the university. The Kummer Design Center was initially a building. The building formerly housed the Student Rec Center, and before that it was a Holsum Bread Bakery.

The Kummer Design Center is located at 1051 N Bishop Avenue in Rolla, and is home to the SDELC, short for Student Design and Experiential Learning Center. The SDELC contains offices, a conference room, a machine shop, labs, a computer lab, and an iGEM lab. Twenty of the university's design teams are housed inside of the SDELC. There are approximately twelve hundred students involved on said design teams, and they have 24/7 access to the design center. These students get to use their experiences on the design teams for the university-required experiential learning. The Kummer Design Center is also home to American Pie Company and Spoon Me (frozen yogurt) fast food restaurants.

On April 26, 2019, a Mars Rover designed by S&T's Mars Rover Team broke ground on an expansion for the Kummer Design Center. The expansion added of new labs, manufacturing, and fabrication bays. In addition it expanded the waterjet, welding, and composites labs. The expansion doubled the size of the previous SDELC. Brinkmann Constructors is the company that built the addition onto the design center. The expansion's highest-level donors were Richard and Nancy Arnold, Brinkmann Constructors, Roger and Karen LaBoude, and Fred and June Kummer. The new expansion was dedicated on September 11, 2020, to a virtual audience.

In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, students and staff used the design center to make PPE for Phelps Health and other surrounding medical facilities. The design center utilized 3D printers to print prototype face shield brackets and face masks. Some of the prototype files were released for the public to print.

Design teams

*The Advanced Aero-Vehicle Group constructs a remote controlled airplane for the annual Society of Automotive Engineers' Aero Design competition. The project is of interest mainly to aerospace engineering students, but students from other disciplines are also on the team. The Advanced Aero Vehicle Group also constructs a rocket every year. The rocket competes in the USLI competition hosted by NASA, in which the rocket must carry a payload one mile into the atmosphere. The AAVG group is also working on a research and development subgroup to complement the existing plane and rocket groups.
* The Baja SAE design team designs, builds, and races an off-road vehicle each year. The team competes against other universities at international events.
* The BattleBot Design Team is one of the newest design teams, as it began in 2018, in the Student Design Center. The team designed and built its first robot, Ankle Grinder, in 2020 and will compete for the first time on March 20, 2021, at the Norwalk Havoc Competition in Norwalk, Connecticut.
* The Missouri S&T Chem E Car team designs and constructs small chemical-reaction-powered cars that are used in regional competitions. The designed car must be stopped by a timed chemical reactions and the goal of competitions is to see which car can be the most precise and stop at the given distance (15–30 m), solely using chemistry.
* The Missouri S&T Concrete Canoe Team designs and constructs a concrete canoe and races it on a lake in regional and national competitions. The team has participated in concrete canoe competitions since the 1970s. The entire project, including fundraising and construction, is completed by the students. The team took third place in 2004.
* Missouri S&T's chapter of Engineers Without Borders has four ongoing international projects in Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Over one hundred students are part of a team that works to develop sustainable solutions to engineering problems, such as lack of access to drinking water, in developing countries.
* Each year the Formula Electric team designs, builds, and races an electric formula-style race car. The team was founded in 2012 and started to compete in 2015. In 2017, the team finished overall 4th, the best they have ever done. For the 2017–2018 season, the team lost its title sponsor.
* The Missouri S&T Formula SAE team constructs a small formula-style race car every year, suitable for mass production and sale to weekend autocrossers. The team competes in Brooklyn, Michigan, against more than 100 other teams from universities around the world. The vehicle's cost, sales presentation, engineering design, acceleration, braking and racing performance all factor into its final score. The team has placed in the top ten in eight of the past twelve competitions, including first-, second- and fourth-place finishes.
* The Missouri S&T Human Powered Vehicle Team demonstrates its members' engineering excellence via a human-powered vehicle. The team promotes alternative energy technology while providing future engineers with hands-on experience in applying classroom knowledge. Through intercollegiate competition, this project hopes to foster leadership, teamwork, and the continuous advancement of technologies for the betterment of humanity. The team competes annually at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Human Powered Vehicle Challenge in both west and east coast competitions. The team has placed among the top two overall in 14 of 16 competitions, and holds the female sprint record of 41.8 mph and male sprint record of 48.6 mph. In 2010, the team swept both the East and West Coast competitions and placed first in every event: Design, Male Drag Race, Female Drag Race and the Endurance Race, giving the team 1st Place Overall and National Speed Class Champions. In 2015, the team placed second overall in the ASME West Competition and first overall in the ASME East Competition, in the speed class.
* The S&T Mars Rover design team finished in first place at the 2017 international University Rover Challenge competition held June 1–3, 2017, in Hanksville, Utah. Missouri S&T's Mars Rover, named Gryphon, was designed and built by the students. The team developed custom circuitry for the rover, machined the aluminum and carbon-fiber support structure, developed durable wheels for terrain mobility, and 3-D printed gears used in the rover.
* Every year the Miner Aviation team designs, builds, and flies a remote-controlled plane for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design/Build/Fly competition (AIAA DBF). The team was founded in 1999 and first competed in the 2000–2001 competition year. The team was originally named the Advanced Aero Vehicle Group and later changed their name to the Miner Aviation Student Design team during the 2016–2017 competition year. In their first year, they finished 2nd place overall in the Open Class. In the 2002–2003 competition year they finished 1st place overall in the Open Class. They started to compete in the Advanced Class in the 2009–2010 competition year.
* Every two years the Motorcycle Design Team designs, builds, and races a motorbike, competing against universities across the world at the Motorland Aragon racetrack in Alcaniz, Spain.
* Every year the Multirotor Design Team competes in the International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC). Competitions repeat each year until a team completes the competition. The team designs, builds, and programs drones. The team has also partnered with the Rocket Design team to compete in the Argonia Cup.
* The S&T Robotics Team participates annually in the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). The team builds autonomous vehicles that traverse obstacle courses consisting of lane markers and obstacles. The current vehicles are designed to be omnidirectional so that they can easily drive around obstacles. Typically there are 30–50 students on the team and two faculty advisers. The students handle all design and management aspects of the team but occasionally receive help from technicians to fabricate parts.
* The Rocket Design Team competes in the Spaceport America Cup which is designed around the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). The team designs and builds a rocket each year for the competition. The team first started competing in 2015. 2019 was the first year they made two rockets.
* The Missouri S&T Satellite Project (M-SAT) team began as an Aerospace engineering course (AE301 Spacecraft Design) when NASA held a contest for a two-year development and build project (Nanosat program) that had to accomplish its goals in the harsh environment of space. After taking third place in Nanosat-4, the team continued perfecting its twin satellites for spaceflight and entry into the Nanosat-6 competition. During this cycle, the team was awarded "Best Outreach" for its work at encouraging an interest by local school students in STEM-related fields. The team placed second during Nanosat-7, beating rival MIT. With their legacy twin-satellite design and feedback from the AFRL sponsors, the team went on to win Nanosat-8 in 2015.
* Missouri S&T's Solar Car team has met with much success. Every two years, the team constructs a single-passenger car, its top covered with solar cells

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