The Cockrell School of Engineering is one of the eighteen colleges within the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. It has more than 8,000 students enrolled in eleven undergraduate and thirteen graduate programs. The college is ranked 10th in the world according to the

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

, 11th nationally for undergraduate programs and 10th nationally for graduate programs by '' U.S. News & World Report''. Nine of the ten undergraduate programs and seven of the eleven graduate programs are ranked in the top ten nationally. Annual research expenditures are over $180 million and the school has the fourth-largest number of faculty in the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

. Previously known as the College of Engineering, on July 11, 2007, the

renamed the College after 1936 graduate Ernest Cockrell Jr., whose family has over the past 30 years helped to build a $140 million endowment for the College.

Undergraduate departments

Rankings, in parentheses, taken from the 2021 edition of '' U.S. News & World Report''. Overall: 11th * Petroleum Engineering (2nd) * Environmental Engineering (4th) * Civil Engineering (5th) * Software Engineering (5th) * Computer Engineering (6th) * Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering (7th) * Chemical Engineering (8th) * Electrical/Electronic Engineering (9th) * Mechanical Engineering (10th) * Biomedical Engineering (14th)

Graduate departments

Rankings, in parentheses, taken from the 2023 edition of '' U.S. News & World Report''. Overall: 6th * Petroleum Engineering (1st) * Environmental Engineering (3th) * Chemical Engineering (5th) * Civil Engineering (6th) * Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering (8th) * Computer Engineering (9th) * Electrical/Electronic Engineering (9th) * Mechanical Engineering (10th) * Materials Engineering (14th) * Nuclear Engineering (17th) * Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems Engineering (19th) * Biomedical Engineering (22nd)

Traditions

The Ramshorn

The Ramshorn is one of the most prominent symbols associated with the College of Engineering. Its origins as such can be traced back to over a century ago, when T.U. Taylor, the first engineering faculty member and first dean of the College, began drawing the elaborate checkmark on students' work. A mark reserved for perfect papers, Taylor overheard a student remark he had received a "ramshorn" in 1905, from which the symbol took on its current interpretation and significance.

Alexander Frederick Claire

Alec's beginnings as the patron saint of the College came as the byproduct of the efforts of a group of sophomore engineers back in 1908. Joe H. Gill and his engineering friends thoughtfully considered how to make a holiday of April Fool's Day. After an unsuccessful attempt involving tying cans around dogs' tails and releasing them to disrupt class, the group of students saw a wooden statue about five feet high while getting refreshments, which they requested to borrow. The next day, Gill presented the statue as their patron saint and traced his ancestry back to ancient times between classes. The presentation successfully broke up classes, and led to his christening as Alexander Frederick Claire, patron saint of UT engineers, exactly one year later. Alec was at the center of a friendly rivalry between law and engineering students for many years, and was subject to numerous escapades such as kidnappings and amputations. Today, what is left of the original wooden statue is safely preserved in the engineering library. Every year, engineering groups on campus build new Alecs which are then voted on by the students. The winner is announced on April 1 during Alec's birthday party.

Notable faculty

* John B. Goodenough, recipient of 2019

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

for research leading to creation of

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

Hans Mark Hans Michael Mark (June 17, 1929 – December 18, 2021) was a German-born American government official who served as Secretary of the Air Force and as a Deputy Administrator of NASA. He was an expert and consultant in aerospace design and natio ...

, former

Secretary of the Air Force A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

and Deputy Administrator of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

* Yale Patt, inventor of the WOS module, the first complex

logic gate A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, a logical operation performed on one or more binary inputs that produces a single binary output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, ...

implemented on a single piece of silicon *

Alan Bovik Alan Conrad Bovik (born June 25, 1958) is an American engineer, vision scientist, and educator. He is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin), where he holds the Cockrell Family Regents Endowed Chair in the Cockrell School of ...

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

-winning engineer whose video quality tools pervade

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

and

home cinema Home cinema, also called home theaters or theater rooms, are home entertainment audio-visual systems that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment that is set up in a room ...

Ilya Prigogine Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine (; russian: Илья́ Рома́нович Приго́жин; 28 May 2003) was a physical chemist and Nobel laureate noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. Biogra ...

, recipient of 1977

for his contributions to

non-equilibrium thermodynamics Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a branch of thermodynamics that deals with physical systems that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium but can be described in terms of macroscopic quantities (non-equilibrium state variables) that represent an ext ...

Robert Metcalfe Robert Melancton Metcalfe (born April 7, 1946) is an engineer and entrepreneur from the United States who helped pioneer the Internet starting in 1970. He co-invented Ethernet, co-founded 3Com and formulated Metcalfe's law, which describes the e ...

, co-inventor of

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

. *

Willis Adcock Dr. Willis Alfred Adcock (November 25, 1922 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian-American Physical chemistry, physical chemist, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and university professor who worked on the first Nuclear weapon, ato ...

, worked on the

first atomic bomb Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The test was conducted in the Jornada del Muerto desert a ...

and assisted with the invention of the

silicon transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

, as well as the

integrated circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

. *

Edith Clarke Edith Clarke (February 10, 1883 – October 29, 1959) was the first woman to be professionally employed as an electrical engineer in the United States, and the first female professor of electrical engineering in the country. She was the first ...

, First woman faculty member of electrical engineering in the US and inventor of Clarke Calculator and method of symmetrical components.

Research centers

The Cockrell School of Engineering has formal organized research units that coordinate and promote faculty and student research. These units provide and maintain specialized research facilities for faculty within a designated field.
Advanced Manufacturing Center

Center for Aeromechanics Research

Center for Energy & Environmental Resources

Energy Institute

Advanced Research in Software Engineering

Center for Mechanics of Solids, Structures & Materials

Center for Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering

Center for Research in Water Resources

Center for Space Research
*

Center for Transportation Research UT Austin The Center for Transportation Research (CTR) is a research center affiliated with the Cockrell School of Engineering's Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. CTR is a ...

Computer Engineering Research Center
*

Construction Industry Institute The Construction Industry Institute (CII), based at The University of Texas at Austin, is a non-profit consortium of more than 130 owner, engineering-contractor, and supplier firms from both the public and private arenas. The group aims to enhanc ...

Phil M. Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory

Microelectronics Research Center

Offshore Technology Research Center

Texas Materials Institute

Wireless Networking & Communications Group

Applied Research Laboratories

Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences

Center for Subsurface Energy and the Environment

Center for Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Mobile Energy Technologies (NASCENT)

Center for Electromechanics

Center for Additive Manufacturing and Design Innovation

The Center for Predictive Engineering and Computational Sciences (PECOS)

Center for Perceptual Systems

Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology

Student organizations

The Cockrell School of Engineering is home to over 80 student organizations under the supervision of the Engineering Student Life Office. These organizations offer a wide variety of student groups that provide academic, professional development, service, and social opportunities. The majority are student chapters of national and international professional engineering organizations. Among the organizations are:Learn about Student Organizations – Cockrell School of Engineering

The Student Engineering Council (SEC)
is the umbrella organization of all the engineering student organizations, with over thirty engineering organizations affiliated. The SEC is responsible for acting as the official voice of all engineering students in the school and putting on events that benefit the engineering students including the Fall Engineering EXPO, which is the 2nd largest student-run career fair in the United States. *

Omega Chi Epsilon Omega Chi Epsilon (or , sometimes simplified to OXE) is an American honor society for chemical engineering students. History The first chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon was formed at the University of Illinois in 1931 by a group of chemical enginee ...

(OXE) is the Chemical Engineering honor society. Candidates are invited each semester to undergo a pledge process which involves service events, social events, and faculty firesides. OXE's meetings feature high-profile industry partners and are open to all engineering students. * The

American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineer ...

(AICHE) is the primary professional student organization within the Chemical Engineering Department at the University. * The

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(ASCE) is the primary professional student organization within the Civil Engineering Department at the University. * The

Institute of Transportation Engineers The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is an international educational and scientific association of transportation professionals who are responsible for meeting mobility and safety needs. ITE facilitates the application of technology and ...

(ITE), the

Intelligent Transportation Society of America The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is a Washington, D.C. based membership and advocacy group for the development and deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in the United States. ITS America was esta ...

(ITS America), and the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) are the primary professional student organizations for transportation students at the University. *

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

(ASME) is the primary professional student organization within the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University. * The

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE) is the primary professional student organization within the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University. *

Eta Kappa Nu Eta Kappa Nu () or IEEE-HKN is the international honor society of the Computer Science and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). "The organization promotes excellence in the profession and in education through an emphasis ...

(HKN) is the honor society of the IEEE and serves electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, and other IEEE fields of interest. The University's Psi Chapter of HKN was chartered in 1928 as the 22nd chapter within HKN. * The

Society of Petroleum Engineers The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit professional organization whose stated mission is "to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and ...

(SPE) is the primary professional student organization within the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University. * The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the

Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

(SASE), and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) are three national professional student organizations who represent and develop minority student engineers at the University. * The

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in engineering and ...

(SWE) is a professional student organization who represents women engineers at the University. *

Engineers for a Sustainable World Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a not-for-profit network headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. ESW is an umbrella organization with chapters established at over 50 colleges, universities, and city chapters located primarily in the Unite ...

(ESW) is a professional student organization whose aim is to improve the sustainability at the University.
The Business Engineering Association (BEA)
is Cockrell School of Engineering's newest professional student organization. It aims to connect business and engineering students interested in working in industries where business and engineering people work together.

References

External links

The University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockrell School Of Engineering Engineering schools and colleges in the United States Engineering universities and colleges in Texas University of Texas at Austin schools, colleges, and departments Educational institutions established in 1894 1894 establishments in Texas