Chair's message
Dear ME Community,
In this time of rapid global change, the future is uncertain. For Tufts, and all US-based universities, this has been a particularly devastating year as we’ve watched federal funding wither for science and engineering. Declines in research funding – including the necessary overhead to pay for facilities, staff, and equipment that indirectly support our research mission – will likely have an immediate impact on the faculty and graduate students conducting research.
In that light, I feel compelled to celebrate the amazing and transformative research underway in the Tufts Mechanical Engineering Department. Our faculty and students are involved in projects with the potential to fuel economic growth, enhance security, and improve the human condition. Our researchers are working on superconducting magnet technologies for fusion energy plants – urgently needed to meet demands on our energy infrastructure without creating new stresses on our climate. Our researchers are working on measuring the mechanical properties of individual cells – an approach to enable high accuracy, high-sensitivity cancer detection for early, targeted treatment. Our researchers are working on 3D-printable robots that could be fabricated on-demand – putting robots into action precisely where and when they are needed, for instance, to find survivors in the wake of a natural disaster. All these remarkable projects are high-benefit but also high-risk endeavors, and none of them would be possible without US federal funding.
As we pursue transformative research, we in the Mechanical Engineering Department are also busy transforming our students for their future careers. The Tufts School of Engineering emphasizes a rigorous technical education within a broader liberal-arts context, a trajectory that prepares students well for a time of great change. If students are to innovate new technologies, they will continue to need rigorous technical skills in engineering, math, and the sciences. Leading effective teams to develop those technologies will require communication skills and cultural competencies developed through studying the humanities. Transforming those technologies into viable businesses, moreover, takes an understanding of economics, global languages, and entrepreneurship. Steering businesses and other organizations successfully through uncertain times also demands an understanding of the trajectory of world events, a skillset well developed through study of history and the social sciences. Achieving this breadth is precisely our goal in the Tufts School of Engineering, and the broad foundation we provide through our undergraduate programs has never been more valuable.
Good luck to you and your family during these times of change. Please keep Tufts in mind when you think about the future of university research, in the US and beyond.
Best wishes,
Jason Rife
Professor and Department Chair
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Tufts University