TL:DR - You can do better. Hold a public discussion where our questions can be answered. Speak to us directly. To all petition signers, if you are still at UH, make sure not just students, but entire classes, and professors, from across campus, sign with us. With 1500+ signatures, we can raise this to the dean directly, and even Renu.
In direct response to the multiple comments and emails from engineering.
The Dean of engineering has chosen to respond not to us directly, but by having Dr. J. R. Rao reply to us both in comment, and with a general email to the student body. This is disappointing, as many of us who wanted to hear from the Interim Dean directly about his plans, and provide our opinions and support for new spaces, have been let down by this. Let us address each comment individually.
In Dr. Rao's initial reply, found in the comments of his petition, Dr. Rao expressed that one of the key problems with other programs was that they were not always available for all students. We agree with that assessment, as with all the previous programs, the lack of access for student activities stemmed from the fact that, from 2014-present, there were no spaces for engineering student activities. When students do not have access to simple hand tools, much less a workspace, for courses like MECE2361, ECE5330, and ENGI 4397, that's not access.
In Dr. Rao's email to students, he has unveiled his plan to put together a "Multidisciplinary design at UH" program to replace and upgrade ESIDE. This program needs to be more clear with it's intentions and capability. Senior Design is not the only criteria here for integrating a space like MD-at-UH, ESIDE, Makerspace@UH libraries, or even as far back as the EERC. We need to fundamentally look at the courses which need design equipment, and organizations which need said space to compete effectively.
The Innovation Hub is a long way off. UH expects the space to be built by 2025, is 2 years away at the least. That 2 year gap can, and will, destroy student engagement in such a way that it would take years to build from scratch. Having a Makerspace as a interim measure was a key role in understanding and building the criteria for that space. And there's been zero student engagement and involvement in the new Innovation Hub. From simple questions like "How will students access it" and "what kind of tools do we need", to hard hitting questions like how does FSAE, AIAA, Robotics@UH, IEEE Robotics, ASME, and many of the Student Organizations who act as the face of UH at competitions and key events across the globe work in that space?
To Dr. Love's comment, we understand completely that the interim dean is still acclimating to his position. Dean Tedesco's sudden departure has been hard and confusing on all of us, from faculty to student. We would love to hear the dean's ideas and concerns for the hands-on ability of students. But we're not getting that right now. And that's why we would appreciate you working with us to bring our concerns to the dean and to all faculty. Give us a chance to ask the questions we want answered.
All we want is a space for us to work with our hands. Apply our knowledge to something tangible. From Statics to FEA, from Arduino to FPGA, Supply to Manufacturing, controls from bioengineering to aerospace. That has not been provided for us in more than a decade. And waiting on another space isn't enough for the students who are graduating now, and who are fighting now to make their ideas come to life.
Dr. Sharma, we would love to schedule a open forum where you can sit down and talk to us, all of us who signed this petition, and every student who is concerned, where you can answer our questions and make it clear your vision for helping the undergraduate body. Doing so will build a path to working together to reach top 50.
Thank you for reading.
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CMDR Sablin and crew
P.S. - To keep communications open, Dr. Rao will now be added to the petition email notifications.