Beloit College in Wisconsin and the University of Maine model different approaches to engineering physics.
By Liz Boatman | June 15, 2023
A Beloit student works with a 3D printer at the college’s makerspace. Beloit’s new engineering physics program has relied in part on existing campus resources, like the makerspace.
Across the United States, enrollment in undergraduate physics programs has been sliding, but engineering — which traditionally pulls from similar student demographic groups — has fared better. Some schools, like Beloit College in southern Wisconsin, are taking the hint.
At Beloit, the physics department saw a new engineering physics major as an opportunity to attract two to three new students per year, says physics chair Britt Scharringhausen. “Like any college, we’re dealing with changing student demographics, and…
