i SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1958 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE THREE Planning Bridges MECHANICAL BRAINS: Engineers Learn Computer Techniques PLASTER, NO SHORTENING: Giant Birthday Cake To Tour Centennial -Daily-Betsy Smith CIVIL ENGINEERING-As part of its curriculum, the civil en- gineering department offers instruction in bridge building and sewage control, as well as the more conventional road-building and planning. Dean Emmons Emphasizes Interaction of Departments By ARLENE LISS Emphasizing the flexibility in the structural composition of the college degree program, Assistant Dean Walter J. Emmons of the College of Engineering'has de- scribed the means in which the various engineering fields are in- terrelated. In the college, he explained, de- partments do not sponsor a stud- ent for a degree but rather twelve degree programs have been initiat- ed which outline graduation re- quirements and provide for a counseling service at the same time. .* * * THE SUCCESSFUL operation of a single program is placed in the hands of a department head whose main responsibility is to set up required courses and correlate them with the degree programs. Although there are only 7 departments these twelve degree programs provide an element of flexibility, Dean Emmons stated. New programs can be added when the necessity arises, he went on. Dean Emmons also pointed to the fact of prospective engineers enrolled in the school' of gaining knowledge in other fields beside their own speciality. * s * "IT IS NOT at all unusual for a boy who graduates in one field to later go into another," the Dean said. This is possible because of a wide scope of background ma- terial he has mastered, Dean Em- mons added. Incoming engineering students are required to take the same subjects but after the first year the student comes under the guidance of the degree pro- gram and thus begins to vary his course. However, a new program begun in the fall makes it possible for exceptional students to proceed at their own pace since there are now no fixed amount of points re- quired for graduation. Degree programs offered are: aeronautical, chemical, metalurgi- cal, materials, civil, electrical, mechanical, industrial, navaland marine engineering ,,and mathe- matics and physics, Dean Emmons concluded. Research Costs The Engineering Research In- stitut spent $8,370,780 for re- search activities during the fiscal year 1952. This represents an increase of almost 30 per cent over the total outlays on sponsored research done by the Institute in 1951. Much of the increased expendi- tures can be accounted for by the growing governmental and in- dustrial outlays for engineering research. By JO DECKER Engineering achievements re- lying heavily cvi mathematics have often been curdiled in the past because of the time consumed in. mathematical computation. With the invention of so-called "mechanical brains," analog and digital computers, this time ele- ment has been solved. The field now requires trained operators for the machines. * * . IN ORDER to meet the de- mands of the new field of compu- tation, several courses in mathe- matics and engineering on the graduate and undergraduate lev- els are being offered by the en- gineering college for the second year. They contain lab work in setting up problems for the ma- chines, instruction in the theory and principles of operation and courses in design. All computers used at the Uni- versity have been designed by men connected with the staff. Two general types of computers have been developed. The digital computer will solve any mathe- matical problem with no inherent accuracy limitations, performing one arithmetic operation at a time. It is able to retain an an- swer in its "memory," pick it up and use it in a later operation. OPERATIONS in digital com- putation center around the huge MIDAC (Michigan Digital Auto- matic Computer) located at Wil- low Run Research Center. It will solve problems some 20,000 times as fast as a professional, mathe- matician using a desk calculator. Designed andbuilt at the Center, MIDAC is used generally by the University, though some govern- ment problems are solved with it. A second digital computer developed at Willow Run is highly classified but reportedly considerable faster than MIDAC. It was designed to solve a spec- ific air defense problem. Analog computation works in an essentially different way. The en- tire problem is solved simultan- eously in different parts of the computer. For this reason, it is a much faster device, less expensive to design and easier to set up problems. COMPUTERS will solve all mathematical. problems. If what one plans to do can be put into equations and set up on the ma- chine, the problem will be solved. Anything from the riding quality of an automobile under certain road or weather conditions to an atomic pile reaction can be de- termined. Government research uses them in studying the behavior of guided missiles and aircraft structures, since it has been found more practical to place craft under fire on a computer than to sink a million dollar ship .in experimentation. Operation of a single machine requires from 20 to 50 mathema- ticians. This means that nearly. 10,000 persons are needed to at- tend the computers already in use. The demand for trained operators is constantly growing. The training of people for these jobs is therefore becoming an in- tegral part of the University cur- riculum. COMPUTER RESE MALE-DOMINATED: Engineering Enrollment oy Set-off from the rest of the campus in three buildings along E. University St, 16 coeds each day attend the male-dominated engineering classes. Assistant Dean of the engineer- ing college Walter J. Emmons noted that few women are in- terested in engineering because "they aren't brough up with the field. Boys grow up building erector set projects while girls play with their dolls." A practicing engineer must work out in the field, too, he ex- plained, "and we wouldn't expect' to see a woman working in the Detroit River tunnel." Dean Emmons pointed out that consequently women en- Engineer's Income During 1952 more than 90 per cent of the practicing engineers in the United States were earn- ing more than $5,600 a year. Since the outbreak of the Kor- ean War the average beginning salaries for engineers have soared to approximately $330 per month. A breakdown of the engineers' income reveals that: 1. 90 per cent earned more Following the visitors on their Centennial round of activities will be a giant-sized birthday cake. Composed of wire net, clothes- line, plaster and pipe, the cake has been under construction since Au- gust. WITH a permanent home in the automotive laboratory of the me- chanical engineering department, the cake will be transported via trailor to the various meeting places of the celebration. It will be moved from place to place on a flat-topped trailor. Constructed of a wood and wire mesh net base, the cake it- self is composed of plaster of Paris. "We had to hire a plaster- er to do it," one of its custodians in the lab said. "Apparently the - University doesn't have one on its staff." The eight foot in diameter con- struction will be topped with lead pipe candles two "feet high. Re- sembling large firecrackers in ap- pearance, the "candles" have for wicks lengths of clothesline. BIRTHDAY CAKE ARCH IN ACTION DESIGNED to foster the birth- day idea, the cake will make scheduled appearances at Hill Au- ditorium, the Union, the Rackham College Cites Building, League, Union and pos- sibly the new N'orth Campus. According to Centennial 6chair- f 16 Coeds man Prof. Stephen S. Attwood -_ _ _ _ _ of the engineering college, the purpose of the Centennial cele- gineers usually g into drafting, bration is to "evaluate and draw design or chemical research, on experience from the past." where they are -.ot hindered b Out of that, he said, the college physical make-up. hoped to "form plans' for the "And women work well in lab- future as far-seeing and as ef- oratories since they are usually fective as possible." neat by inherent traits," he noted. Also, Prof. Attwood pointed out, "Women are accustomed to pay- the celebration was designed to ing attention to detail, stimulate alumni interest in' the T r n p n-work of the college past, present there are plenty of opportuni- and future. ties in all phases of engineering, according to Dean Emmons, "although freedom of choice of the nature of work is restricted.' Concerning classes in the best wishes engineering college, one coed said "I have never had any trouble getting along with either professors or men in my - classes." "Fellows are just like big heartiest bi brothers, always willing to help you out with any manual work in MICHIGA the labs," she explained, and Iia e' f have never come across a profes- a g 46at L40 sor who resents girls in his classes. Since the classroom is more in- formal in engineering school, the A NT1 T A -D1 coed noted, "a girl m ust build upa c m - h t ay a ti u e a 'come-what-may' attitude. "Of course, I like to hear a joke just as well as the next one, but you learn to take them with a look of unconcern," she said. II ;..... :;, .:: ,. t V 1 . '" ti V. a :'iti v . 1 J. Xl, t ~ ,{L :? " iE , ; : i 1' :iti= : i. v,.'". 1Z . iii: }i.': y ,. { ~ti ; 'YY COGRATULATlONS' to the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ENGINEERING SCHOOL on its CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION COOK FLOORS 3434 PONTIAC ROAD ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN . - *1 * .l etsy Smith~ f'tt II II Ii (ii )n your birthday... genuine sincerity that iwe extend our est wishes to the UNIVERSITY OF N SCHOOL of ENGINEERING - neer in the engineering field. )R FOUNDRY COMPANI 1 327 JONES DRIVE ANN ARBOR i than $5,600. 2. ,75 per cent than $6,640. 3. 50 per cent than $8,350. 4. 25 per cent than $11,500. 5. 10 per cent than $17,500. earned more earned more earned more earned more Shocking These figures have been releas- ed recently by the National So- ciety of Professional Engineers who questioned 13,000 men in the profession concerning their earn- ing capacities. 7853 0 . " r - CONGRESS STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY Wishes the Engineering School of the University of Michigan another 100 years of prosperity JOISTS * TRUSSES . BEAMS CRANEWAYS FACTORY SERVICE One hundred years is a long time for any institution to endure. The University of Michigan School of Engineering has not only endured for succeeded in att a century, but it has aining and holding a high position of leadership in academic and research engineering. I I CONGRATULATIONS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ENGINEERING SCHOOL I. ...1953 0 I1 I GENERAL ELECTRICAL SHOP !I 11 I I 11 fl it II