Engineering Education in Hawai`i
1965-1981

A number of significant changes occurred in the late 1960's in college programs and activities. The Department of Ocean Engineering was established as a graduate program in 1966 -- one of the first such programs in the U.S. Doctoral programs were subsequently approved for both electrical and ocean engineering with the first Ph.D. graduated in 1969. The James K. K. Look Laboratory of Oceanographic Engineering was transferred to the College from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1966. The Look Laboratory was a major applied research facility for coastal engineering.

The Center for Engineering Research was created from the Engineering Experiment Station in 1965. Research activity related to state needs has been the Center's primary focus. Extramural support was sustained at over $1,000,000 annually for studies in coastal engineering, radio sciences, information and computer sciences, alternate energy, and pollution control. Energy research increased in scope and significance resulting in a separate University research unit being formed to be its focal point, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute.

The late 1960's was the planning period for a building complex to house all engineering activity on the Manoa Campus. Two buildings were planned for a site at the corner of Dole Street and East-West Road. Groundbreaking for the first building or Phase I took place on November 3, 1969. The building was completed and occupied in mid-1972. The building was officially named Holmes Hall in honor of Dean Emeritus Wilfred J. Holmes.

Holmes Hall provides space for the Dean's Office, the three undergraduate departments and most of their faculty and the Center for Engineering Research. Laboratories and classrooms for nearly all of the Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering programs are housed in Holmes Hall. Three programs closely associated with engineering, Marine Programs, the Water Resources Research Center, and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, are also housed in Holmes.

In moving into Holmes Hall, the College vacated the old Engineering or Young Quadrangle and most of Keller Hall. Offices for the Department of Ocean Engineering remain in Keller as well as a few faculty offices, principally for Civil Engineering. Phase II of the planned engineering complex was to provide classrooms, auditoriums, and offices for the remainder of faculty and staff, however, construction was postponed for the foreseeable future.

The decade of the 1970's saw a number of administrative, organizational, and programmatic changes in the College. Some reorganization of the College occurred in 1973 with the elimination of the Department of General Engineering. The faculty of that former unit were transferred to new academic homes among the Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering departments, with the lower division course offerings similarly reallocated.

At the instigation of the General Contractor's Association, and with initial funding support totally from the Association, a curriculum in construction engineering was added in Civil Engineering. This addition broadened the scope of CE education and made a direct contribution in professional staffing of Hawaii's construction industry.

The Electrical Engineering curriculum was restructured extensively in the computer and electronics areas in an effort to maintain currency with a rapidly changing technology. The curriculum was updated to provide an excellent foundation in computer architecture and solid state devices.

The College was a partial beneficiary of an $800,000 gift to the University by Coral Industries to fund a chair in Alternate Energy research. The chair holder had a joint appointment within the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and in Mechanical Engineering. This sharpen the focus of both energy research and education in the College.

Through the inspiration and involvement of Drs. Patrick Takahashi, Joel Fox and others, the Engineers Council of the University of Hawaii (ECUH), the coordinating body for student professional and honor societies, has conducted an Open House in Holmes Hall each year since 1973. The Open House, or Expo as it has sometimes been named, is a showcase of student projects, displays, and contest organized and managed by the ECUH. The function has served to initiate thousands of high school and younger students as well as the general public to engineering education and achievements.

Finally, the end of the decade witnessed a number of major personnel changes in the College's administration. Nicholas Corba, Assistant Dean since 1960, retired in 1978. Dr. John Shupe, Emeritus Dean Holmes' successor in 1965, accepted the post of University Coordinator of Energy Research in 1980. After a lengthy search, a new Dean was chosen from among the College's faculty; Paul Yuen, Professor of Electrical Engineering, assumed the Dean's position in late 1981.

The 1970's was a critical perod for the College as it is for all engineering schools. Increasing enrollments reflected the interest in engineering studies due to employment availability and higher starting salaries. Industry beckoned engineering faculty with attractive salary offers as well. The decade was marked by budget-tightening which had a detrimental impact on equipment acquisition and upkeep. The problems thus facing the College were many, however, so were the opportunities.