ASU engineering school targets in-state recruits

TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering is targeting home-grown talent.

The Fulton school has doubled its enrollment in the past five years and has ramped up efforts to encourage even more Arizona students to pursue engineering careers. Dean Paul Johnson said the school is focused on recruiting the engineers of the future starting at the fifth-grade level.

“For example, we’re home to the First LEGO League, which is designed to ignite enthusiasm for engineering among ages nine to 14,” he said. “We have summer bridge programs where students work with our teachers in the classrooms.”

The goal is to not only spark more interest in the engineering field, but to keep more graduates in state to help drive the economy. Johnson said there will be a lot of engineering jobs in the future.

“There’s going to be a lot of jobs because of the high numbers of engineers nearing the retirement age and the need for new types of engineers that we haven’t historically trained in the past,” he said.

“For example, large systems that interact with each other. Cars are a great example where the steering wheel isn’t a mechanical thing anymore … and it’s communicating with other parts. Airplanes are another example.”

The school is home to almost 9,000 students.

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