South Dakota State University’s Dean of Engineering, Lew Brown, on Sept. 23, showed many state-of-the art facilities in the electrical engineering and computer science building that offers opportunities for joint academic and research efforts with Watertown institutions.

A contingency of elected officials from both Brookings and Watertown, leadership from Lake Area Technical Institute, the Watertown school district, Focus Watertown and Brookings Economic Development Corporation led by SDSU administrators and faculty, toured the engineering building, dairy plant renovation and Avera Health and Science Center while they discussed a consultant’s report on regional growth strategy for the I-29 corridor.

The report called for using strengths and capabilities to work cooperatively toward shared goals and suggested integrating economic development assets more fully with university-based strategies.

With research as a focus, the fall semester starts with new changes for the College of Engineering with modifications in faculty positions.

Dennis Helder, who has been with SDSU for 25 years, is now the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering. This position involves developing more extensive research opportunities for the college, as well as coordinating those activities to some degree.

Helder said he is looking forward to see even more research in the department.

“The College of Engineering has seen tremendous growth in research for the past several years and we had more than $6 million in external funding this past year,” Helder said. “We are also fortunate to have research strengths now in almost every department within the college.”

Steven Hietpas, who was coordinator of the electrical engineering undergraduate program from 2002 to 2010, has been selected as Acting Head of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. He looks forward to seeing more students enroll in the College of Engineering.

“One of the primary focuses for our department will be to attract more students to SDSU into one of our outstanding programs; either Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or Software Engineering,” Hietpas said. “Secondly, we will work on increasing industry contacts to support our internship and cooperative education programs, which will also increase our students’ marketability upon graduation.”

The College of Engineering has undergone other changes as well. According to the American Society for Engineering Education, SDSU has the second-fastest growing undergraduate Engineering program in the United States. Although this is a huge triumph for the College, Hietpas says there are always opportunities for improvement.

The plan to resolve the issue of space limitations is underway.

“There is still room for growth in our programs and the good news is that we can accommodate this growth as Phase II of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program Building, due to be completed December of 2011,” Hietpas said.