Missouri University of Science and Technology

History

Missouri S&T was founded in 1870 as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (MSM), the first technological learning institution west of the Mississippi River. Early in its history, the School of Mines was focused primarily on mining and metallurgy. Rolla is located close to the Southeast Missouri Lead District which produces about 70% of the U.S. primary supply of lead as well as significant amounts of the nation's zinc.

The school was founded under the auspices of the University of Missouri in Columbia in order to take advantage of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to "teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." The act endowed Missouri a federal land grant of 30,000 acres for each of the state's two senators and nine representatives at the time—or 330,000 acres (133,546.26 ha; 515.62 sq mi). The endowment said that the land could not be sold for less than $1.25/acre and as such as was a minimum endowment of $412,500 for Missouri. There was an intense debate in the state over the location and number of schools before it was finally decided to have one school in Columbia and a branch in the mining area of southeast Missouri.

Iron County, Missouri (Ironton, Missouri) and Phelps County, Missouri (Rolla) made bids for the school. Iron County's bid was valued at $112,545 and Phelps County's bid was $130,545 so the Phelps bid was officially approved on December 20, 1870.

Classes began in November 23, 1871 in a new Rolla High School building that the city of Rolla had just built. The college had an enrollment of 28 and three graduates in 1874. The college bought what is now called the "Rolla Building" for $25,000 in January 1875. That building is now used as the Mathematics and Statistics Department's library, chair's office, part of the main office, and other faculty offices following a $2 million renovation in 1995.

By the 1920s, the school expanded into civil, electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering as well as chemistry, physics, mathematics and geology. The school became home to Missouri's first operational nuclear reactor in 1961.

Until 1964, the school was considered an offsite department of MU's School of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, reporting to the main campus in Columbia (although it began fielding sports teams in 1935 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association). As such, its presiding officer was originally called a director (1871–1941), then a dean (1941–1964). In 1963 the University of Missouri System was created with the additions of standalone campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis. A year later, MSM was upgraded to an autonomous standalone campus as the University of Missouri at Rolla and its presiding officer, like that of its sister schools, was granted the title of chancellor. The curriculum was expanded to include most of the science and engineering disciplines, as well as social sciences and liberal arts such as psychology and history. In 1968, the campus name was slightly altered to the University of Missouri–Rolla, thus conforming to the naming scheme of the other three campuses. Business and management programs were gradually added in the following years. On January 1, 2008 UMR became known as Missouri University of Science and Technology or Missouri S&T for short.

Name change

In making the case for changing the name, then Chancellor John F. Carney III noted that Rolla in 2007 was "one of the few technological research universities in the nation. A technological research university (polytechnic university or institute of technology) may be defined as one in which a majority of students are enrolled in engineering, the sciences, business or mathematics; the graduate and research programs in those fields are robust; and exceptional academic programs in the liberal arts, humanities and social sciences complement and provide context to the technological strengths of the institution."

He noted that more than 70 percent of its enrollment was in engineering and more than 90 percent was in engineering, business, science and math—significantly higher than engineering schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He noted "The university’s name, however, does not reflect the distinctive nature of the campus. Often, UMR is viewed as a 'satellite' or 'branch' campus due to its name or as a 'feeder' campus for the University of Missouri-Columbia (commonly referred to as the University of Missouri). This branch-campus designation hinders many of our efforts to achieve national recognition and a strong reputation as a technological research university."

He noted, "Of the 1.1 million seniors in the nation who took the ACT in 2006, only 551 non-Missouri seniors – or .05 percent – sent their scores to UMR." He also noted that the school's acronym of UMR got it confused with the University of Minnesota Rochester.

Among the other names that were considered were Missouri University of Science and Engineering, Missouri Technological University, and Missouri Science and Engineering University.

Missouri S&T Stonehenge

Missouri S&T Stonehenge is a partial reconstruction of the original Stonehenge monument located on Salisbury Plain, in southern England. Missouri S&T's version of the ancient structure is located on the northwest corner of campus, and was dedicated on June 20, 1984 during the summer solstice. It features a 50-foot (15 m) diameter ring of 30 stones around a horseshoe of five trilithons through which various sightings of sunrise and sunset can be made. About 160 tons of granite were used to construct the monument. The rock was cut by Missouri S&T's water jet cutter equipment, which used two waterjets cutting at a pressure of 15,000 pounds of force per square inch (103 MPa), slicing across the surface just like a conventional saw. The cutter moved at a speed of about 10 feet per minute (50 mm/s) and cut between one-quarter and one-half inch (6 and 13 mm) on each pass.

After completion, Missouri S&T Stonehenge received an award from the National Society of Professional Engineers for being one of 1985's Ten Outstanding Engineering Achievements.

Millennium Arch

The university developed a new way to make deep cuts in granite and worked with artist Edwina Sandys who used the method to create the Millennium Arch sculpture. The Arch is a single trilithon with the stylized silhouettes of a man and a woman cut from the two uprights. The figures cut from the uprights stand nearby as freestanding statues. The work, which is located on 10th Street facing Castleman Hall, was developed as a project of the High Pressure Waterjet Laboratory of the Rock Mechanics & Explosive Research Center at Missouri S&T.

There are two similar but smaller megaliths showing the same silhouette on each side of the sidewalk entrance to the Rock Mechanics & Explosive Research Center.

Curtis Laws Wilson Library

The Curtis Laws Wilson Library is the main academic library on the Missouri S&T campus. Wilson, for whom the library is named, served as dean of the school from 1941 to 1963. The library's third floor is strictly a quiet study area with multiple rooms circling around the main area. The IT Helpdesk Walk-In Center is located on the first floor. The Miner Break Cafe (currently a Starbucks) is also located in the front right corner of the first floor. The basement of the library is home to the Video Communications Center, which provides video services to the university and produces distance education courses. The basement also houses KMST, a radio station licensed in Rolla, Missouri, and owned by Missouri S&T.

The Puck

The Puck is a small, circular stage in the center of the campus. It is used for many student events, and is used extensively during St. Patrick's Day to host different events. It is a common gathering area, and tours given to new students often start at the landmark. Every year it is refaced to reflect the current "Best Ever" Saint Patrick's Day.

Solar Village

Officially opened in December 2010, the Solar Village consists of four entries by Missouri S&T in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Students, staff, faculty, and donors of Missouri S&T designed, constructed, and competed homes in each of the first four Decathlons including the Solar House in 2002, the Prairie House in 2005, the Solar House in 2007, and the Show-Me House in 2009. In 2012, the Solar Village was one of two highlights in a video short that won recognition from Second Nature and a Climate Leadership Award for the campus. In 2014, the Solar Village was expanded to include a microgrid system and an electric car charging station, and in 2016, Missouri S&T announced a second, EcoVillage, composed of Decathlon entries including the 2013 Chameleon House and the 2015 Nest Home.

Academics

Missouri S&T was ranked as the 44th best public university by U.S. high school counselors in 2012. In September 2010, Missouri S&T's Experimental Mine was named the United States' No. 1 "awesome lab" by Popular Science magazine. In 2010, the average ACT score for entering freshmen was 27.7 (90th percentile), considerably higher than both the state (21.5) and national (20.9) averages.

Missouri S&T's residence hall system is widely recognized; the university was voted "School of the Year 2005" by the Midwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls, or MACURH (a regional subdivision of NACURH), and its honor organization, National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), was chosen as the 2008 "National Chapter of the Year".

Nuclear reactor

The school operates the 200 kW Missouri S&T nuclear reactor on-campus for educational, training, and research purposes. It became the first nuclear reactor to have become operational in Missouri, and first achieved criticality in 1961.

Student Engineering Projects

The Student Design & Experiential Learning Center (SDELC) was established in 2000 to better support the various multi-disciplinary student design teams. In 2004, the Center's mission expanded to provide experiential learning in academic courses, identify and support student service learning projects within the curriculum, and support ad-hoc student teams in specialty academic events involving multi-disciplinary student research.

By 2006, the SDELC had expanded to ten student design teams. The center's expanded mission involved better funding and offering support and resources to multi-disciplinary project teams that had a research base to their activities. The SDELC provided academic credit opportunities in the form of three, one-hour classes on design, leadership and communication. The center also offers a half-credit course on experiential design through the Residential College (RC) program which has a per-semester enrollment of over 100 students engaged in hands-on learning projects. The SDELC's student design teams, research teams and projects, and academic courses are the foundation of experiential learning at Missouri S&T.

The Missouri S&T Solar House Team, designs and builds a house that is completely sustained by energy collected directly from the sun. After the house is built on campus, it is disassembled and transported to Washington, D.C. for the Solar Decathlon, a month-long competition. The Solar House Team placed 11th overall in both 2007 and 2009 out of a total of 20 teams. The team is one of only three teams to compete in four decathlons, and one of two teams to compete in four consecutive decathlons. The 2011 Decathlon is the first that Missouri S&T did not participate, but the Solar House Team is back in the 2013 Decathlon in Irvine, California. The team took first place in the Energy Balance category at the 2005 competition. At the 2002 competition the team took first place in Refrigeration, second place in Energy Balance and third in Hot Water. In 2002 and 2005, the Missouri S&T team took 9th place out of 14 teams and 7th place out of 18 teams respectively. After competition, the homes are returned to the Solar Village on the S&T campus where they are rented as student housing.

Missouri S&T's chapter of Engineers Without Borders has four ongoing international projects in Guatemala, Honduras, and Bolivia. Over one hundred students are part of a team that works to develop sustainable solutions to engineering problems, such as lack of access to drinking water, in developing countries.

The Advanced Aero-Vehicle Group constructs a remote controlled airplane for the annual Society of Automotive Engineers' Aero Design competition. The project is of interest mainly to aerospace engineering students, but students from other disciplines are also on the team. The Advanced Aero Vehicle Group also constructs a rocket every year. The rocket competes in the USLI competition hosted by NASA, in which the rocket must carry a payload one mile into the atmosphere. The AAVG group is also working on a research and development subgroup to compliment the existing plane and rocket groups.

The Missouri S&T Human Powered Vehicle Team demonstrates the engineering excellence of its members via a human-powered vehicle. The team promotes alternative energy technology while providing tomorrow’s engineers with hands-on experience in applying classroom knowledge. Through the spirit of intercollegiate competition, this project hopes to foster leadership, teamwork and the continuous advancement of technologies for the betterment of humanity. The Missouri S&T Human Powered Vehicle Team competes annually at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Human Powered Vehicle Challenge in both West and East Coast Competitions. The team has placed among the top two overall in 14 of 16 competitions, and holds the female sprint record of 41.8 mph and male sprint record of 48.6 mph. In 2010, the team swept both the East and West Coast competitions and placed 1st in every event: Design, Male Drag Race, Female Drag Race and the Endurance Race, giving the team 1st Place Overall and National Speed Class Champions.

The Missouri S&T Formula SAE team constructs a small formula-style race car every year, suitable for mass production and sale to weekend autocrossers. The team competes in Brooklyn, Michigan against more than 100 other teams from universities around the world. The vehicle's cost, sales presentation, engineering design, acceleration, braking and racing performance all factor into its final score. The team has placed in the top ten in eight of the past twelve competitions, including first-, second- and fourth-place finishes.

The Missouri S&T Concrete Canoe Team designs and constructs a concrete canoe and races it on a lake in regional and national competitions. The team has participated in concrete canoe competitions since the 1970s. The entire project, including fundraising and construction, is completed by the students. The team took third place in 2004.

Missouri S&T's solar car team has met with much success. Every two years, the team constructs a single-passenger car, its top covered with solar cells, that runs exclusively on solar power. The car houses lithium ion batteries, which are much lighter than conventional lead-acid batteries. Every time the car is rebuilt, changes make it lighter and more efficient. The team regularly enters solar car races in the United States and occasionally enters international races. The car claimed first place in Sunrayce '99, first place in the 2000 Formula Sun Grand Prix, fourth place in the Australian World Solar Challenge in 2001, second place in the 2001 American Solar Challenge, and first place in the 2003 American Solar Challenge. In 2016, the team placed fourth in the American Solar Challenge after not participating for six years.

The Missouri S&T Satellite Project team began as an Aerospace engineering course (AE301 Spacecraft Design) when NASA held a contest for a 2-year development and build project (Nanosat program) that had to accomplish its goals in the harsh environment of space. After taking third place in Nanosat-4, the team continued perfecting its twin satellites for spaceflight and entry into the Nanosat-6 competition. During this cycle, the team was awarded "Best Outreach" for its work at encouraging an interest by local school students in STEM-related fields. The team placed second during Nanosat-7, beating rival MIT. With their legacy twin-satellite design and feedback from the AFRL sponsors, the team went on to win Nanosat-8 in 2015.

The S&T Robotics Team participates annually in the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). The team builds autonomous vehicles that traverse obstacle courses consisting of lane markers and obstacles. The current vehicles are designed to be omnidirectional so that they can easily drive around obstacles. Typically there are 30–50 students on the team and two faculty advisers. The students handle all design and management aspects of the team but occasionally receive help from technicians to fabricate parts.

The Missouri University of Science and Technology Electromagnetic Compatibility Consortium is a broad partnership of digital electronics companies committed to funding electromagnetic compatibility research.

Rankings

Missouri S&T was ranked #3 in top engineering schools in the U.S. by USA Today in 2014.

According to usnews.com, Missouri S&T is ranked #82 among top engineering graduate schools in the nation in 2012.

Athletics

Missouri S&T athletic teams are known as the "Miners" and the women's teams are referred to as the "Lady Miners". The name comes from the university's history as a mining school. Missouri S&T competes at the NCAA Division II level in thirteen sports and is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) for most sports, and the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Conference (NSISC) for men's swimming.

Club and intramural sports

Club sports associated with Missouri S&T include ultimate frisbee, lacrosse, rugby union, roller hockey, trap and skeet, tennis, baseball. and water polo.

Intramural sports have a very large following at the Missouri S&T. With over 60 men's teams and over 10 women's teams, sports are arranged into divisions. Thirty different sports are contested each year: golf, softball, swimming, ultimate, flag football, billiards, badminton, volleyball, racquetball, bowling, basketball, table tennis, tennis, track, weightlifting, and soccer.

Student life

The Missouri S&T event calendar includes current campus events.

There are over 200 student organizations at Missouri S&T, including student government, professional societies, community service organizations, and religious and cultural groups.

Student media

The student-run newspaper at Missouri S&T, The Missouri Miner, is published every Thursday during the school year and can be read online. In February 2007, the paper threatened to sue the school because the university cut funding. After a one-school-year break for many reasons including a funding cut, The Missouri Miner started republishing in the Fall 2009 semester.

Two broadcast radio stations are associated with Missouri S&T: KMNR, previously known as KMSM, is a student-run, freeform radio station whose music playlist varies with the mood and inclination of the DJ, with some playing caller requests. Every year KMNR hosts two concerts – Freakers Ball in the fall and MasqueRave (formerly Glitter Ball) in the spring. KMST, previously known as KUMR, is a member-supported public radio station, typically playing classical, bluegrass and jazz and National Public Radio programs. On July 16, 2007, KUMR officially changed its call letters to KMST, in advance of the change of name from "University of Missouri–Rolla" to the "Missouri University of Science and Technology".

Amateur radio station, WØEEE, founded in 1931 and run by the Amateur Radio Club, was the first campus club at MSM and is one of the oldest student/college amateur stations in the US.

Greek life

Approximately 25% of the undergraduate student body belongs to a social Greek organization. There are four sororities and twenty-two fraternities.

The nationally recognized fraternities with chapters at Missouri S&T are:

The nationally recognized sororities with chapters on campus are:

Traditions

St. Patrick's Day is the largest annual celebration and predominant cultural event at Missouri S&T, with each year's observance touted as the "Best Ever!". During St. Pat's, students wear green sweatshirts (which are sold as fund-raisers throughout the season), carry shillelaghs and party (including drinking green beer). One tradition, observed primarily among fraternities, is the "killing" of rubber snakes in commemoration of St. Patrick's mythical banishing of snakes from Ireland. Along with snake invasion comes the tradition of Follies. Students meet daily at "the Puck" (a short cylindrical stage bearing a large shamrock) to hear jokes and participate in short competitions. On the third day of Follies, students move to the town's band-shell to participate in the ceremonial arrival of St. Pat's Court. The day after Follies, students participate in "Gonzo and Games". Gonzo and Games are two days of elaborate games in which different organizations compete. Friday of St. Pat's week is concluded with Coronation, a ceremony where the Queen of Love and Beauty is announced. The final event of St. Pat's week is a Saturday morning parade on Pine Street, which is painted green by St. Pat's Board Alumni. This parade is known throughout the United States and boasts well over one hundred floats and participating groups. The rationale for the celebration is the notion that St. Patrick is the patron saint of engineers. The recognition of St. Patrick as the "Patron Saint of Engineers" began in 1903 when the Engineering students of the University of Missouri in Columbia claimed St. Patrick's Day to be a holiday for engineers. The tradition has remained to this day and has been adopted by many other schools across the nation. St. Patrick's Day 2008 marked the one hundredth consecutive year of St. Patrick's Day celebrations at Missouri S&T.

Chancellors

The naming structure for the head of the university has changed reflecting its changes through the years. It is currently headed by a chancellor who in turn reports to the University of Missouri system.

The chancellor lives on campus at the Chancellor Residence (constructed in 1889 as the “Club House” dormitory, converted to a room house, before becoming the Missouri State Geological Survey headquarters before finally becoming the residence for the then-director in 1905).