The reason I came here is that I dreamed of California like everyone else. The second reason was that it was a ground floor opportunity. I felt I could contribute in making [engineering] an interesting, creative and responsive program.

At that time there were plenty of funds for equipment and laboratories, and it was a real challenge to work with truly vigorous and visionary colleagues. At the same time, I had a very tempting offer from Cooper Union in New York City, a prestigious engineering school. I turned it down to go to Cal State Fullerton.

One of the most appealing things to me was, at the time I came, we offered a single engineering degree. We provided a very broad foundation for engineers so that they could move across the spectrum of engineering disciplines. They were not narrowly defined. I thought that was an excellent idea because throughout my professional life, I've had the opportunity to work with many types of engineers.

As our engineering program added more and more faculty members, professors felt they would perform better in the confines of their own disciplines. The collective wisdom was to get designated departments and designated degrees. I did not feel this was a desired trend, but in all fairness, it was easier for our graduates to get job offers.

For most people, it was a productive change.

I now believe it was a move for the best. In the original program, we tried to provide a healthy dose of fundamental engineering knowledge along with the ability to engage in solving problems. As the changes in the field have evolved, the need for cooperation and collaboration has grown. We now have much more inter- action than we had during the initial splitting of the program into individual designated programs.

Some of the projects I have conducted within the capstone design project series involved a marriage of disciplines and produced engineering projects that we proudly share with the Orange County community and beyond.