About the Hajim School
The Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is one of the nation’s top engineering schools housed in a first-rate research university. Learning from and working alongside award-winning faculty, our students use state-of-the-art technology and facilities to support their unique and self-driven education.
The Hajim School comprises a variety of programs, departments, and institutes, including:
- Audio and music engineering
- Biomedical engineering
- Chemical engineering
- Computer science
- Electrical and computer engineering
- Institute of Optics
- Mechanical engineering
From alternative energy to technical entrepreneurship, we continually expand our program offerings to reflect current and future opportunities for research, development, and application.
The Haijm School is at the forefront of data science research and education in close partnership with the University’s $100 million Goergen Institute for Data Science. Our students and faculty benefit also from learning opportunities and research collaborations afforded by the close proximity of the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.
We have doubled our number of undergraduate students since 2008. Our students conduct undergraduate research, study abroad, pursue multidisciplinary majors, and streamline their paths to graduate schools and careers. The Hajim School recently joined the Grand Challenges Scholars program, which enables students to "take ownership" of their academic path, by organizing their research, global, internship, and entrepreneurial experiences around a single challenge.
Meanwhile, our nationally ranked graduate programs are recognized by U.S. News and World Report and the American Society for Engineering Education. ASEE recently included the Hajim School in its first cohort of Bronze Award engineering schools as part of its Diversity Recognition Program, signifying that we are “among the nation’s leaders in inclusive excellence” through our efforts to increase the diversity of our students, staff, and faculty.
In short, the Hajim School’s students, alumni, faculty, staff, and supporters work together to make the world ever better.
State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements
Per U.S. Federal Regulations, 668.43 (2019 Rule), and in compliance with the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) Manual version 19.2, the University of Rochester provides the following disclosure related to the educational requirements for professional certification and licensure. The University of Rochester has designed the curricula in the following undergraduate programs for professional certification and licensure, that if successfully completed, is sufficient to meet the certification and licensure educational requirements in the state of New York: biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, optical engineering. For information regarding licensure in New York State please contact the New York State Office of the Professions – State Education Department (Engineering | Office of the Professions (nysed.gov)). For contact information for the relevant engineering licensing boards in other states please use this link: NCEES member licensing boards.
Timeline of Engineering at Rochester
1908—The University of Rochester offers its first courses in applied science (engineering), with an emphasis on mechanical engineering.
1915—First chemical engineering courses offered.
1929—The Institute of Applied Optics is established.
1930—Men’s classes move from Prince Street to the River Campus. Chemical and mechanical engineering occupy a new three-floor Engineering Building (later renamed Gavett Hall). The Institute of Optics occupies the fourth floor of the Bausch and Lomb building.
1956—Electrical engineering, previously offered in 1947, then dropped in 1950, is permanently resurrected.
1958—Engineering becomes a separate College of Engineering and Applied Science, with three departments: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering.
1961—The Institute of Optics is absorbed into the College of Engineering.
1962—Cornerstone set for Hopeman Hall, the new home for mechanical and electrical engineering.
1970—Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is established.
1976—Institute of Optics will move from the Bausch and Lomb Building to the Space Science Center (later renamed Wilmot Hall).
1976—Groundbreaking for new LLE facility to house the OMEGA laser.
1987—New Computer Studies Building includes offices and labs for electrical engineering.
1995—Colleges of Engineering and of Arts and Science are combined. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences becomes part of the resultant College, which is later designated Arts, Sciences and Engineering.
1998—Department of Electrical Engineering renamed Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2000—Department of Biomedical Engineering is established.
2007—Robert B. Goergen Hall for Biomedical Engineering and Optics opens.
2008—Edmund Hajim bequeaths $30 million, the largest gift in the University’s history, to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
2009—School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is named after Edmund Hajim. The Department of Computer Science becomes part of the Hajim School.
2016 — Wendi Heinzelman becomes the first woman to serve as Dean of the Hajim School.
University of Rochester's Deans of Engineering
John W. Graham Jr. 1959 to 1966
Robert G. Loewy 1967 to 1974
Brian J. Thompson 1975 to 1984
Bruce W. Arden 1986 to 1994
Duncan T. Moore 1995 to 1997
Kevin J. Parker 1998 to 2008
Robert L. Clark 2008-2016
Wendi Heinzelman 2016 - present