Engineering is a field in constant flux, with new technology and marketplace shifts meaning the only way to have a successful career is to have an adaptive one.
To weather these changes, every engineer should be prepared to “significantly overhaul” their career path every five to seven years, said Senior Instructional Professor Terry Johnson, the primary architect of the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering’s Master of Engineering (MEng) program.
“If you're an engineer and you study a single thing and then you work on that thing for your entire 40-year career, you’ve either chosen an impossible problem or a trivial one,” Johnson said.
Agile, nimble engineers require an agile, nimble education. Under Johnson’s guidance, PME has leveraged its research excellence to create a top-tier MEng program that turns recent college graduates into innovative, adaptive engineers ready for top industry labs or academia. But helping students succeed requires a solid foundation as well as constant evolution.
Two new additions to the program in the 2024-25 school year will help the MEng program stay at the forefront of science while remaining responsive to student needs.
“The Master of Engineering program is set up firmly in an engineering discipline while providing flexibility, allowing students to tailor their education through a variety of tracks that guide them toward various career and research outcomes,” Johnson said.
As markets shift and new technologies disrupt the old, the MEng program evolves. Initially modeled on three course tracks allowing students to focus and personalize their educational experience—Bio- and Immunoengineering, Soft Matter Engineering and Computational Modeling of Materials—the program has just this term introduced two new tracks.
In addition to the new Quantum Engineering and Energy and Sustainability tracks, other program innovations include making the existing UChicago Advanced Scholars “4+1” Master’s Program available to students from American universities outside of the University of Chicago.
“UChicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering is a fairly new school and UChicago is very much a big ideas, high-risk, high-reward project kind of place,” Johnson said. “This gives us the opportunity to create an exciting, adaptive master’s program based on where the science and career opportunities are now and where they’re heading.”
How to engineer engineers
Johnson knows well what it means to overhaul a career. His path started in industry, working in environmental engineering for General Motors. He went to MIT for a PhD, but mid-program decided that a master’s degree fit his path better. Exploring his next move, he took to teaching, first at MIT then at UC Berkeley.
PME Dean Emeritus Matthew Tirrell first met Johnson at UC Berkeley’s Department of Bioengineering, Tirrell as department chair and Johnson as, at the time, a lecturer. Two years ago, when PME was looking to develop a leading master’s program, Tirrell turned to his past colleague, by then a full-time teaching professor.
“I saw his instructional skill, his thoughtful management of innovative educational programs, and his dedication to providing excellent student experiences. That’s what we wanted in PME’s MEng program. I was delighted to be able to recruit Terry to PME,” Tirrell said.
Johnson was building a career in popular science alongside his career as an educator. He formerly wrote the tongue-in-cheek Gizmodo column “Ask a Biogeek,” and gave talks on the science behind science fiction at venues including Comic-Con International and WonderCon. In 2010, he co-authored the book “How to Defeat Your Own Clone (and other tips for surviving the biotech revolution).”
“Your clone is basically an identical twin of a different age,” Johnson explained, laughing. “So, I think one of the questions you have to ask yourself is, if you had a clone, why do you think you need to defeat them?”
Johnson views his pop sci work as a subset of his larger commitment to education.
“Science communication can fulfill a variety of goals, and there are certain aspects of it that are based on generating excitement, based on learning, based on engaging critically with things that are outside of engineering,” he said.
An evolving master’s program
While the program constantly evolves as technology and markets shift, the focus remains the same: Building engineers ready to take laboratory innovations into the real world.
“PME’s MEng program is not only aimed at providing a unique educational experience for motivated students but an explicit effort to prepare and connect our students for industrial careers,” Tirrell said.
The new tracks and the changes to Advanced Scholar admissions help keep PME responsive to students’ needs.
“The Quantum Engineering track is a selection of technical courses, both in the Physics Department and in Molecular Engineering that prepare people for understanding both in the hardware and software needs of companies in the quantum space,” Johnson said. “Energy and Sustainability talks a lot about energy storage, energy conversion, next generation batteries, recycling of batteries. It tends to have a strong energy focus, but it's not exclusive. Clean air, clean water and other sustainability innovations are included in good measure.”
The UChicago Advanced Scholars Program is an accelerated application pathway into 13 leading master’s programs, including MEng. Starting in January 2025, any college junior enrolled in a U.S.-based institution will be able to apply, receiving their decision a full year in advance compared to a standard timeline.
“There are two key pillars of the Advanced Scholars Program. First, acceptance as a junior mirrors corporate trends of students securing post-grad plans early,” said UChicago Director of Strategic Initiatives in Masters Enrollment Liz Schutz. “Second, a streamlined application will allow students to be considered for multiple programs with only one submission, and no test scores.”
Johnson said this will help UChicago PME lock in top talent while allowing students to breathe easier, knowing their next step is set.
“It gives them their senior year knowing that they are coming to UChicago, letting them plan their future more than a few months in advance,” Johnson said.
Taking innovations from lab, classroom and comic book convention, Johnson both chuckles at and takes inspiration from his own zigzag career path.
“One thing that I hope our students get out of a professional program is an understanding that careers are complicated and there are a lot of twists and turns. Part of any successful program is preparing people to look at those twists and turns as opportunities.”