Engineering expands school

Rafaela and John Belanich gift $10 million to the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering

Amy Inkrott | Contributor | USD Vista

It is an exciting time for the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, having recently received a donation for extensive renovations and expansions.

La Jolla residents Rafaela and John Belanich recently gifted $10 million to further expand the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego. The gift will provide students with new laboratories, classrooms, and creative spaces. It will also allow for the addition of two new fields of study: bioengineering and environmental engineering.

Fifth-year Ryder Aguilera discussed the future of the school.

“This donation will give future students a greater access to space, classes, and fields of study,” Aguilera said.

Since its establishment in 2012, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering has nearly doubled the number of students and faculty members.

The school has also grown in quality and reputation, having recently been named the 12th-best engineering school  in the nation by US News and World Report. Chell Roberts, founding dean of the School of Engineering, said that he hopes to see the school continue to improve and become one of the top-10 schools in the country.

Rafaela Belanich, class of 1961, was a student of the USD Women’s College. Her husband, John Belanich, is a local engineer and real estate developer. Together, they hope to benefit the future of the university. Throughout the past four years, the Belanichs sought to fund an expansion of the school of engineering due to the newness of the school and John Belanich’s background in engineering.

The Belanichs’ donation will help expand the space of the school of engineering in order to accommodate the increasing number of students.

Currently, the donation is being used to build a new annex to Loma Hall. The annex will include a cybersecurity studio, two mechanical engineering labs, a design studio, a conference room, and office spaces. The annex will also house an industry conference room in which members of outside industries can meet and work with students.

In the next few years, the school will work to remodel Guadalupe Hall which will also hold offices, studios, and design spaces. The renovations to Loma and Guadalupe Halls and the new annex will become known as the Belanich Engineering Complex. Construction has already begun and is expected to be complete by 2021.

Dean Roberts hopes that these renovations will have a positive impact on the learning experiences of students within the School of Engineering.

“Students will be able to do more projects, bigger projects, and to be more engaged in their studies,” Roberts said. “It provides students with a space in which they can engage and work with other people.”

Roberts believes the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering is well on its way to becoming one of the best undergraduate engineering programs in the country.

“We will continue to grow our programs more, our faculty more, our students more, and be a go-to place for companies, graduate schools, partnerships, and for students,” Roberts said. “More students will want to be a part of our school as they recognize we are one of the best programs.”

The dean maintains that engineering is an important educational platform to prepare students for an increasingly complex and technical world. He emphasized the benefits of a liberal arts background for engineering students.

“An engineering student from USD has a better, more well-rounded education because of that liberal arts component,” Roberts said. “It makes them better in terms of their critical thinking, communication, cultural connection, and understanding. That broader context is really important and leads to leadership opportunities that students from other schools might not necessarily get, and it all comes from that difference in education.”

He acknowledged engineering as a path for students who are interested in creating a future in areas such as the environment, data, cybersecurity, or artificial devices. Engineering provides students with important technical knowledge that can be used in a wide range of career paths.

Aguilera hopes that the Belanich’s donation will expand the availability of classes for future students.

“I had a hard time getting into all the classes I wanted, as many of them were filled up,” Aguilera said. “The addition of new programs and spaces will give students more options beyond the current mechanical, electrical, or industrial systems programs.”

After seeing the construction outside of Loma Hall, first-year mechanical engineering student Maeve Leininger was excited to learn about the new laboratories and design spaces.

“We will be able to use those areas to further our education, and to foster more collaboration so that we will be better prepared for our future jobs,” Leininger said.

First-year Shaydon Bodemar was also ecstatic about the new expansions.

“Generally, that is very good news,” Bodemar said. “It is great to hear that we got money and support for this program. I do hope that certain things that we were missing will be brought here in the future, like a civil engineering program.”

Bodemar believes a civil engineering program is important for forming a stronger School of Engineering given the new and growing infrastructure of the country.

He also recognized that many large firms, such as Biggs Cardosa, often work with civil engineers. Therefore, such a program would be beneficial to the future of the engineering students.

Bodemar hopes that the renovations will soon be available to current students.

While Loma Hall already houses a machine shop with laser cutters and welding abilities, he sees the potential for a wider array of machinery and technology.

“It is good to have that ability and knowledge as engineering students in order to understand what the people creating products are doing,” Bodemar said.

The new creative spaces will provide students with separate facilities to work on larger projects. Bodemar is most excited to be a part of the Baja Car project. For the Baja Car, a team of senior engineering students design an off-roading vehicle. Together, the students construct aspects of the vehicle such as the frame and suspension. Bodemar anticipates the new design spaces will enable students to improve upon previous Baja Car projects.

The Shiley-Marcos School  of Engineering at USD is unique as it combines aspects of a liberal arts education with the technical components of an engineering program. Students are able to integrate concepts from their general education courses into their engineering education.

USD’s engineering students to be aware of the global community and how it relates to the job of an engineer. The donation will better the educational experience of engineering students and further prepare them for their careers.