Middle Tennessee State University academic officials laid the groundwork for a new mechatronics engineering program in 2012-13. With the state’s blessings, the program went from ground zero in early August 2013 to 20 students that first semester.

Five years and nearly 400 students later, mechatronics is a fast-growing program that’s already graduated 66 students earning $65,000 to $75,000 per year. Now it’s received a titanic boost by recently earning accreditation from the Baltimore, Maryland-based Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc., or ABET, and its Engineering Accreditation Commission.

Elijah Little, an MTSU graduate student from Idaho Falls, Idaho, tells the audience about the opportunities he has experienced because he is a mechatronics engineering major. Little spoke Sept. 21 during the mechatronics accreditation celebration in the Tom H. Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall. (MTSU photo by Eric Sutton)

Retired Bridgestone North Americas Inc. corporate manager Keith Hamilton called the program “a step toward moving MTSU into being the premier engineering school in the Southeastern part of the United States.” Event host Tonya Scott praised it as “growing from imagination to accreditation.”

Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field of engineering that includes a combination of systems, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, control and computer engineering. The program is based on a three-level international certification program created by Siemens, a German engineering company and MTSU partner.

The Department of Engineering Technology hailed the accreditation achievement with a celebration Friday, Sept. 21, in the Tom H. Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall.

“It is a pretty big deal,” said Dr. Walter Boles, engineering technology chair, who has been a facilitator of the program since the beginning, referencing the accreditation. “We’re celebrating a milestone and what mechatronics means for the community, our students, industry partners and Tennessee’s economy.”

State Sen. Shane Reeves, an MTSU Class of ’90 alumnus, tells the audience attending the MTSU mechatronics accreditation celebration that he’ll work to convince his fellow legislators to “do what we can to get money for an engineering building” Sept. 21 in the Tom H. Jackson Building. (MTSU photo by Eric Sutton)

The ABET action is retroactive to 2015 “to cover all graduates,” Boles said, and the MTSU accreditation status will appear on ABET’s website in October. ABET is an organization that accredits postsecondary education programs in applied and natural science, engineering and engineering technology.

MTSU Provost Mark Byrnes, who attended the celebration, said the university is pleased the mechatronics engineering program received national accreditation.

“It confirms the quality of our mechatronics program and should reassure students that they will receive a high-quality education,” Byrnes said.

College of Basic and Applied Sciences Dean Bud Fischer added that the “highly successful ABET accreditation” is “evidence the program has met the high standards needed to produce graduates ready to enter this critical field of engineering.”

“Students graduating from this program receive a solid educational foundation and are certainly sufficiently prepared for entry into the engineering profession,” Fischer added.

Hamilton, who led Bridgestone’s North America Manufacturing Education Center and is a Franklin County resident, said he’s “just elated that accreditation is happening. It’s a remarkable accomplishment — an accomplishment no one else believed could be done. It has gone beyond everyone’s expectations.”

MTSU engineering technology chair Walter Boles speaks on the growth of the mechatronics program, which recently received accreditation from the Baltimore, Md.-based Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc. The university celebrated the national recognition Sept. 21 with a special event in the Tom H. Jackson Building. (MTSU photo by Eric Sutton)

The mechatronics program is seeing an enrollment increase of about 100 students per year, officials said. Sixty students are on track to graduate from MTSU’s program in May 2019.

“There’s a very high demand for our graduates,” Boles said.

State Sen. Shane Reeves of Murfreesboro told the crowd he is “excited about the future of mechatronics” and he “will do what we can to get money for an (engineering) building” to house the growing program and department.

As an undergraduate, Elijah Little said he couldn’t declare a major until he heard about mechatronics.

“It seemed to fit the bill. Being a part of the Experimental Vehicles Program helped me utilize my skills and knowledge, and I’d like to thank MTSU for all the opportunities it has given me,” said Little, who’s now earning a master’s in engineering management.

MTSU has agreements with Motlow, Roan State and Cleveland State allowing students from the colleges to transfer to MTSU “and receive a significant amount of transfer credit toward the bachelor’s degree,” Boles said. Another pact is in the works with Volunteer State Community College.

Jimmy Davis, owner of The Davis Groupe in Murfreesboro and an MTSU Class of 2010 alumnus, thanks the crowd for their support during MTSU’s Sept. 21 celebration of its mechatronics engineering program’s recent national ABET accreditation. Davis is a longtime advocate for the program. (MTSU photo by Eric Sutton)

Motlow, which confers associate degrees to its graduates, offered the first mechatronics program in Tennessee and is considered one of the best in the nation. It works with MTSU to assist area high school programs at Oakland and others. Industry partners pushed for MTSU to offer the four-year bachelor’s degree.

Hamilton, Jimmy Davis of The Davis Groupe and other industry partners attended the event. Another major partner, Smyrna, Tennessee-based Nissan North America, was represented by Kevin Smith, now retired, and others. Alumna Sarah Jost also discussed her positive mechatronics experience.

“With achievement comes a new set of challenges,” said Davis, who added it is imperative MTSU “get an engineering school, a new building and add a master’s program” in mechatronics.

Mechatronics and engineering technology are part of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

MTSU alumna Sarah Jost, a member of the Class of 2016, discusses her positive experience while working toward a bachelor’s degree in mechatronics engineering Sept. 21 during the accreditation celebration event for the program in the Tom H. Jackson Building. (MTSU photo by Eric Sutton)