362 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1319 



Professor Hector J. Hughes, chairman of the 

 administrative board of the engineering school, 

 has made the following statement: 

 , One of the first problems which the staS of the 

 new engineering school set itself to solve was to 

 find an effective way of getting the new school and 

 its students into closer relations with industrial and 

 engineering work before they graduate. The need 

 for suoh relations has been increasingly evident in 

 the past few years. The object of such coordination 

 is manifold: to stimulate interest in the classroom 

 work; to keep the teaching staff well-informed of 

 the needs of industry and how to train engineers to 

 meet them; to give the students some intimate 

 knowledge of the great problems of labor and in- 

 dustry which they have to meet after they gradu- 

 ate, and thus to anticipate to some extent the period 

 of initiation which all students must go through 

 and better to fit them to begin their careers; to 

 give them an opportunity to discover how intricate 

 and interesting the basic industries are and to 

 what extent scientific knowledge may be used in 

 work which is too frequently looked upon as non- 

 technical; in other words, to find out how many 

 kinds of careers are open to technically trained 

 men and how wide is the opportunity for such men. 

 Another object of the new plan is to stimulate the 

 interest of the industries themselves in the adapta- 

 tion to their special needs of education in engi- 

 neering. 



, The most promising solution of this problem 

 seemed to the staff to lie along the lines of the 

 highly developed and successful plan of industrial 

 cooperation which was initiated by Dean Schneider 

 at the University of Cincinnati and has been car- 

 ried on there so successfully for many years, and 

 has been applied in a modified form at the Univer- 

 sity of Pittsburgh also. This plan has been modi- 

 fied stiU further to meet the different conditions 

 and needs at Harvard. It is significant that other 

 universities are now moving in the same direction, 

 and within only a few days a large movement has 

 been inaugurated to put such a plan ultimately into 

 effect in most of the large technical schools. 



After a thorough study of the situation, the staff 

 came to the conclusion that it would be highly de- 

 sirable to offer our students an opportunity to get 

 some industrial experience and engineering practise 

 while undergrad\iates but without sacrifice of class- 

 room instruction and without depriving them of 

 the many advantages which attach to residence and 

 study under teachers interested in other subjects 



than science, and among students of widely dif- 

 fering interests. In other words, we feel that our 

 students should have as many as possible of the 

 benefits w'hich we know will come from connection 

 with the ooUege, while they are at the same time 

 carrying on their engineering studies. For this 

 reason, and because it does not seem desirable to 

 lengthen the period required for a first degree be- 

 yond four years, we shall be limited at the outset to 

 less industrial experience than perhaps would be 

 desirable. The amount offered, however, should be 

 looked upon as a minimum and we have no doubt 

 that many of our students will be glad to avail 

 themselves of the opportunity to take more of this 

 work after the plan is in operation. 

 , Mr. H. V. Driifner, of the University of Cincin- 

 nati, has been secured to take active charge of 

 the technical work of putting the new plan into 

 operation. 



THE FOREST CLUB CONVENTION IN NEW 

 HAVEN 



The fourth annual convention of the Inter- 

 collegiate Association of Forestry Clubs was 

 held in New Haven on Friday and Saturday, 

 February 27-28, under the auspices of Yale, 

 the present president club. There were twelve 

 delegates present of whom two were from the 

 Pacific coast. The meeting was in every way 

 a distinct success and the sessions were well 

 attended. Owing to the number of Tale 

 alumni present the occasion partook of the 

 nature of a reunion. 



Among the business transacted at the meet- 

 ing was the adoption of insignia for the asso- 

 ciation, the provision for a quarterly publica- 

 tion to be issued by the president club, and 

 the election of the University of California 

 as president for the coming year. The next 

 convention will accordingly be held in 

 Berkeley. 



The following is the list of si)eakers and 

 the subjects of their papers: 



February 27 

 The profession of forestry: Pkofessok H. H. 



Chapman, New Haven, Conn. 

 How cam, the forester help the lumberman? T. L. 



Bristol, Ansonia, Conn. 

 Tlie work of the coiisulting forester: J. T. 

 J KoTHEEY, New York City. 



