George Nnanna, the founding director of UMSL’s School of Engineering, joined host Nate Fleming on the latest episode of the Inside UMSL podcast.

Founding Director George Nnanna and his colleagues in the new School of Engineering at the University of Missouri–St. Louis believe strongly that the best way to learn is by doing, and they’ve kept that central to their work constructing the school’s new degree programs over the past year and welcoming its first cohort of students last fall.

Nnanna appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the Inside UMSL podcast and talked to host Nate Fleming about how the new school has taking shape.

“What we are doing is building a new curriculum in the School of Engineering focused on experiential learning and hands-on experience in the areas of civil engineering, mechanical and electrical,” Nnanna said. “We’ve strategically tried to integrate theory into practice so that the students will be able to test the application of science, math and engineering in solving real world engineering problems.”

Nnanna stressed how industry connections with organizations such as the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center St. Louis, Boeing and HTE Technologies are helping enhance students’ learning.

“They give us real-world problems that the students can solve,” Nnanna said. “We’re also looking into internship opportunities for the students, so while they are doing some research work in the school, they are also performing internships, so by the time they graduate, they will be fully ready for the workforce.”

Hear more of the conversation between Nnanna and Fleming below:

The Inside UMSL podcast launched last year as a joint initiative of the Office of Admissions and University Marketing and Communications. It features interviews covering innovative teaching, groundbreaking research, exciting extracurricular opportunities, athletics and other campus initiatives. New episodes of the podcast are available monthly on the Inside UMSL podcast page or wherever you listen to podcasts.