The development of a new department unites computer science and electrical engineering and computer engineering at the McCormick School. The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) is the result of the restructuring of the two departments.

The materials science and engineering department celebrates 50 years. The field became an academic discipline in 1955 when faculty at Northwestern University, recognizing the importance of studying the science and technology of all materials, not just metals, conceived the world's first materials science and engineering department.

The increasingly fine focus of nanotechnology is enabling a world of scientific advances but as the subjects under study shrink, nonscientists may find it harder and harder to picture what is happening at the atomic level.