Clemson creates nation's first BS in automotive engineering.

• Position: Clemson University, bachelor of science

Clemson University's president caught the room's attention at the 12th annual SC Automotive Summit with a special announcement on Thursday.

President James Clements said the university will offer a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Engineering program the first undergraduate degree of its kind in the nation, he said. The first batch of students will begin the program this fall.

"This is our response to what the mobility industry wants 20 years from now," said Srikanth Pilla, Clemson University Jenkins Endowed Professor of Automotive Engineering.

The Southeast region is a "hotbed" for engineers and auto original equipment manufacturers.

A 2020 report from McKinsey & Company highlights 10 "clusters" of technology shaping the future of the industry:

E-Hailing

Semiconductors

Autonomous vehicle sensors

AI, computing and connectivity

Electric vehicles and charging

Batteries

AV software and mapping

Telematics and intelligent traffic

Back-end/cybersecurity

HMI and voice recognition

Clemson built its new program around those 10 clusters, Pilla said.

The automotive industry in South Carolina employs more than 72,000 workers and accounts for a $27 billion annual economic impact, according to the S.C. Department of Commerce. The state's industry has quadrupled over the past 20 years, and this program taps into a supply of domestic students ready to impact the industry, said Pilla.

"We are trying to build a workforce that can get to work on day one of the job after graduation," he added.

Clemson responded to the needs of the auto industry by creating a graduate-level automotive engineering program in the mid-2000s. The university graduated the nation's first Ph.D. student in automotive engineering in 2009 and the nation's first female Ph.D. in automotive engineering in 2012. Lessons learned from the M.S. and Ph.D. programs will assist in launching the country's first true B.S. in Automotive Engineering in, said Pilla.

The program's structure a true multidisciplinary systems integration degree will focus on how elements of automotive, mechanical, electrical, materials science, computer science, human factors and more work together. The applications and skillsets are valuable across multiple sectors, not just the automotive industry, he said. The program will consist of 124 credit hours. Currently, 95% of Clemson's M.S. and Ph.D. graduates in automotive engineering are...