A new undergraduate engineering program is expected to be offered to students this fall.

The software engineering program will be a joint program offered by the computer science department and the department of electrical and computer engineering, said Arun Somani, professor and chairman of electrical and computer engineering. The program is planned to emphasize handling real world problems with software, software design methodologies, software testing and large software design.

“We will have a group project working on large software design,” Somani said. “It’s thousands of lines of code, and you have to have a big team because one person can’t do it.”

Suraj Kothari, professor of electrical and computer engineering, said this program is being started primarily in response to an increase in industry demand.

“Companies like Rockwell Collins, IBM, Maytag and others all design software, and that cost is more than the cost for hardware,” Somani said.

“They want people trained for this when they come into the workforce.”

Kothari said computer science and computer engineering programs have been evolving, and this is one of the key requirements.

“Software is everywhere, like in microwaves, and we depend on it for many things,” he said.

The idea for the software engineering program has been in the works since 1999, when a software systems group was started by the computer science department, Kothari said.

He said they are planning on hiring four new faculty members in addition to what they already have and starting two new labs.

“We will leverage current resources in the two departments, and some companies have given money and provided software and hardware to start the labs,” he said.

Kothari said he hopes to have about 200 students going through the program and graduate about 50 students every year.

IBM, Microsoft and Rockwell Collins are a few of the companies that have donated resources for the labs.

Pam Tvdry, manager of media relations for Rockwell Collins, said the company gave a grant to the software engineering program.

“The reason that we offer these grants is to encourage innovation, develop talent in our universities and to build strong relationships,” she said.

Iowa State is one of the first major universities to implement a program like this, Kothari said, so it will create more opportunities for students.

“There are about 16 programs nationally, and I expect that number to grow rapidly,” he said. “We would be the only one in the region with this program.”