Iowa State and Northern Iowa announced last Thursday a formal partnership that will give students the opportunity to dual major in both physics and engineering from each university.

At last week’s Board of Regents meeting, UNI President Bill Ruud and ISU President Steven Leath put the collaboration in ink, citing the cooperation between the two universities.

“It uses the best of both worlds,” said Paul Shand, professor of physics and UNI’s physics department head.

The collaboration between the UNI and ISU physics and engineering departments has been going on informally for a while, Shand said, but the new agreement will better benefit both parties and make the transition smoother for students.

Students who enter the program will spend three years at UNI and then transfer to ISU for their final two and will graduate with a bachelor of science degree in physics from UNI and a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Iowa State.

“It gives students an opportunity to earn a degree who are interested in engineering but might not have started in engineering,” said Gary Mirka, Iowa State’s associate dean for academic affairs.

Collaboration is a good idea, Mirka said, and given the amount of existing transfer students at Iowa State, the move helps credits transfer between the schools more readily.

Feedback from students sparked faculty discussion, and according to Shand, many UNI students who have made the switch to Iowa State say they are well prepared for its engineering school.

“The faculty initiated this conversation,” said UNI Provost Jim Wohlpart in a press release. “[We] have worked together to create an opportunity for ISU to receive outstanding physics majors from UNI into their engineering programs and for UNI to offer a pathway into engineering for our students.”

Students can choose to take this degree path as early as this fall, as academic advisers start working with students who wish to earn degrees in physics and engineering.

In addition to taking advantage of both universities’ reputable programs, the agreement will be a good recruiting tool for UNI and will allow engineering students to start their college careers on a smaller campus before transferring to the much larger Iowa State, Wohlpart said.