List of Lehigh University engineering highlights

Lehigh University students, faculty and alumni have made significant contributions to the nation and the field of engineering, not limited to but including:

Following the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, NASA asked Lehigh exclusively to assist in the analysis of debris. Students of the Materials Science and Engineering department then reported findings of the forensic analysis during a two-day joint Lehigh-NASA symposium. This became part of their senior project, a requirement for graduation. Lehigh was the first university to investigate the debris due to its advanced microscope technology.

Jesse W. Reno, an 1883 engineering graduate of Lehigh University invented the first escalator and installed it as an amusement ride at Coney Island, New York in 1897. This particular device was an inclined belt with wooden slats or cleats on the surface for traction. The incline was as steep as 25°. Reno sold this machine to the Otis Elevator Company in 1899, and together they produced the first commercial escalator. This escalator won a first prize at the Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle in France. Some escalators of this vintage were still being used in the Boston subway until 1994.

The first commercial product manufactured in space were microscopic polystyrene beads, 10 µm in diameter, that were made during STS-6 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger April 4–9, 1983. The beads were made to be used for the calibration of particle size measuring instruments such as optical and electron microscopes. The manufacturing process took advantage of being able to form near perfect spheres in a microgravity environment. The technology necessary to produce the beads was jointly developed by Lehigh University and NASA.

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