Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Autumn 2013 | Page 27

Named a finalist in the New Faces of Engineering program by the
National Society of Professional Engineers, Paul St. Aubyn ’06 (center)
traveled to Indonesia in 2007 for an internship with Samaritan’s Purse.

Paul’s faith drew him toward this focus. He remembers an
environmental science class in which Dr. Jeff Greenberg challenged
students to consider global needs. While discussing the lack of access
to clean drinking water in many parts of the world, “something just
clicked for me,” he says.
Now involved in modeling hydraulic distribution systems, often for
municipalities, Paul also recently volunteered his time to help design
and engineer a new parking lot and drainage system for a nonprofit
school located in his own Chicago neighborhood, one of the poorest
in the city.

Given the need worldwide for qualified engineers
and the growing interest in the 3-2 program, Wheaton hired Bill
Medcalf, a licensed professional engineer, as director for the program
last fall. “The engineer provides products and services that improve
quality of life and standards of living,” he says. “Wheaton’s Christian
liberal arts focus encourages our students to bring their faith into
service as they meet profound human needs.”
Not only does Medcalf advise students—he’s also working to
strengthen Wheaton’s relationships with partner institutions and to

expand the scope of these partnerships. He hopes to create new programs
of study and more professional internships.
Medcalf also dedicates a large portion of his time to helping Wheaton
students keep up with the new technologies in their chosen fields. As
the engineering field and student interest evolve and grow, more courses
are being offered on Wheaton’s campus. Medcalf develops and teaches
these courses, or guides students toward online offerings from IIT. “The
attention Bill has called to our engineering program is extraordinary,”
Dr. Chappell says.
Perhaps most importantly, the new growth and direction for Wheaton’s
dual degree program means students will go out equipped as they
head into ever-diversifying industries. Colleen Chapman, for instance,
considers the theological issues that she explored during her time at
Wheaton as the foundation on which she’s built her life after college.
“I’m still working through big questions—I think that is a never-ending
part of this life,” Colleen says. “But that process of searching for answers
was one I began to explore in a place where the Bible is accurately taught.
It gave me certainties to cling to in times of uncertainty. Facing hardship
would be challenging without the foundation of God’s truth.”
The foundation of God’s truth. Spoken like a true engineer.
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