Engineering, Science, and Management War Training Program records

The Engineering, Science, Management War Training (ESMWT) program trained students to participate in defense activities in order to meet the shortage of engineers, chemists, physicists, and production supervisors during World War II. The Union College ESMWT was originally administered by Professor Russell A. Hall and later Professor Mortimer F. Sayre who functioned as Director. The program was nominally overseen by the United States Department of Education. The program began as the Engineering Defense Training program before adopting the more formalized title in 1942. It consisted of various courses tailored to specific war production needs and taught by Union College faculty as well as consultants from nearby General Electric. Courses included advanced drafting, tool design, production and cost control, advanced inspection methods for quality control, principles of metallography, chemistry applied to industry, instrumental methods of chemical analysis, practical applications of mathematics, radio communication and electrical fundamentals for radio and power among others.