Dylan Amos followed in his brother’s footsteps when deciding where to go to college. Now a junior at Colorado Mesa University, Dylan is pursuing a mechanical engineering degree through the CMU partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder.
Dylan learned about the partnership program through his older brother Cody Amos, who attended CMU and graduated in 2019. Dylan is not far behind.
When Dylan, who grew up in Longmont, was considering his options, he took note of his brother’s positive experience at CMU. “Cody told me how nice it was to be somewhere other than home, and about the small class sizes. My biggest class this semester is only 28 kids. You can go up and talk to your professor after class, you can go to their office.”
The partnership between CU Boulder and CMU is a unique opportunity for students to earn a CU Boulder engineering degree while studying in Grand Junction. The program offers mechanical, civil, or electrical and computer engineering degrees with the same rigorous curriculum as at CU Boulder. Students learn from CMU faculty in the first two years of the program and CU Boulder faculty who live in Grand Junction in the last two years.
Cody and Dylan Amos.
For Dylan Amos the CU/CMU partnership was an opportunity to explore a different environment. Growing up, he felt like he could visit Boulder whenever he wanted. While he acknowledges the beauty of the CU Boulder campus, he chose to attend CMU because it combined outdoor adventure opportunities with the experience of a smaller school setting and the promise of CU Boulder degree.
“I was always more so someone who wanted to talk to my teachers,” said Amos. “When things interest me I’ll ask why and I am glad to have the opportunity to talk to my professors as much as I can.”
Amos enjoys the hands-on opportunities that are a part of the program. “We do a lot of projects and I find that very fun. Freshman year we built a trebuchet for a group project. This year everyone built heat exchanges for heat transfers. You definitely get hands-on learning.”
Cody looks forward to returning to his alma mater to see his brother Dylan graduate.
Double Take
Timothy and Anthony Hunter are twins and seniors at CMU studying mechanical engineering through the CU/CMU partnership program. After taking technical drafting classes in high school, they became interested in mechanical engineering and decided to continue exploring their interests in college.
When they found out that they could get a CU Boulder engineering degree through the CU/CMU partnership from the campus down the street from their home, they were sold. The twins say they enjoy that their classes are close to one another and the campus is easy to navigate.
Anthony and Timothy Hunter.
Attending college together meant they were able to help one another with challenging engineering homework. They intentionally register for the same classes and are able to save money by carpooling to campus and only buying one textbook for the both of them. It’s proven to be a winning strategy: the Hunters are graduating in the Spring of 2022. Anthony is planning to pursue a career in robotics, while Timothy plans on getting a job in aeronautics.