Goal of ENGINE

The goal of ENGINE is to house the largest active database of junior and senior undergraduate engineering students rich in academic quality for the purposes of recruitment by other U.S. institutions. All institutions providing a list of students in compliance with the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and adhering to the member institution participation agreement are eligible to receive access to the full database of student members. The vision is inclusive of all outstanding engineering students as no institutions are prohibited from participating.

History of ENGINE

ENGINE was founded by Mike Nazareth. Mike has over 33 years of recruiting and admissions experience in university and college settings, and is currently the inaugural Director of Graduate Recruiting and Undergraduate Research in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida (UF). Prior to his position at UF, Mike served as the inaugural Director of Graduate Recruiting in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, a position he held for more than 12 years. Mike brings a wealth of experience, having initiated institutional name exchanges with more than 200 U.S. institutions. His direct influence led to enrolling the most academically talented and diverse Ph.D. classes in history in the Colleges of Engineering at both the University of Florida and the University of Michigan several years over. In 2013, Mike’s work with institutional name exchanges led to his recognition as the inaugural recipient of the President’s Staff Innovation Award from Emeritus President Mary Sue Coleman at the University of Michigan, an award recognizing one staff member whose innovation and ideas make the university a better place to live and work. In 2014, Mike launched the first Southeastern Conference (SEC) Engineering Name Exchange, an exchange of more than 2,600 engineering junior and senior student names across 10 SEC institutions.

ENGINE celebrated its 10th anniversary in the fall of 2024. Since its inception a combined 125 Colleges and Schools of Engineering & Computing have exchanged more than 170,000 student records to promote graduate education. In 2025, Mike received the Promotion of Excellence Award from the National Association of Graduate Recruiting and Admissions Professionals (NAGAP) and was honored at the annual conference awards ceremony.

ENGINE’s Impact

The inaugural season of ENGINE collected information from more than 11,500 engineering students from 56 institutions. Since then, ENGINE has grown to include 17,000 student records spanning approximately 85 institutions.