Two large manufacturers have underwritten new labs at
Michigan Tech in their specialty areas.
Nucor Corporation, which manufactures steel products, gave the Houghton-based university $255,000 to create the Nucor Industrial Control and Automation Laboratory. It will be part of the department of electrical and computer engineering, and provide an opportunity for students and professors to study and research industrial control and automation systems with industry-standard equipment.
"The knowledge and experience students receive will produce well-educated graduates with practical, hands-on experience designing, configuring and troubleshooting industrial control systems," says Jim Frendewey, dean of the university's School of Technology.
A smaller grant of $25,000 was given to the Michigan Tech Advanced Motorsports Enterprise teams by the DENSO North America Foundation. It will allow three groups, the Formula SAE, Supermileage Systems and Clean Snowmobile teams to share a remodeled engine-testing lab space in the new DENSE Undergraduate Dynamometer Facility.
The grant brings the snowmobile team indoors, and the formula team out of a space not designed for safe engine testing.
DENSO is an automotive supplier and manufacturer that has several existing links with the programs.
"We've had a longstanding partnership with DENSO," says Rick Berkey, sponsored projects manager for Michigan Tech's enterprise and senior design programs. "They really like the hands-on, multidisciplinary automotive education we provide in the Advanced Motorsports Enterprise."
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Michigan Technological University
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