Abundant Opportunities for Students and Industry at the Learning Factory

Posted by on November 4, 2014 in Alumni, Industry, Students | 0 comments

by Mary Frecker

The Learning Factory offers students the opportunity to work on industry-driven hands-on design projects. Together with 13 different departments at Penn State and our industry partners, we coordinate about 200 capstone design projects each year.

Students benefit from the opportunity to apply their engineering skills to a real-world design project, to build and implement their design in our state-of-the-art prototyping facility, and to interact and communicate with engineering professionals.  We offer multidisciplinary projects which give engineering students the opportunity to work with students in other majors.

The multidisciplinary nature of the Learning Factory is cited by our industry sponsors as a major benefit to working with Penn State, as most real engineering projects involve engineers from several disciplines.

Project sponsors range from large companies to start-ups, and the project topics include product design, process design, and software design. There is truly something for everyone in terms of the types of projects available to students, from designing devices to aid people with disabilities to efficient manufacturing processes.

Companies appreciate the opportunity to interact with Penn State students and to improve their visibility on campus. They also appreciate having a leadership development opportunity for their own employees, where their engineers gain valuable experience by mentoring the student team.

Small companies and start-ups located in Pennsylvania are eligible to apply for matching funds to assist with the project sponsorship fee. More information is available in this news release.

This presentation provides an overview of the Learning Factory and the process of sponsoring a project.

 

Mary Frecker is director of the Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory and a professor of mechanical engineering. She has been a Penn State faculty member since 1997. Mary is the recipient of the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society’s Outstanding Advising and Outstanding Research Awards. She is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

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