Field trip to the Learning Factory

Posted by Curtis Chan on October 28, 2013 in Outreach & Service | 0 comments

A major part of Troy Alesi’s work as a teacher at State College Area High School is to introduce his students to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Learning Factory Supervisor Bill Genet shows State College Area High School students how the facility’s machines can turn a computer design into a 3-D object.

At State High, he serves as the school’s technology education/STEM teacher and teaches courses in computer graphics and design.

To encourage his students to consider a STEM field for college, the 2013-14 Technology and Engineering Education Association of Pennsylvania High School Teacher of the Year brought a group of approximately 20 students to the Learning Factory on Oct. 25.

Learning Factory Supervisor Bill Genet and two teaching assistants gave the State High group a tour of the facilities, highlighting its rapid prototyping, machining, welding, computer-aided design and assembly and testing capabilities.

Students were shown cars built by Penn State’s Formula Society of Automotive Engineers team and Shell Eco-marathon team, as well as a baobab processing machine designed by Engineering Leadership Development students. The State High students also got a glimpse of a new Chevy Camaro that Penn State engineers were re-designing doors for.