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Tony Ross
For Tony Ross
of Grand Junction, majoring in mechanical engineering has offered
a number of opportunities to work on projects. With his interest
in bioengineering, Ross chose to become involved in research on
an osteoporosis drug through the college's BioServe Space Technologies
center.
He initially
came to CU-Boulder to study physics, but after taking courses in
biology and anatomy, he eventually found his way into engineering.
"Mechanical engineering is very broad," he says. "What I'm studying
are the physical properties of the body."
Poised to
graduate with a bachelor's and master's degree in mechanical engineering,
he says he'd like to teach someday. He already is well on his way
to doing that. Participating in the concurrent degree program allowed
him to pull together what he learned as an undergraduate and look
at it in a more in-depth way in his fifth year.
"CU-Boulder
has a good engineering school," Ross says. "What really brought
me here was the people."
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Mechanical Engineering
Industry Relations:
Good for Students, Good for Industry (continued)
The department has recruited
five new member companies or organizations to our industry advisory council:
Coors, Colorado Medtech, Exabyte, Sun Microsystems, and the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory. More importantly, in partnership with the industry advisory
council we have embarked on four new initiatives over the past year:
- Industry Seminar Series:
Each month, a seminar is given by an industry member describing a problem
faced by their company, how the problem was solved, and the tools used
to obtain the solution. We have had five seminars to date, and they
have been well received by students. Industry participants included
IBM, MicroMotion, Seagate, Hewlett Packard, and Maxtor.
- Off-Campus Graduate Course
Offerings: To make it easier for students working in local industries
to attend graduate courses, we offered two evening courses in the Longmont-Gunbarrel
area, where many companies are located. Courses offered were in the
areas of MEMS and Vibrations. The lectures were videotaped and made
available to students who missed class due to business travel as well.
- Industry Projects for Senior
Design: Senior Design (a two-semester sequence) is an important capstone
experience for our students. To make the experience more realistic and
to provide networking opportunities for students, we have solicited
projects from members of our Industry Advisory Council. This academic
year we have students working on 30 projects with industry supplying
mentors and equipment. Our students have supplied some novel solutions
to the problems given and have gained valuable experience working under
industrial expectations.
- Durning Laboratory Improvements:
The Durning Laboratory, made possible by a gift from Chuck and Mable
Durning, serves as the focus for upper-division laboratory and design-based
activities in the department. We have initiated a new program to improve
the laboratory through industry donations of cash and gifts-in-kind.
Already, we have received equipment donations from Seagate and IBM for
this effort.
Departmental Advisory
Board
Kathy
Baker
Storage Technology Corp. |
Dave
Begley
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. |
Marcelo Bergquist
Exabyte Corp. |
Shane Fazzio
Hewlett-Packard Co. |
Jim Fitzpatrick
Sun Microsystems |
Robert Fogoros
IBM |
Randel Frazier
Valleylab |
Warren Heim
Tem Medical LLC |
Paul Hermes
Valleylab |
Michael Herriage
TRW |
Stephen Holick
Coors Brewing Co. |
Andrew Kolbeck
(Chair)
Micro Motion, Inc. |
Gary Kruse
Lockheed Martin Astronautics |
Chuck Kutscher
National Renewable Energy Laboratory |
Michael Messaros
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. |
Nik Nikmanesh
Lucent Technologies |
Jeffrey Paterra
IBM |
Gary Pawlas
Micro Motion, Inc. |
Bruce Payette
Seagate Technology, Inc. |
Jeffrey D.
Smith
Lockheed Martin Astronautics |
John Solheim
Attorney at Law |
Kenneth Taylor
Taylor Medical Technology & Consulting, Inc. |
Dale Westhoff
Maxtor Corp. |
Bill Wood
Colorado Medtech |
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