Tuesday, February 27, 2007

First IME Night Offers Information and Fun

The IME department held its first IME Night to showcase IME’s four undergraduate programs: industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering technology, engineering management technology, and engineering graphics and design technology.

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Reviewing IME program material are industrial engineering students (left to right) Shannon Bowerson, IE undergrad; Supreeta Amin, IE Ph.D.; Ilgin Acar, IE Ph.D.; and Mike Hoonhorst, IE master’s.

Even though the three-hour event was set for one of the most blustery winter evenings this month, more than 40 IME students and faculty set up tables to showcase IME programs, products, and organizations and to answer questions.

In addition, many Parkview Campus engineering labs were open for guided tours. Participants could also view a computerized image of the pressure points they exert on a chair when they sit down, which is part of ongoing chair research.

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Supreeta Amin, IE Ph.D. student, reviews a computer image of the pressure points that Al Reyes Rivera has created in the special chair in which he is sitting. The chair is part of ongoing research by Drs. Tycho Fredericks and Steven Butt.

All undecided engineering majors were invited to meet and discuss careers, school, and anything else with present IME students and faculty and to eat pizza, play games, and win prizes.

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Discussing casting products and potential careers are (seated) Jason Klein (baseball cap) and John (J. D.) Steinmetz, IME manufacturing engineering technology seniors.

According to Dr. Steven Butt, an associate professor in the IME department who helped to coordinate the event with the IME department student chapters, several students requested more information about IME programs. “In spite of the weather, it was a very good night,” he said. “The interaction between the students and faculty within the department was great!”

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IME professors Joe Petro and Kailash Bafna were two of many IME professors who attended IME Night to meet, greet, and discuss IME programs. Petro is an advisor in IME’s Manufacturing Engineering Technology and Engineering Management Technology programs.

Also pleased with the event was Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair. “This was clearly a positive event for our current students, and I, for one, had a good time,” he said.

Plans are in the works to offer IME Night in subsequent semesters.