2010 EAS Fair to connect job seekers with 40+ employers

More than 40 employers have signed up for the 2010 Engineering and Applied Sciences [EAS] Fair. It’s set for Thurs., Sep. 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Parkview Campus main lobby. The event is free and open to the public. Name tags and a layout to find employers will be available at the sign-in table as early as 8 a.m.

More than 40 employers are signed up to interview at the 2010 EAS Fair. 
Above is Post Foods group that attended the 2009 EAS Career Fair.

Christopher Sell, CEAS career development specialist, is coordinating the day’s event, which annually links internship, co-op and full-time job seekers with local, regional, national and international employers.

Among those who have already signed up are Stryker, Duncan Aviation, Michigan Civil Services Commission, Adecco Technical and Engineering, Consumers Energy, Domtar, GenTex (Zeeland), Halliburton, Innotec, Kellogg’s , Post, Parker Hannifin, Perrigo, Verso Paper, the U.S. Army Healthcare, and many more.

Chris Sell, career development specialist, with EAS flier.

Sell said those seeking jobs, internships, and/or co-operative experiences should dress up. Men should wear ties and a suit coat (if they own one), and women should wear conservatively heeled shoes. “This event requires professional attire and that’s what we are encouraging,” he said.

Job seekers should bring multiple copies of their resume. In addition, those who are aiming at specific companies should do their homework and tailor their resume for that employer and prepare a cover letter for that employer.

Other items that should be considered include a reference page and additional items that are specific to a major. “Some students – like graphics majors – may want to bring an additional portfolio to show examples of their work,” Sell said. To add a really professional touch, Sell recommends students carry their resumes and other materials in a professional, possibly leather-bound portfolio.

According to Sell, even those students not seeking employment at this time – including freshmen – should attend. “This is beneficial for all students: “It offers a great opportunity to network and make connections now and in the future.”

The list of employers can be found at: http://wmich.experience.com/cso/cf_registered_empl oyers?hnd=4616. Additionally, a newspaper tabloid will be distributed in the coming days that will include a list of registered employers. Sell encourages job seekers to review the list of employers and research those of interest ahead of time. All employers registered are identified on the Web site.

This week the CEAS advising office is holding extended drop-in hours for resume reviews on Tues.(9/21) and on Thurs. (9/23) 10-noon and 2-4 p.m. on both days. Call (269) 387-2745 for an appointment.

On Fri. (9/24) Practice Interview Day will be held at Ellsworth Hall, on main campus, next to the Bernhard Center. To sign up, one can go to www.wmich.edu/career, log in to BroncoJOBS, and then under One-Click Searches, self-register at Practice Interview Day.

Follow up interviews will be held on Fri., Oct. 1 – the day after the career fair – at Ellsworth Hall.

IME summer workshops reach out to future engineering students

Summer Camp 2010 Design / Manufacturing

For one week in July, thirteen sixth-through-eighth-grade students attended the “Summer Camp 2010 Design and Manufacturing,” IME’s first outreach program for middle school students. For five days, the students spent seven hours at the Parkview Campus, using the labs and meeting the faculty and college students. 

IME Summer Camp 2010 (L to R) Wil Egresits, Dr. Pavel Ikonomov,
and Ian Chu observe Spencer Fatanelli work on an IME Camp project

Drs. Sam Ramrattan, Jorge Rodriguez, and Pavel Ikonomov – all IME faculty – directed the hands-on workshop that focused on “activities that typically take place when a new product comes out,” Rodriguez said.

Among the topics explored were computer-aided design and manufacturing, industrial materials and processes, the application of physics and science in design and manufacturing, and career opportunities.

The students – who came from as far away as New Jersey – spent their mornings designing and their afternoons manufacturing. They took home small replicas of a cannon and personalized desk plaques that they had made in the labs.

Rodriguez has received positive feedback about the camp. The grandmother of one camper said her grandson was exceptionally pleased with what he did and what he learned. “I applaud the IME department, the summer camp faculty and supporting staff,” Evie Asken said in an e-mail. “The organization of each day, the development of project designs and exceptional basic knowledge presented in understandable terms for young folks was terrific. This type of outreach to youth insures the future of your profession and, of course, heralds the reputation of WMU.”

2010 Metal-Casting Workshop

2010 Metal-Casting Workshop: Seated from left Kamaleshwaran
Nagarajan (MFT master's student) and Dr. Sam Ramrattan; Lying on
table- Zack Perk; standing from left Doug Harrett, Chris Warneka,
John Kanzierski, Mike Alquist, Chris Briolat (ME undergraduate
assistant), Jordan Finn, Trevor May, Phillip Verdusco, Aaron
Prater, Ronnie Miller, Andriy Zazulya, and Seth Rachvite

A dozen students – all high-school juniors and seniors, attended the 2011 Summer Metal-Casting Workshop directed by Dr. Sam Ramrattan, an IME professor who has been offering the weeklong, hands-on metal-casting workshop for 11 years. Kamaleshwaran Nagarajan, MFT master’s student, and Chris Briolat, a mechanical engineering undergraduate, assisted him.

As in the past, the students spent a week participating in lectures, discussions, lab work, panels, and projects on metal casting history, methods, and trends. They also visited Eagle Alloy Pacific, a foundry in Muskegon, and enjoyed a college dormitory experience. Most agreed that the most fun was preparing sand castings into which they poured molten metal.

WMU administrators provided information about WMU programs and requirements. A panel of those who work or worked in the metal-casting industry shared their experiences and answered questions about their careers.

This year’s class came to WMU from Bronson, East Jordan, Hamtramck, Homer, Mesick, Portage, and Saginaw and from Cleveland and Defiance, Ohio. The students were selected on the basis of aptitude and sponsored by various chapters of the American Foundry Society and the North American Die Casting Association.

There was no cost to the students, who stayed in WMU dorms and enjoyed campus life. More information about future summer metal-casting workshops is available at sam.ramrattan@wmich.edu

IME presentations earn kudos at annual ASEE conference

Two papers presented by IME students won awards at the Annual North Central Sectional Conference, sponsored by the ASEE North Central Section and held near the end of the Spring 2010 semester at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA.

Sean Derrick

Sean Derrick, a graduate student studying manufacturing engineering, won first place in the “Best Student Paper / Presentation” competition with “Dual Impeller Drive System (D.I.D.S.).” The paper that he presented was co-written with Jeffrey Rauen, who earned a BS in mechanical engineering last spring but who did not attend the conference.

The paper is based on a project the duo presented at the Spring 2009 44th Conference on Senior Engineering Design (SEDP). It details the design, analysis, construction, and testing of a D.I.D.S., which is a  pumping system intended for stealth marine propulsion. The pair came up with the original idea for the project and then designed and built a working prototype in order to prove their concept. The design is now patent pending.

According to Dr. Betsy Aller, an IME faculty member who attended the conference, the ASEE reviewers recommended about 20 papers for inclusion in the competition. She said the list was “painstakingly reviewed down to five” and that Derrick’s paper was the “runaway winner.” “It was described at the conference as being the quality of an MIT graduate project,” she said.

Aller and Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, an IME faculty, advised the original D.I.D.S. project.

Derrick is presently a graduate researcher for the Green Manufacturing Initiative a program established through WMU’s manufacturing research center that offers cooperative green research and development programs of mutual interest to industry. Rauen is completing U.S. Navy officer / nuclear engineering training.

A paper by Steven Srivastava, Rob Simmons, and Anson Clawson – all recent WMU alums who have earned BS degrees in engineering technology – was runner-up. "A Sustainable Waste Oil Solution" was based on a project they completed and presented at the Fall 2009 45th SEDP.

For that project, the students assessed waste oil from a food manufacturing process for its potential use as feedstock for biodiesel and designed and built an automated prototype biodiesel reactor, which produces ASTM D6751 standard biodiesel.

ASEE Winners: Dr. Andrew Kline, Rob Simmons, Dr. Betsy Aller, Steven Srivastava, and Anson Clawson

 

Aller and Joe Petro, an IME faculty member, served as advisors for the design project. “The students all did us proud,” Aller said. “We received many compliments from our ASEE colleagues on the quality of WMU students' work, presentations, and professionalism.”

Dr. Andrew Kline, a faculty member in the Department of Paper Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Imaging, also attended the ASEE Conference.