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The Learning Factory provides a low-cost resource for industry
—by Gregory Angle
The Learning Factory is one of several facilities at Penn State that enable engineering students to gain real-world experience by working with industry sponsors. It offers companies a low-cost, low-risk resource for concepts that need prototyping, process improvements, or analysis and testing. According to the new director, Tim Simpson, “The Learning Factory provides a great opportunity for companies to engage Penn State students. The hands-on experience helps to better prepare students to work in industry so that they are further up the learning curve.” The companies sponsoring projects not only get innovative solutions to their problems but also gain a terrific opportunity to recruit students. “In many ways,” says Simpson, “this is like a ‘reverse’ co-op – instead of the students going out to work at companies, we bring the companies into the University and provide a similar experience to give students real-world, hands-on exposure before they head into the workforce.”
Simpson, a professor of both mechanical engineering and industrial engineering, plans to increase the interdisciplinary design projects for students in the College of Engineering. Not only will students work with different disciplines within the College, but also with students in other colleges. “We’ve had some projects that involve engineering and business students, engineering and IST students, and next year we plan to offer projects for engineering and materials science students,” says Simpson. “Ultimately we’re trying to mimic what the students will do in the real world as best as we can in a university setting.”
For $2500, a company can sponsor a design project for a team of four to six students. The student team receives 40% of the funds for supplies and travel expenses to meet with their sponsor. The remaining amount helps to cover the project showcase, meetings, department facilities and faculty members and staff that are supporting the projects. Simpson says that, “Although we work with companies of various sizes, we provide tremendous benefit to small manufacturers that cannot afford to hire a full-time engineer or team of consultants to support their efforts.” In fact, Simpson reports that nearly half of the companies that sponsor projects are small to mid-size companies.
Companies can submit design projects at the beginning of the spring and fall semesters. The deadline to submit a project for the fall 2008 semester is Friday, August 15. Projects can be submitted directly via The Learning Factory website at www.lf.psu.edu, where companies can outline their project, specify deliverables, and request specific student disciplines. After all projects are submitted, they are distributed to the students for review. Company sponsors will be invited to attend a kick-off meeting, currently scheduled for August 28, 2008, where they can interact with the engineering students and pitch their project ideas. At the end of the meeting, students will specify their top five projects, which faculty members review before assigning four to six students to each project.
On May 1, 2008, students will present their latest projects at the 27th College of Engineering Project Design Showcase. More than 50 projects will be on display by students in Aerospace, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical, Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering. “This is a great opportunity to see the breadth, and more importantly the depth, of the projects and what the students can do in a semester,” says Simpson. The project showcase will occur from 1:00 – 3:30 in the HUB-Robeson Center at Penn State University Park. Following the showcase will be an industry-University networking reception from 4:00 – 6:00 immediately followed by dinner at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. Companies should contact Pam Shawver at (814) 863-6380 or PShawver@psu.edu for more information about the event.