Photo by Alan Magayne-Roshak

Seniors Bryan Cera (front) and Jesse Egan are among the first students from the Peck School of the Arts to take a course with UWM engineering students. They supply the industrial design aspect.

This semester, Jesse Egan crosses over to the west side of Maryland Avenue – home to hard science, math and engineering – to go to a class. There he works in a group with computer science and mechanical engineering students at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM).

It would be an ordinary day if Egan were in the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science (CEAS). But he is a senior in the Peck School of the Arts.

Photo by Peter Jakubowski

Mike Krauski (left), director of corporate relations at CEAS, inspects the device from Eaton Corporation that students will be designing an accessory for. Demonstrating are Eaton’s Adam Krug, product manager, and Steve Dimino, principal engineer.

Egan and seven other arts students are enrolled in a unique interdisciplinary course taught by CEAS Dean Michael Lovell and Visual Art Professor Nathaniel Stern.

“This is the first course I’ve had with a chance to work with other majors outside of Peck,” he says. “It feels good to be working in a different part of campus. It shines a new light on your imagination and creativity.”

Lovell’s class, called “Product Realization,” is broken into eight teams that will tackle creation of a product that has been commissioned by local industries through the college’s new ANSYS Institute for Industrial Innovation (AI3). Engineering students will cover the technical aspects, while the arts students supply the industrial design.

By final exam time, these students will be unveiling not only a concept and a model of an industrial product, but a useful commodity.

“This is one way we are embedding industry projects into the curriculum so that students can work on them as part of their studies,” Lovell says.

Photo by Alan Magayne-Roshak

Mark Matson, a senior in mechanical engineering, is a member of the first “product realization” course, part of the AI3 at the College of Engineering & Applied Science.

The right support at AI3To help them in their quests, AI3 gives students access to state-of-the-art equipment for rapid prototyping, reverse engineering and computer-aided engineering. They also use product simulation software from ANSYS Inc. (see sidebar).

But AI3 isn’t just for students. It’s a portal for industry, researchers and economic development agencies to engage easily with CEAS faculty and students. “It’s a way to help us be responsive to industry’s needs,” says Lovell.

For area industry, AI3 offers a way to investigate projects without committing a lot of company resources, says Mike Krauski, director of corporate relations for CEAS.

Ultimately the college hopes AI3 will increase its research links with business and industry, leading to economic growth in Southeastern Wisconsin.

For Lovell’s first Product Realization course, six area companies have asked students to develop seven potential products, along with one product request from UWM’s Great Lakes WATER Institute. Companies participating are GE Healthcare (two products), ReGENco LLC, Badger Meter Inc., Eaton Corporation, Briggs & Stratton, and TAPCO (Traffic & Parking Control Co. Inc.).

Tomorrow’s work force

Engineers from Eaton’s new product development team in Milwaukee chose to collaborate with UWM students to develop an additional feature for their latest motor protective device called the “Motor Insight.” The “Motor Insight” currently offers a number of advanced motor protection and monitoring features ranging from overload protection to power metering.

“There are ten protection features on this device,” says Adam Krug, product manager for intelligent power control solutions. “The students are going to be working on the eleventh.” They will define and develop an accessory that will add this important feature that is required in a number of Eaton’s target market segments.

"The purpose of this feature will be to minimize motor damage, thus increasing the longevity and process up time of our customers’ equipment." says engineering manager Tom Ruchti. "This will equate to real value for our customers, both through productivity and reduced equipment costs."

Students need experience of being involved in the process of product development, says Brian Fifarek, engineering supervisor.

“For us, this is about training engineers,” says Fifarek. “Eaton has an interest in generating engineering talent because there are certainly enough problems to be solved in the field. We are happy to continue our relationship with UWM and provide students with an opportunity that will help set them up for their professional careers.” Additionally, Eaton looks forward to the ingenuity and creativity that UWM students will bring to its new product development activities.

For GE Healthcare, which has commissioned two products, Lovell’s course is like having an informal semester-long interview with 24 CEAS students, says Bill Berezowitz, vice president and general manager of imaging sub-systems.

“It’s likely we and other companies will find some awesome talent through this process,” he says.

Students working on the projects will get as close to creating an end product as can be accomplished in the scope of one semester, says Berezowitz. But their efforts will be used in continued product development, validation and, potentially, in the future manufacturing processes, he says.

A competitive edge

That link to industry is what mechanical engineering senior Mark Matson is most excited about. With graduation looming, he is trying to accrue as much real-world experience as possible. 

He is working in a group assigned to the Briggs & Stratton project – producing an indicator that will tell operators of a walk-behind mower if the oil level is adequate or too low at start-up.

“This seemed like a very strong course for preparing students to enter the workplace,” says Matson, who has already spent two summers working at Cardinal Health in Madison. And he considers the addition of arts students a bonus because it will help him improve his ability to explain his ideas.

“Lots more people would have signed up (for this course) if they had known what it was,” he says. “I just got lucky.”