Rose-Hulman Ventures Reaches
Educational Milestone
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| Brandon Couch, mechanical
engineering senior and Elizabeth Speir, biomedical engineering
junior develop prototype for a client project. |
164,491. 1,155. 431. 85.
Those are significant numbers that illustrate how Rose-Hulman Ventures is
achieving its goal to provide unique, educational opportunities to prepare
students for career success.
Now in its sixth year of operation, Rose-Hulman Ventures celebrates the
completion of 1,155 undergraduate internships to 431 students. Those
students have gained over 164,491 hours of professional practice experience
by providing engineering assistance to 60 companies. Currently, 85 students
are working on projects at Rose-Hulman Ventures.
This internship process is based on a collaborative approach with
Rose-Hulman Ventures’ project managers leading multidisciplinary teams of
students. These teams provide technical expertise to companies by completing
the design, prototyping and testing of commercial products and services.
“These experiences provide excellent educational opportunities for our
students,” said Bill Kline, who oversees Rose-Hulman Ventures as associate
dean of professional experience and associate professor of engineering
management. “Students apply their engineering skills to meet the demands of
a customer. The projects improve their critical thinking abilities. They’re
better prepared for their first job.”
An outstanding educational opportunity for students is the goal, and project
engagement is the mantra.
“We offer several paths for companies to connect with students – project
engagement with small to large companies through service agreements, limited
in-kind investment in small technology companies, and projects with
universities, technology parks and other entities,” Kline explained.
While providing educational experiences for students, Rose-Hulman Ventures
delivers valuable project results that add value to the client companies.
These businesses receive innovative engineering solutions that help them
enter new and expand current markets. By leveraging the technology and
resources at Rose-Hulman Ventures to drive process improvements, companies
have increased competitiveness and reduced costs.
InfraWare, a client company at Rose-Hulman Ventures, utilizes student
interns for its product development. The company provides a hosted solution
to automate medical transcription. Nick Mahurin (‘89), CEO, said, “The
student interns engaged in our projects are strong performers who have
developed tangible deliverables that our company needed to get to market
with a robust, quality software suite.”
As a result of extending Rose-Hulman’s reach in the business community,
student participation has increased to an average of 70 students per quarter
during the school year and approximately 80 students are expected during the
summer of 2006.
Annual student assessment results show that working at Rose-Hulman Ventures
meets the program’s educational goals. Students overwhelmingly indicated
that the professional experience they have received working at Rose-Hulman
Ventures has enhanced their education by reinforcing coursework, performing
in disciplines other than their major and becoming more attractive to
recruiters.
Ashley Bernal, junior mechanical engineering major, reflects on her
experiences Rose-Hulman Ventures: “Working here has given me an opportunity
to broaden my skills. However, I believe that by doing electrical work I am
a better mechanical engineer because I have gained an overall understanding
of an entire system. I believe that any additional experience in the
engineering field makes me more valuable to a recruiter.”
Students have proven successful in developing the following types of
innovative products and services with companies across the state for
medical, industrial and information technology markets.
• Automated Laboratory Equipment
• Computer Vision Systems
• Construction Equipment
• Electromechanical Systems
• Intelligent Sensors
• Medical Devices
• Optical Systems
• Software Development
• Wireless RF Devices
Collaboration with project managers and clients allows students to discover
opportunities to develop proven technical ideas and technologies into
commercial products and services. Not only do these experiences at
Rose-Hulman Ventures make students attractive to recruiters, but the
students transfer what they’ve learned to the classroom.
“The students who work at Rose-Hulman Ventures as sophomores and juniors
tend to be the leaders on their senior design projects,” observed Brian
Dougherty, project manager at Rose-Hulman Ventures. “They learn here how to
develop and execute a plan on any given design problem.”
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Art Western said,
“For our students to gain industry-based experience while they are still
students is a key component of the value of a Rose-Hulman education. We’re
pleased that increased numbers of students are capitalizing on the unique
opportunities and ideas generating from Rose-Hulman Ventures.”
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