Thursday, August 29, 2013


A New Experience Here at IRE


            This is my story of being a new student here at IRE.  I know that this experience is less than a week old, but it has made a world of difference over my first experience trying to attend college after high school.
            I am what you call a “non-traditional” learner for I am SLIGHTLY older than the average student, and for a matter of fact, older than some of the instructors.  While age is not a factor of intelligence, it does give me some experiences that some of you have never had and never will.
In the past few days, we have all searched and registered for courses at Mankato State University using the MNSU Internet connection.  Imagine a time in which the web was not the miracle that it is now.  Imagine standing in a gymnasium of your local college.  Imagine standing in a line of people that stretches around the gym, out the door, down the hall, and out the building, a hundred yards long.  This is just to get a folder with your name on it so you could register.  Now you are to stand in several other lines to pick up an index card, which has the class you want to attend, with a limited number of cards printed for the times available for the class.  Of course you have already looked at the printed college catalog to see what classes are available and the times in which they are offered.  This is what you have used to plan your schedule; this is how you will plan your life for the next semester.
Now you are at the front of one of those lines.  You ask for Calculus 1 at 10:00.   The woman behind the desk says, “Sorry, but that filled up fifteen minutes ago.”  How about Chemistry at 11:00?  “No,” she replies, “that was a misprint in the catalog, and it was suppose to say 1:00.”  That is the time in which you scheduled for history, and you got the last card.  Welcome to the world of higher learning.
Many things have changed since then; I, for one, believe that the Internet did not grow into what it is for the military or industry, but mainly because the engineers and programmers that went though the same experience that I did, never, ever wanted to go though that again. 
My advice is to remember that for the most part, you are learning the same courses and the same material as those that have been using it since I looked at starting college.  Look back and see how far we have come.  Now IMAGINE what is to come next.


Proofread by Elizabeth McBride



                        

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Machining Training

With the addition of the amazing new equipment at IRE, it has become important to properly train students and faculty on the operation of the machines. The machines include a CNC mill, CNC lathe, a manual mill, and a CNC waterjet cutter.

Students and faculty have been developing a structure to use for teaching other students how to use the CNC mill at IRE. The process started by completing a training course at the Milltronics headquarters in Waconia, MN. IRE also acquired new software to help transfer CAD files to the mill. The goal is to have the initial structure completed by the start of the fall 2013 semester for students to use.

CNC Mill


CNC Lathe


Manual Mill


Waterjet Cutter