Venari, an entrepreneurial team at IRE, just returned home from a successful visit to MSU Mankato College of Business. We were there as guests of the marketing and management final presentation. This presentation was an evaluation of the first shot at an IRE/COB partnership.

The presentation went well for Venari after refining the mistakes made a day earlier at IRE's FDR (final design review) presentation.

In attendance was the Dean of the College of Science & Engineering John Knox, the Dean of the College of Business, Marilyn Fox, along wi

th Mike Nolan, Dr. Queen Booker, and several others from the business and marketing departments. They all asked great questions of our project and presentation, as well as congratulated us kindly for all of our hard work. They seemed very pleased with the outcome of our alliance this semester, hopefully allowing

future students to gain the same experience.

Left to Right: Dan Huju-(IRE) Frank Jackman-(MSUM) Deric Phillips-(IRE) Mollie Kramer-(MSUm)

Conclusion to the Tesla turbine project

On Wednesday, April 27^th, the Tesla turbine team presented at the Iron Range Engineering final design review. The feedback from the presentation was overwhelmingly positive. At the end of the presentation, the team demonstrated the capabilities of the Tesla turbine and the pulse unit showing the culmination of the semester long project. On Thursday, the team drove to Minnesota State University, Mankato to present to the College of Business faculty and students. This was a completely different audience and therefore the presentation was changed to suit. The team removed some of the technical aspects and focused more on the market potential of the turbine. Overall, the team received positive feedback from the College of Business. In addition, the business faculty stressed the importance of working on multidisciplinary teams and reiterated their commitment to building ties between the College of Business and Iron Range Engineering.

Final Design Reviews

Today each group presented their semester long project to the rest of the students and faculty at IRE. The presentations went very well. Every person at IRE has made large strides to becoming very successful presenters. The content presented today was also reviewed positively by the faculty present. We also had a few guests today for FDR. The business students from Mankato who have been working with the entrepreneurial groups, along with one of their instructors, Dr. Booker, came to help and watch the presentations. I can say I learned quite a bit about each of the other projects and the successes they have had throughout the semester and was quite impressed with everyone. The projects we presented were also compared to successful masters level projects, so we felt pretty good, but not all of the feedback was positive. We all received personal and group feedback on presentation skills and on content. These comments are necessary and helpful, so we can make the next FDR that much better.

FDR signals the approach to the end of the semester. With all the work everyone has to do, I, at least, have not given it much thought, but we all will be starting our summers very soon. For the rest of the semester we will be finishing our technical reports, the rest of our oral exams and we will do a final defense for our semester grades.

Proofed by: Erin Lamke

Made To Stick

For my leadership/management assignment, I read the book "Made to Stick". The goal of the book is to help people convey their ideas so that listeners can easily remember those ideas later; the meaning of the message sticks in the listener's mind. Ideas can be made sticky if they incorporate several features of the acronym "SUCCESs": Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotion, and Stories.

• Simple: The message should be simple and focus on the core of the idea.
• Unexpected: A message that is not common sense or not predictable is memorable.
• Concrete: The idea isn't abstract; it uses concepts and analogies that people are familiar with.
• Credible: People can readily believe and accept the idea.
• Emotional: Sticky ideas can attach to people's emotions and make them care.
• Stories: Stories inspire people to act and allow people to simulate themselves in a situation.

The biggest culprit to a sticky idea is the Curse of Knowledge; when we assume the audience knows what we already know, we can easily lose them. We need to be able to communicate our messages to people of any knowledge level.

I believe the SUCCESs method is very useful for engineers to implement when expressing their ideas. It can enhance our messages, so people are more willing to listen to and understand their ideas. It can also help them communicate their ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences.


Proofed by: Dan Huju

Tesla Turbine Group

Over the past weekend, the Tesla turbine team finished conducting experiments with the team’s acrylic Tesla turbine. Tests were conducted at Mesabi Range Technical College inside one of their industrial shops. The team has have been working in partnership with the Mesabi Range Trade students this semester and this was another opportunity to strengthen ties between the two campuses. The team will present the results of our testing at the Iron Range Engineering Final Design Review (FDR) this Wednesday, April 27.

The team has also been working with Mankato business students to develop a business plan for the project. The Mankato students will be in attendance for the Iron Range Engineering FDR. Additionally, the team will be headed down to Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU) on Thursday, April 28 to present to the MNSU College of Business students and faculty.

Proofread by: Matt Hudson

FDR Team HibTac

The Hibbing Taconite (HibTac) team went out to give our final design review today. The engineers at the plant were very happy with the end deliverables of our project. The team decided to go with a single hydraulic ram and a pump package to provide adequate power to lift the large counterweight. This hydraulic ram is going to be mounted on top of the existing structure that is used now to cradle the counterweight and pulley assembly. The team designed a ingenious setup that flipped the hydraulic ram up on end, providing a downward force that directed a gambrel and cable assembly to lift the counterweight. An explanation of the final design and proposed modifications to the existing structure was the purpose of todays visit. It was the last phase of communication between the team and the plant. From here on the engineers on sight are taking over our plans and design recommendations we provided at todays meeting. A lot of time was spent modeling the design on Autodesk Inventor, which is comparable to solid works or Pro-E software packages most of us have used in the past. Using a 3-d modeling software to design the new counterweight lift system was a huge benefit for us in trying to communicate our design ideas to HibTac. Having the ability to pull up our model at will and rotate our model to the perspective in question was a huge asset in our tool belt. This model was then used to generate the 2-d autocad drawings which the plant is used to with their autocad drafting software.

Proofed by: GG

Summer Plans

As the semester comes to a close a lot of thought is being put into what should I do with my last summer as an undergraduate. I really don't know what I should do. I have great aspirations to do some fun stuff, but that's similar to other summers. I think everyone should take a little time this semester to see what really interests yourself and do something this summer that is one of those memorable times of your life. The winters are so long in northern Minnesota with short but beautiful summers. Just take some time to unwind and relax and get the most out of it you can. You only have one life to live and these are the best times of your life.

6 Thinking Hats

For my leadership/management book, I chose to continue reading Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. I believe this book can be used for management skills. The ideas that the book talks about are very useful for running meetings.

As implied by the title, the book talks about 6 hats. The colored hats are metaphors for different types of thinking that may go into a meeting. There is the white hat, which is used strictly for stating facts about the discussion topic. The red hat deals with the emotional side of the topic. The black hat is used to look at the topic with caution, doubt or with a negative view. The opposite of the black hat is the yellow hat. This is concerned with the positive aspects of an idea or situation. The green hat is used to focus on creativity, bringing new ideas to the table or updating existing ideas. Finally, there is the blue hat. This is the organizational hat. Whether it’s a product development meeting, weekly update meeting, or any other type of meeting, the 6 hats strategy can be applied.

This strategy could help lead meetings in a very positive direction. In a typical group of people, there are people that talk loud and talk a lot and there are people that are quiet and don’t talk much. The people that are loud and like to talk a lot tend to dominate meetings. A lot of times this is a bad thing because the only perspective that is heard is from those people. Under the direction of the 6 hats, not only does everyone get to talk and let their perspective be heard, but also all types of perspectives are heard under the different hats. By allowing everyone’s perspectives to be heard, the discussion becomes very valuable.

Model Completed!!

I am one of three students working on a biomedical-cardiovascular project this semester. Currently in the field of biomedical engineering there is not heart model that allows for an analysis of the inefficiencies caused by dyssynchrony. Dyssynchrony is when the two sides of the ventricle wall do not contract at the same time, creating sloshing, which can cause many problems within the heart. Due to a confidentiality agreement not a lot can be said on the description of our model.

We have been working on our heart model the past two months and finally on the 15th attempt we got it completed and it runs correctly! YAY!! We are extremely excited about this. Although, our final design review is next Wednesday and many deliverables and findings are due. Those include starting to thermodynamically analyze our model, evaulate other heart data we have been given, and create a journal entry that will be entered into a medium impact journal. We are looking forward to see what findings we can learn from this model. We are hoping that this will allow for advancements in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy.

Proofed by: Andrew McNally

Metacognitive Learning

Recently I turned in a summary on metacognitive learning which is required by all students at Iron Range Engineering this semester.  In our program which is project based, we do all of our academic learning based on four knowledge dimensions or levels of “competency” in whatever subject is being studied at the time.  These levels of knowledge from basic to extreme are:

·         Factual Knowledge

·         Conceptual Knowledge

·         Procedural Knowledge

·         Metacognitive Knowledge

To understand anything of course, begins with factual knowledge which simply means being aware of a subject and being able to discuss it in simple terms.  What is important though, for us current and future IRE students, is that we understand the concept of metacognitive learning and the role it plays in this program.  We have had this subject pounded into our heads by the IRE instructors from day one and only now am I starting to see how reflection on learning activities truly plays a key role in retaining learned material and dealing with the unknown through relation.  Awhile back, Ron Ulseth requested that we take just a little of our time to reflect on activities of the past day or week and maybe even keep a journal of metacognitive reflection.  I believe this will enhance an individual’s ability to retain information and is one of the most important aspects of this program.  New students, if you read this and are vague on the subject of metacognitive learning, start looking into it now because you will be much less confused as to what is required of you here at IRE.

IRE Entrepreneurial Project

This semester, IRE allowed two groups to attempt entrepreneurial endeavors. The group I am part of is made up of only two students, Dannyl and me. I chose to work on a small group for a couple of reasons; I want to have a larger responsibility towards my project work, and it was a change of pace from the 4+ person groups I have been on in the past.

The project specifics are sensitive because there is a great possibility of it becoming a spin-off company in the next year. I wont get into specifics of the project itself, but I'll explain our recent accomplishments and future goals.

As part of the project scope issued to us in January, we are working with MSU, Mankato College of Business students on preparing for the MN Cup competition and our new-found contest, Collegiate Invention Competition. We recently traveled 3 hours south of here and met with the owner of Wild Wings, one of the most prestigious hunting clubs in the United States. It is the only N.A.G.A. Diamond Sponsoring clubs in existence. We also met with Chad, the owner of Wings North, a club about an hour north of Wild Wings. Chad was referred to us by his father, the owner of Wild Wings. During our interview, we were able to learn about the inner workings of pheasant farms and gun clubs and gather valuable insight for the business aspect of our project, which should improve our MN Cup edge.

Now that we are closing in on the end of the semester, Dan and I are working hard to fit as much project work into our schedule as possible before we go our separate ways this summer. Though, right now we are focusing on learning requirements and professional outcomes. Not to mention the Final Design Review next week. We hope to continue working together throughout the summer when possible, and into next semester.

Hibbing Taconite Project Wrap-Up

After mulitple meetings with the engineers and mechanics, we have narrowed our design down to hydraulics. The team has been working to complete two different mounting designs for the hydraulic system for installation. When the designs are finished and our price estimates are complete, we will then present our final work to Hibbing Taconite. We are nearing completion, even though we planned on having our final deliverable done by Friday, April 15th. We set our finish date early so that if we ran into issues or had delays, we could still finish before the end of the semester. Also, we set our end date sooner so that Hibbing Taconite could install the lift system as soon as possible because they are ready to get it installed. We should have it ready by the end of this week. Proof read by: Matt Hudson

IRE Internships

All of the resumé critiquing, practice interviews, and job hunting is starting to pay off for the students of IRE. Many of us have interviewed several times, whether it be in person or over the phone. Much of the time, these job interviews come with tough competition, often times we are competing against other IRE students. This vie for internships has helped us all hone our speaking skills and gain confidence in interviews. This competition will prove very helpful to us when IRE's first generation steps out into the real-world job hunt after graduation this coming December.

This summer, IRE will have interns all over the state. Many of us are working for some very impressive big-name companies. Most of these companies have hired 2-3 IRE students for summer employment. These employers include:

proofed by Cory

Manufacturing Processes

This semester, Bart Johnson has been coming over from Itasca Community College and guiding learning for manufacturing processes. As part of the learning, we got to lay up some carbon fiber, Kevlar, or fiber glass. When making any of these types of composites, a mold is usually needed. The students just chose objects in the classroom to use for molds. The popular objects were hardhats, cups, and Frisbees. Making composites is a really messy process and it takes a lot of talent to make high quality products.

To make our product, we first wrapped our molds with saran wrap so the resin didn't stick to the mold. Then we had to cut out pieces to fit over our molds. Once we had our pieces fitted, then we mixed up the resin. The resin is the binder that holds the layers of fibers together. We used a paint brush to apply the resin and then we fitted the fiber around our mold. This has to be quick because it takes about twenty minutes for the resin to start hardening. The product I worked on used a couple layers and then cut strips to fit into the detailed spots on our mold. Once we had finished applying the resin and fitting the fiber we let it dry. After it was dry, we cut away excess fibers and we had a finished product.

This experience was valuable to us because we heightened our knowledge in the manufacturing of composites. As engineers, we might have to design a product using these materials and knowing how to make it is always helpful in the manufacturing process. Also, as engineers, we might be designing composites. Its was definitely worth our time to get exposed to this process.

Proofed by Christine

Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration

On Tuesday April 12, a group of IRE students attended the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. The conference was hosted by the University of Minnesota Duluth. The conference started with a couple short courses before the luncheon and keynote speaker Michael Hatcher, a Vice President at United States Steel Corporation.

The afternoon consisted of thirty minute presentations that fell into either the General, Non-ferrous, or Processing Sessions. At each of these presentations the presenter would share their research findings, discoveries, or project updates to the attendees. As students, we did our best effort to split up and attend as many sessions as possible, allowing us to share and discuss the knowledge and information gained on the car ride back.

Some of the sessions that I attended were The Discovery and Development of Canada’s Next Mining Camp, Vermillion Gold’s Exploration Program for Gold Deposits in the Vermillion Greenstone Belt in Northern Minnesota, and Securing Talent in this New Decade of Mining. In these presentations as well as the others that I attended, each had interesting information as well as tips that are definitely beneficial. There was a ton of rock solid knowledge to be gained about the area, the industry, and the future direction of mining.

After the afternoon sessions concluded, the trade show and vendor reception opened for all attending to interact with the exhibitors to see what each had to offer. We spent a solid 3 hours visiting the exhibits and having conversations about the IRE program, what their company made or sold, and what engineering opportunities their companies offered.

All in all it was time very well spent, very valuable knowledge was gained, and the IRE program name was spread throughout.

Proofed by Erin Lamke

All Work and No Play is Horrible

Today a group of the students headed down to the cities for a trip to Target Field. We loaded up at 7am and were in the cities by 10:30. Unfortunately, the Twins got their butts kicked 10-5 by the Kansas City Royals. Still, we had fun under the sun and enjoyed a nice baseball game.

Now, back in the classroom at 7pm tonight we are back at it getting work done and trying to hammer out what is needed for the fast approaching deadlines. IRE is a learning experience that is unique and the staff has added little days like today to help ease the stress and make sure students also have fun experiences too.

Proofed By: Tyler Bartek

Get Creative

In this ever so increasingly competitive world, it is inherent to think that we need the most proficient engineers in our nation, region, state, and even hometown. IRE’s industry-driven, project-based learning curriculum aids in the development of such engineers, but we are going beyond that to induce creativity that will supplement later problem solving and design. This is being done by encouraging students to engage in a passionate pursuit—something of interest that will be engaging and give us a break from “engineering” while using our minds in a new way.

I have chosen to take up airbrush painting with the intent of eventually being able to custom paint motorcycles. The idea for my passionate pursuit came from my interest in motorcycles and my old beater in the shed that needs a new paint job. Other students are pursuing music, cooking, archery, bowling, photography, among others.

I think this is a great way to get students to start thinking more creatively and to do something other than engineering school. This will be something we will be able to take with us long after graduation.

Proofed by: dp

SME

Tomorrow a group of students will be heading down to Duluth to check out the annual SME conference. SME is the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, & Exploration. The topic of this years conference is: A New Decade in Minnesota Mining. This should prove to be a interesting adventure into some of the latest ideas and technology that is being looked at in Northern Minnesota Mining. The prospect for future growth and development in this area looks bright for the years to come and I would suspect that this will be interesting to see what is on the horizon for things to come. This is an intriguing time for the mines as steel prices continue to climb and foreign consumers need more raw material that they don't have. Stay posted to see what topics and discussions we get our selves into and look back for a recap later this week.

Proof: Ty B

Co-ops for Seniors

One of the goals of Iron Range Engineering is to provide students with engineering work experience to prepare them for their careers. Internships and co-ops are great ways of getting that experience before taking on a full-time career. The downside is that co-ops can increase the length of schooling because students normally need an extra semester to accomplish this. Now, IRE is offering the option for senior students to work on professional and design competencies while completing a co-op. This option takes the place of working on a semester project, and students will still be able to graduate within 4 years. As of now, about 2-3 students will be in co-ops next semester, including myself (I will be working at the Boise paper mill in International Falls, MN). It will be very busy (40 hour work week plus learning), but it will be a great learning experience.

Proofed by Matt Hudson

Nicer Weather - Time to practice self control

Well, there are only 4 full weeks left this semester! Many of us are working hard to make sure that we can pull through and get everything done. One of the hardest parts for all of us in the coming weeks is going to be looking outside and seeing shining sun and greening grass. Today weatherchannel.com is predicting the temperature in Virginia to hit 60. Many of us enjoyed at least two afternoons per week of football and other activities in the fall, but this was in the beginning of the semester. Now we are throwing the football in the room while deadlines are fast approaching.

Even though it is getting nicer as the days go by, we are all going to need to buckle down and resist the urge to blow off the extra time needed as deadlines approach. Ask most any professional working and he or she will usually tell you, "I work around 40 hours per week, but it can get pretty crazy around project deadline times." This is just another example of how IRE is more like the real world than people could have imagined.

Proofed by Brianna

Engineering Ethics

Today, students from IRE attended an ethics conference at Itasca Community College (ICC). We were joined by students from ICC engineering and Industrial Technology - Power Generation program (A new program given by ICC). This conference raised awareness of numerous ethical situations with poster boards that the students had made. Topics ranged from nuclear energy to building designs to hunting ethics. Most of the IRE groups chose to use ethics topics that deal with engineering. The topic that our group chose to do was genetic engineering. We thought this was a good topic because there only exists an area of grey. This caused a lot of discussion amongst the people that watched our poster presentation. Overall, the conference went well and relations between ICC and IRE grew.

Proofed by: Brianna Frey

Tesla Turbine Undergraduate Research Conference

The Tesla Turbine group was recently accepted to present at Mankato State Universities 2011 Undergraduate Research Conference (URC). On April 4th we presented at a poster session showing our accomplishments over the semester. The presentation went well but more importantly we got further experience presenting to both technical and non-technical audiences. There were inquiring minds about the Iron Range Engineering program as well as our Tesla Turbine project. We were glad to inform the people in attendance on both accounts.

While at the URC we had the opportunity to view some of the other student’s projects. One of particular interest was titled “Exploration of the Mesabi Iron Range”. The student presenter was Ryan Rague, a geology major working in conjunction with Cliffs Natural Resources. The URC project was about the extensive 20th century mining of high-grade iron ore and its depletion. The results from his geological experiments and subsequent data suggest that more high-grade iron ore is below previously mined areas. He is continuing his research in more mining areas.

From the positive feedback and interest we received along with what we learned, I am looking forward to attending the URC in 2012.



Proofread by: Matt Hudson

Tesla Turbine Update

Over the past two weeks, the Tesla turbine team has been developing a variety of models to simulate air pulsing at 500 Hz. The first idea investigated the use of an electric solenoid to control the pulse time. The team found that the solenoids available on the market had a maximum frequency of 10-15 Hz. After brainstorming additional ideas, three different models were developed. Various calculations were the preformed (include finite element analysis) to determine the optimal design. The design chosen is shown below:

The team then contacted several local machine shops to determine whether:

1. The design could be easily fabricated
2. Whether there should be any modifications
3. Estimated cost of delivery

Lehman’s Machine Inc. in Iron, Minnesota stood out by being very helpful with design suggestions in addition to having one of the lowest quotes. Today, the team visited Leyman’s and were greeted with great hospitality. The design was discussed in further detail and steps were laid on how next to proceed. Tomorrow, parts for the design will be finalized and ordered allowing construction at Leyman’s to begin early next week.

Proofread by Eric Schaupp

Trip to CAT in Peoria, IL

A group of IRE students along with students from the Eveleth campus of Mesabi Range Community and Technical College drove down to Peoria, IL on Sunday. We started in the snows of Minnesota and ended in the balmy 85 degree weather in Illinois. We visited four facilities in and around Peoria, including a production plant for track machines, a distribution plant, as well as a research and testing facility for Caterpillar. These were all highly informative and interesting tours, where we were exposed to some machines that only exist in a handful of locations in the world. The size and precision of the manufacturing processes employed by CAT in these plants are staggering, for instance one of the facilities, the one for storage and distribution of parts, has 51 acres under the roof.
Besides seeing the CAT plants in Peoria, we were able to get to know several of the industrial technology students from the Eveleth campus. We have started a relationship that could be very beneficial to both programs in the coming years.
On our way out of Peoria we were able to swing into Chicago and visit the science museum. It is a very interesting place, with hundreds of amazing exhibits. Bodyworks and a captured German sub from WW2 were two of the most notable exhibits, but they had everything from tornadoes and a cola mine to flight simulators and a toy manufacturing line. All in all, it was a very successful, interesting and educational trip.

Proofed by DP

Hydraulic Vendor

Today the Hibbing Taconite group met with a hydraulics vendor from Nott Company this morning. The vendor was able to walk us through the process of selecting a hydraulic cylinder and a possible pump package. We also learned what type of hydraulic flow controls are needed to control the system and what kind of safety equipment is needed to be put on the hydraulic cylinder. The vendor was able to work with us and come up with a line drawing of how hydraulic fluid will flow through the hydraulic system. Now with this new knowledge we are able to ask our contacts at Hibbing Taconite if these new specs will meet their needs.

Proofed by Tyler

A balance of stress and fun

Even though the semester is winding down at a very rapid pace, we are still making time to have a little fun. Now that spring is approaching, everyone's getting a little antsy to be done with school. With less than 5 weeks of school left, the stress is beginning to increase at an exponential rate…but here at IRE, we still make time for fun. Everyone has lots of work to do; learning all their competencies and finishing project work. Now that the sun is shining and the days are longer, there will plenty of fun outside, whether it be football games, soccer games or frisbee. Everyone can take a breather for an hour or two. We still continue to have our lunch speakers each week to give us valuable insight into working life and give us their stories of experience. Next week, some people will be going to the Society of Mining Engineers conference to learn about the mining industry that we are apart of and are funded by. Also, next week, IRE will be making the spring trip down to Target Field to watch the Twins take on the Kansas City Royals. The following week, stress will be pretty high with us taking the FE exam (only practice) on Thursday…but then we get a few days off to spend with friends, family…and lots of good food for Easter. After we come back from Easter "break," it's all about finals. To help the stress with those last 2 weeks, IRE will be going out for a round of golf and will hopefully be having a grill out. As Tyler stated below, crunch time is upon us.

Sprinkled in the last few weeks will also be some volunteering opportunities. With the snow melting, IRE has been keeping in contact with the city of Fargo. We are ready and willing to go help sandbag and do what they need to help protect the city. IRE has also adopted a portion of highway 53, so we will be taking time to go clean up the highway. And to help a little more locally, we will be doing one more campus clean up for Mesabi Community College.

Needless to say, the next few weeks are going to busy ones.

Proofed by Korpi