Deconstruction at IRE

It has been a noisy month, jackhammers, trucks, and fans have been held at a constant.  My curiosity as to what was happening in the bathrooms was perked when construction put up a sealed wall in the hallway and shut off our air conditioning. So I went in and took some pictures, here are the good ones:

Both bathrooms, the wall between both of the facilities has been removed and the floor has been dug out



I believe this is the drain for the bathroom, though I not really qualified to know exactly what goes through that pipe. Behind the wall is the main hallway to the IRE rooms and faculty office.

Same restroom, just looking at the wall not caught in the first picture.

Art room that IRE is taking over.



Same art room, all the cabinets and lockers have been moved to the center of the room.

Next semester the art rooms will be in use for IRE students, namely for a classroom and study/lounge area, and the bathroom will be completely renovated. Ill keep posting pictures as construction reaches milestones in their project. More to come!

Iron Range Engineering Laboratories

Iron Range Engineering is a getting new laboratory space for students to use. As mentioned in the IRE Groundbreaking Ceremony post, IRE is going to be constructing an electronics lab and a manufacturing lab. Both of these will house brand new equipment available to the students. The electronics lab will have five workbenches with power supplies, function generators, and oscilloscopes. They will also have teaching boards for learning about how the different electric and electronic components work. I feel that the machines for the manufacturing lab are much more impressive however. We will be installing a vertical Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling machine, a CNC lathe, a manual mill, a laser cutter, and a water jet. We are very fortunate to have benefactors from the region that have assisted in purchasing this equipment for our new building. In particular, the Blandin Foundation, the Minnesota Power Foundation, and the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board have graciously donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. The ability to create our own parts will greatly assist with our semester projects.

IRE Groundbreaking Ceremony

As some of you might have heard, last Friday was a very exciting day for IRE.  It was the groundbreaking ceremony and reception for the new building.  When the government shut down last summer, the grant for the new building was included in the budget.  The new building, along with other renovations, will include: an electronics lab, manufacturing lab, project rooms (with real walls), student life center, and an exercise area.  The students and faculty are looking forward to this building and the improved environment it will bring to IRE.  The students at IRE are very thankful for the improved learning atmosphere and also the huge benefit current and future students will have.  This building started out as a dream and will soon be a reality.  The building will help establish IRE as a program and aid greatly in the unique learning that happens.  There were many people involved in making this happen and without them, it would still be a dream. 

Remember Where You Started

Our journey as engineers thus far started as a new student, just figuring out what engineering is all about.  Most of us came in with goals of inventing the next greatest thing or making the world a better place. The journey then turned into projects, developing friendships with fellow engineering students, and discovering what discipline we would choose. The next couple of years in school were hard, we became bogged down with homework, and life got complicated. Sometimes we may have even wanted to quit, because we forgot why we started in the first place. But there always seems to be a moment when we can revisit our original goals. In those moments we are able to regain control and continue on our path just as determined and confident as when we started.

Revised by Cari Troumbly