Century College Recruiting

Tim Grebner (Century College Engineering Department Head) expressed interest in providing students with options for further education beyond Century College.  Thus, he offered opportunity for representatives of IRE to present information to students regarding its’ program structure. On October 24^th IRE director Ron Ulseth gave a brief presentation to a Dynamics class about the IRE curriculum and its benefits. He covered the topics of competencies, professionalism and most importantly the project based learning. The greater portion of questions were taken and responded to after class. Current IRE student and Century College alumni Case Goodyear assisted Ron in responding to any question relating to student satisfaction and personal experiences. Notable question asked of IRE were:

• ·      What is the tuition?
• ·      What is the difference between a major and an emphasis?
• ·      What are the prerequisites?
• ·      What is project-based learning and how does it differentiated from traditional classroom settings?
• ·      How do credits transfer?

All questions were answered thoroughly and received positive response from the interested Century College students. Some students were so intrigued that they coordinated to have a personal meeting with Ron to analyze their transcript, such that to strategically plan future classes to best meet the IRE requirements for entry. Tim Grebner had also communicated interest in additional presentations. If interested in attending future recruiting events at Century College, simply follow Century College Engineering Club on Facebook for event updates.

Construction Update

The expansion that is scheduled to be completed before Spring Semester is coming along rather nicely and is looking good. The walls are up and the brick siding has started to go up as well.

For the last few days the smell of fresh tar being put on the roof has filled the area around the new construction, and the windows and doors of the new building have been covered with plastic to keep the heat from the portable heaters in, so that the workers have a warmer environment to be in while working on the inside of the new building. 

All of us here at IRE are excited to have the new building next semester and all of the perks that come along with it such as the new equipment that will be in the shop, which will make it easier for us to complete our DLA's. Also there will be the added space and dedicated project rooms where we can be more secluded so we can be more productive and have less distractions during the day.

Proofread by: Jeffrey Lange

MAX Scholarship

Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is a program within Minnesota State University Mankato (MNSU).  Therefore, students at IRE are also students at Mankato and qualify for all privileges and benefits MNSU students are eligible for.  This includes a wide variety of scholarships.  One in particular is the MAX (Mentored Academic Experience) Scholarship. 

This scholarship is funded by the National Science Foundation.  Any students who are in biology, chemistry, computer science, information technology, engineering, physics, or mathematics majors can apply.

The benefits of becoming a MAX scholar are

• ·      $5000 for up to three years
• ·      Students are still eligible for other financial aid programs
• ·      Networking
• ·      Job preparation, resume work shops, and a resume builder
• ·      Promotes professional development and individual growth
• ·      Access to faculty and students in interdisciplinary fields

There are a variety of things expected of the students:

• ·      Attend weekly seminars
• ·      Maintain a 3.0 GPA (need a 2.5 GPA to apply)
• ·      Must be a full time student

A large part of the MAX scholarship is diversity.  To receive the scholarship students must write a one page paper stating how they will add to the diversity of the group.  Special consideration is given to nontraditional students and transfer students. 

To learn more about this scholarship or for information on how to apply visit

http://cset.mnsu.edu/max/criteria.html

By: Kali O'Brien and Katherine Marking

A beautiful thing

The end of the semester is approaching and with it a number of deadlines. Time is at a premium for us but this is where Iron Range Engineering students shine. Throughout the semester, we push each other to stay on top of the numerous activities that are assigned to us. The amount of work doesn't change as the deadlines materialize at the beginning of December however the midnight oil is burned and a true engineer is born. One that can handle challenges and deliver quality work even when time is short. This ability to overcome obstacles and seemingly climb mountains translates well to the professional world, where deadlines and supervisors loom. The benefits of seeing and experiencing this lessens the learning curve for a graduating student leaving IRE. Therefore, creating a better engineer more quickly than other more traditional schooling. This time of the year and these challenges are creating an opportunity for us to shine and to become better engineers.

Upward Bound Event

Recently Iron Range Engineering hosted an upward bound event with some local high school students. At this event we started by asking the students what interested them about engineering. Of the 25 students, only 4 of them had any interest in engineering and 2 more didn't know enough to make a decision; so we had our work cut out for us. The day started out with an introduction to what engineering is and the different types of engineering to show the students that engineering is all around them. After the students got a background of engineering we explained what we do at Iron Range Engineering and how the program is unique compared to other schools. The students toured the facility and were fascinated by some of the different experiments that had been built and also the different projects that each team was working on. To get the students introduced to the different forces a bridge undergoes a quick explanation of Newton's laws, stress, and strain were demonstrated. To make the bridges, a tutorial of AutoCad inventor software was explained so they could start designing their bridges. Although they had a few difficulties, the students were beginning to be creative and have fun. After lunch the students got to test their bridges to see how much weight they could hold. This was very impressive; one group was even able to hold a full 5 gallon bucket of sand with 13 more pounds of hand weights on top. At the end of the day the students showed more interest; about half now were interested in engineering. Events like these are a great exposure to engineering concepts and a great motivation for IRE students to see that their efforts are affecting lives of these students.

Carissa Butterfield and Mike Carlson