On Friday, October 25^th Iron Range Engineering welcomed students from Minnesota State University Mankato to their campus.  The students were on the Iron Range for a MAX Scholars program.  The group toured Hibbing Taconite, and then spent time at the Minnesota Discovery Center.  The group then gathered at IRE where they had lunch while speaking with many students about the program and how their learning differs.  This was a great opportunity for both groups to learn about different forms of education than they are normally used to.

Proofread by: Mike Carlson

Soudan Underground Mine

On Saturday, September 28^th sixteen IRE students and two instructors visited Soudan Underground Mine State Park.  Opened in 1882, it was Minnesota’s first iron ore mine.  By 1892, after several accidents, operations went underground.

Students and faculty arrived early enough to explore the surface buildings and exhibitions before heading underground.  This included the drill shop, crusher house, engine house, mining equipment, and the former open pit.

After exploring the facilities above ground, a brief video was shown to the tour group chronicling the history of the mine’s operations, employees, and regional impact. 

After the video each visitor received a hard hat and headed out to the head frame.  Once ten or so people were crowded into each cage, the descent began.  Although the cages only moved at about 10 miles per hour, it felt much faster. 

Once underground, and after a ¾ of a mile train ride to the last worksite, we had reached our destination half a mile beneath the surface of the earth.  In these large chambers blasted and hewn of solid stone, we were shown the veins of valuable ore, semi-precious metals, and the equipment that miners had used.


This was a unique opportunity to gain insight into what conditions were like in the mine, what kind of impact the Soudan Mine had on the local economy, and to further appreciate the rich mining heritage of the region.

Reviewed by: Kody Kamunen

Giants Ridge

Friday, the 27^th of September, IRE students visited Giants Ridge.  Students had the opportunity to play full 18 holes of golf, go kayaking, hiking and disc golf.   Despite a little rain, the weather was perfect!  Giants Ridge offered a beautiful course with an even better view.   The staff was friendly and the food was delicious. I had a wonderful time. This was my first event as an IRE student, and I am very excited for future events and would like to extend a thank you to everyone who made this possible.

This student life event was sponsored by SME

-        Todd Hanson

Reviewed by James Wilson

Dr. Froyd Workshop at IRE

On Thursday September 26th, Dr. Froyd from Texas A&M came to give the Iron Range Engineering students a workshop on learning about learning. Throughout the workshop, Dr. Froyd focused on keeping learning outcomes, assessments and evaluation, and practice aligned. Alignment is the understanding of the outcomes so that practice and assessment match them. The workshop helped me realize why some learning may not be as efficient as it could be. Dr. Froyd also pointed out that the ABET outcomes should not be separate from our learning, but should direct our learning. Because of this workshop, learning at Iron Range Engineering has become a little bit better. I would like thank Dr. Froyd for continuing to improve IRE and making learning here the best way to learn.  

Reviewed by Andy Lillesve and Todd Hanson

Past, Present, and Future

The plaques commemorating the pioneering students of IRE (Generations 1-3).

The beginning of a new school year is always interesting. As the Gen 3 students begin their careers and the Gen 7 students begin their journey with the IRE community, I find myself doing what IRE students do very well, reflecting. Every generation of IRE students has left a mark on our program and made great strides towards creating an amazing engineering program here in northern Minnesota.

Justin (left) and Charlie (right) discussing their semester project.

Although IRE is an amazing place, the saying holds true that “good enough is never good enough”. This means that it is our job, as the students here today, to make a better place for those who are still to come. With the help of our fellow students, our mentors, our families, and our community we hope to keep making IRE better for generations of the future.

Proofed by Ron Ulseth

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

                        

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