Alumni Improve ME Senior Design Facilities

May 12, 2009

The LSU Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) has been working hard to upgrade their laboratories and shops, and thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, they are making great progress. These gifts have already had significant impact on the ME Senior Capstone Design courses, which for 2008-09 have 14 projects with 86 students.

Last year, thanks to a gift from Mr. Robert C. Alford (BS, ME, 1957), supplemented with student Tech Fee funds, ME was able to purchase five Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) lathes and renovate a student shop laboratory to house them. The CNC lathes replace outdated equipment from the post-World War II era that no longer represent the type of equipment today’s graduates expect to work with in their employment. The new CNC lathes give our students the opportunity to learn on state-of-the-art equipment.

The ME Student Shop has expanded and been partially renovated. The ME Professional Fabrication Shop, enhanced with modern equipment, provides quality fabrication services to ME and the LSU community. CoE friend Buzz Raborn and alumnus Bob Alford sponsored the painting of the shop floors. Thanks to a donation by Joe Wink (BS, ME, 1956), a new hydraulic tubing bender is now available for students.

In 2006, the Fluor Foundation made a generous donation to ME, which used the funds to purchase six welding machines and set up five welding bays. This donation was spearheaded by Luke Jenkins (BS, ME, 2005), and facilitated by Jim Kenney, Fluor Corporation Senior Counsel and 1985 LSU civil engineering alumnus, who is a leader in the LSU Houston Alumni Group.

This past year, alumnus Frank Walk (BS, ME, 1942), made a significant gift to foster improvement in two key areas. First is the shop, with the purchase of two Haas TL-1 CNC lathes and one TL-3 CNC lathe, in addition to four rolling workbenches and tools for four senior project workstations. His gift will also allow the creation of a new, state-of-the-art modular space, the Frank H. Walk Capstone Design Room.

Currently, Senior Project presentations are held in the Thermal Science/Systems Lab. Among other issues, it has poor acoustics, and students give their presentations over the hum of the steam generator. Walk’s new room will serve as lab space for Introductory & Capstone Design, the venue for Senior Design presentations, a seated multi-media lecture room, an exhibition and poster area, and a reception room. Scope and concept definitions for this project are complete. Bids are in, a contractor has been selected and construction is due to begin before the end of the month. The scope was developed collectively by ME faculty members Michael Murphy (lead), Warren Waggenspack, Muhammad Wahab, Eyassu Woldesenbet, and Dimitris Nikitopoulos. Concepts and architectural plans were developed thanks to URS Corporation, which donated significant resources and valuable time of their professionals: Neil Johnson, James Hohensee, Chad Herndon, and Craig Gardner. The project was initiated by Glenn Ehrett and Glenn Sinclair and is championed by ME alumni Dick Juneau and Larry Dufour. With their help and that of Emmett David of LSU Facility Services, the space should be ready for next year’s Senior Design presentations.

There are many ways to be part of the exciting effort to make the Senior Capstone Design Project the best educational and real-life experience for future mechanical engineers in the country. For more information about how you can get involved, please contact Don Eisenberg, associate director of development, at 225.578.2441 or eisenberg@lsu.edu.

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