Off to the races with MCC's Engineering 113

It was an early morning day at the race track for the students in instructor Nicole Pflum's Engineering 113 class.

The vehicles being used in this hilly experiment were made by the students and had to travel 15 feet, up and down a hilly track.

Here is what Pflum said about the classroom race/scientific experiment:

"Today 18 students in ENGR 113 demonstrated their semester design project. The project was to make a self-propelled vehicle that would make it at least 9 feet of a 15 foot curved track. The teams had alpha and beta test runs on the track that helped them redesign the vehicle for this last run.

In first place: "Lucky 7-3" made it 18 feet to the end of the track using tank-like treads instead of wheels. Their innovation and continual redesigns paid off.

In second place: “Scorporation” went 13.3 feet. This team had a great overall design, but the weight on the back gave them issues going up the last big hill.

In third place: “Convex Machinery” went 6.9 feet. This car was so fast it jumped off the track. It also had great attention to detail. One of their team members vacuum formed a model car and panted the body.

The other teams did a great job. They continually worked as cohesive groups this semester and made great designs. Their cars needed more torque to make it up the hills, but their designs were good.

It is great to see students learning hands-on the design process. The issues they face now make them better at problem solving and being real engineers in the future."

To see more photos from this morning's race, check out our photo gallery over on Flickr.

Minute to Win it with the MCC-Longview Engineering Club

Members of the MCC-Longview Engineering Club participated in a Minute-to-Win-It style competition during their December meeting on Wednesday.

In less than a minutes members had to complete specific puzzles or tasks (which were hard even for our engineers) to advance to the next round.

In the competition above, teams of two sat back to back as one person had to describe how to construct a small Lego-like set to another person who could not see it. Sometimes, the finished product did not quite match the original design.



For more information about the MCC-Longview Engineering Club, contact club advisor John Church at 816.604.2542.

To see more photos from the evening, click on over to our Flickr Photo Blog

The Winners: Grainger Tools for Tomorrow Scholarships

Two students at MCC-Business & Technology campus were awarded the Grainger Foundation's Tools for Tomorrow scholarship this week. Each will receive a $2,000 award and, in spring, a Westward tool kit valued at approximately $1,000. Grainger Foundation will award 150 such scholarships to students across the nation this year.

Pictured are Chris Jones, Grainger district branch services manager; Judah Schad, electronics & computer engineering technology student; Debbie Goodall, MCC-BTC president; Ryan McNary, electric utility line technician student; and Jari Allen, branch manager of Grainger's 18th Street distribution center.

MCC-Longview welcomes new faculty

It was cause for celebration and anticipation of the new school year as MCC-Longview welcomed six new faculty members to campus on Friday for a luncheon with senior faculty and administration.

Dr. Fred Grogan welcomed each of the new faculty members at the luncheon that also paired the new instructors with veteran instructors that will help guide them through the orientation process, which is part of Longview's First Learning Year Team program.

We got the chance to catch up with two of our new faculty members briefly:

Name: Kris Stroup
Teaching: Speech and Debate
Formerly: Instructor at Truman State University
Bio:Kris is a long-time debater who debated in college for Truman State University. He then took a teaching position there and taught debate for five years.

"I am really looking forward to working with such a different student body and look forward to helping really grow this program."

Name: Nicole Pflum
Teaching: Engineering
Formerly: Cerner
Bio: Nicole brings a rich background with a mix of real-world experience and teaching. Before coming to Longview, Nicole worked with Cerner, Sprint and was a teacher in the Raymore-Peculiar school district.

Nicole is also a former student at Longview where she took engineering before transferring to University of Missouri-Rolla.

"I am really looking forward to being able to have the same kind influence on students that my teachers here had on me."

Along with Stroup and Pflum, four other new faculty members will begin classes next week.

MCC Makes Virtual Corn Dog at Missouri State Fair

"Don't worry, her eyes will heal quickly. She's young!," said Hassan Zarabi when he was questioned about the safety of taking a 3D laser-scan of a young fairgoer's face.

Metropolitan Community College employees Dan Ascheman, Hassan Zarabi and Alex Grigsby visited the Missouri State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 14 for Science Fair in the Street. Colleges from across the state packed into a large tent over the weekend to show off some of the latest science and engineering technology.

"Sure there are more practical uses, but it seems appropriate to scan a corn dog. We are at the state fair!" said Hassan.

The 3D scanner is part of the Engineering Technology programs at MCC-Business & Technology Campus. The scanner is used as a tool to teach reverse engineering. For more information about Engineering Technology click here.

Science Fair in the Street was organized by MCCA and SCOPE - Science and Citizens Organized for Purpose and Exploration.

MCC-BTC attends RapidTech workshop to learn about Advanced Manufacturing

Kansas City and the surrounding community are home to hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of manufacturing jobs. MCC-Business & Technology is committed to preparing its students for the manufacturing jobs of the future.

Whereas manufacturing 50 years ago required massive amounts of unskilled manual laborers, manufacturing of the present and future require skilled technicians who understand the process, software and hardware involved in stereolithography, selective laser sintering, laser scanning, and 3D printing to name a few.

Last week, in beautiful Irvine, Calif. (while the rest of us sweltered in the summer heat), Tom Wheeler, Penny Tepesch, David Hawkins, Jen Dec, Chris Page and Steve Dowell attended the 2010 RapidTech workshop at Saddleback Community College to learn about the latest manufacturing technologies.

RapidTech is an educational entity designed to offer learning opportunities for students to learn and use these advanced manufacturing technologies. The key to RapidTech’s success is its continual collaboration on projects with national businesses in the aerospace, medical device, automotive, consumer products and art animation industries.

MCC's goal is to also be an expert resource, partner, consultant and learning facility to students, businesses, and educational institutions. The trip to Rapidtech's workshop was aimed at attendees learning how RapidTech has partnered and affiliated themselves with over 80 other institutions to achieve these goals.

“Our group worked alongside approximately 50 other attendees learning how many of these technologies in our own school can be utilized to better achieve our goals here at the BTC,” said manufacturing instructor Steve Dowell. “From 8 a.m. until approximately 5:30 p.m., the agenda was packed with instructor workshops, dealer demos, and very informative presentations from other colleges from around the country. Our goal now is to take what was presented to us at the workshop and apply these processes to better utilize the BTC's labs, classrooms, and instructors.”

MCC-BTC continues to build its 3D prototyping lab. We now have the ability to concept a product or part, create the design using 3D software, print the prototype design on 3D printers and finally create the part in our manufacturing lab.

According to Tom Wheeler, dean of instruction, “the next step is to continue reaching out to local manufacturers to create a consortium that fosters learning, collaboration and provides value to our students, these manufacturers and our community.”

“We are a community college," said Wheeler. "We are here to serve the community and prepare the workforce our industry partners need. The better we understand the current and and developing technologies, the better we are able to meet that mission. community the better we are able to deliver.”

For more information or to schedule a tour of BTC’s 3D prototyping lab, contact William Allyn at 816.604.5647 or Chris Page at 816.604.5438

For more information about the RapidTech workshop click here.

To view pictures from the RapidTech workshop click here.

July 21 Technology Teacher Career Night

There's a shortage of high school engineering and technology teachers in the Kansas City area—especially Project Lead the Way teachers. MCC-Business & Technology and the University of Central Missouri are hosting a Career Exploration Night on July 21, from 6 - 7 p.m. at BTC.

Two UCM courses will be offered at BTC this fall. CTE 1000, Introduction to Career & Technical Education, is scheduled on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Penny Tepesch will be the instructor. CTE 1300, Introduction to Engineering Design, will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

The Engineering & Technology Teacher Education program is all about educating the next generation of engineers and technologists. Many courses in MCC’s education curriculum fit in the program plan. Graduates will be certified to teach middle and high school Project Lead the Way courses anywhere in the U.S. (with teacher state certification). It’s an ideal program for a recent high school graduate or a person with industry experience or some college credit. To watch a short video and request more information, see TeachTechKC.com. To register for July 21 or a second event planned for Aug. 12, go to mcckc.edu/visitbtc.

MCC-BTC to host First Robotics team

MCC-Business & Technology campus has begun recruiting home-schooled high school students from the KC area for a FIRST Robotics team. FIRST Robotics is an organization that develops technical, career and business skills in young students. BTC already has a mentor team (Joe Roche, Gene Giarratano, Dave Hawkins, and Andy Brewer) in place with over 60 year of industry experience behind them.

The student members will have the actual responsibility of raising the funds for the project (aprox $6,000-10,000), as well as designing and building the robot. The team will compete in the Greater Kansas City regional competition starting March 4, after only six weeks to design and build a working robot.

For more information about FIRST Robotics - http://www.kcfirst.org/ For more information about the MCC-BTC team contact Joe Roche – 816.604.5417