Manufacturing Engineering Newsletter
D-term 2000
There has been a lot of change recently in the Manufacturing Engineering Program and it is likely there will be much more. This newsletter is being started to keep the MFE Alumni informed and to give them a chance to have an active part in the development of the program.
Shaukat Mirza, one of WPI's first professors of practice, who led the program the last couple of years, is returning to full time research and teaching at WPI. Dr. Mirza ushered in the new, non-thesis, Master of Engineering degree and got started on adding an undergraduate minor.
The provost has recently named Christopher Brown, Ph. D. P. E., as director of the Manufacturing Engineering Program. Chris finished his Ph. D. at the University of Vermont where he studied machining. In the fall of 1989 he moved to Worcester with his family after six years in Switzerland, where he was a senior research engineer for Atlas Copco working on the development and manufacture of air compressors and tools. Chris is a corresponding member of the International Institution for Production Research (CIRP). He also works closely with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) on publishing, exams and the Machining Technology Association. On campus he is the founder and director of WPI's Surface Metrology Lab (check out his web site: http://www.wpi.edu/~Etral/).
Recently two new tenure-track professors have joined the Mechanical Engineering Department with their primary activity in Manufacturing: Kevin Rong and Mustapha Fofana.
Mustapha originally comes from Bo, Sierra Leone. He received a combined BSc/MSc degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest (1986), MASc (1989) and PhD (1993) in theoretical mechanics from the University of Waterloo. In 1993 he came to WPI as a visiting Assistant Professor. In 1997 he got on the tenure track as an Assistant Professor in Manufacturing Engineering. He has been teaching CIM to grad students and is redesigning a grad class in controls to cover more dynamical systems in manufacturing. Currently his research interests include, machine-tool chatter and delay dynamical systems. He is a member of the SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) activity group on dynamical systems, AMS, SME and ASME.
Kevin earned his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Harbin University of Science and Technology, China in 1981, and his M.S. degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Tsinghua University, in Beijing in 1984. His other M.S. degree is in Industrial Engineering from University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI in 1987, and he earned his Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, in 1989. Until 1998 Kevin was on the faculty at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His research areas are Computer-aided Manufacturing, including Machining Processes, Fixturing, Process Planning, and Modeling and Monitoring of Manufacturing Processes. He is a principal investigator of several research projects funded by NSF, Air Force, SME, and several major manufacturing companies. He is a member of ASME and SME, and has published many technical papers in journals and conference proceedings.
At this time we are looking for a replacement for Richard Cournoyer, who has done a fantastic job the last two years taking over the Robotics Lab from Jim Lagrant. Richard has just left with his new bride, Celia, for an attractive manufacturing engineering position in industry in the LA area. Michael Malchiodi , a Masters of Science student in MFE will be in charge of the Robotics Lab while we look for a replacement for Richard.
SME is once again an active organization on campus thanks to the enthusiasm of our undergraduates, graduates, faculty and the local SME members. This past November the SME held a dinner meeting on campus for the Student Awards Night. Those receiving the SME Outstanding Student Award which included a $50 stipend are Eugene Campbell class of 2001, Rebecca K. Dowd class of 2002 and Serif Serefle class of 2000. Michael Bruno and Luis Velasquez both the class of 2000, did a presentation of their MQP, "Redesign of the Robotic Arm".
We are currently in the process of creating an up to date web site and will let you know when it is up and running. You can reach Chris at brown@wpi.edu, Kevin at rong@wpi.edu, or Mustapha at msfofana@wpi.edu with any questions or suggestions.
And as always we are looking for ways to strengthen the program and ask you to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your education. We welcome your thoughts and ideas on how to improve the Manufacturing Engineering Program here at WPI.
In the undergraduate courses, the big change, as you may have heard, or experienced, is that the spool has been laid to rest. ME 1800, a.k.a. Grunge, now uses production lines to manufacture Stirling engines. ME 3820, CAM, is now being taught by Prof. Fofana who has strengthened the CNC machining component. ME 4815, Industrial Robotics, is now being taught by Prof. Rong still includes the robotic golf contest. We are considering getting an MFE course designation for these and maybe some other courses.
In recent years the enrollment in the MFE undergraduate program has fallen off. In reviewing the admits for the fall of 2000 it has been noted that few have indicated MFE as their choice. It is essential to get out to the undecideds and their parents information on the MFE Major and the opportunities for Manufacturing Engineers. We have started a campaign to turn this around and ask for your help in doing this. At the beginning of April we would like your help in phoning and talking to new admits for the class of 2004 about what the program has to offer and about job opportunities available to Manufacturing Majors. We look forward to hearing from you and appreciate any help you can give us.
We are also looking for any ideas on how we might obtain support for acquiring new, CNC machine tools for the Washburn Shops, Higgins Shops and Robotics Lab. These would be used for ME 1800, 3820 and 4815, and for MQPs, making parts, and studying machine tool performance, as well as for other projects.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: November 04, 2006 13:48:10