Jessica MacNeil

Industry experience in the classroom
August 22, 2007

The only thing better than gaining real industry experience through an internship, might be the opportunity to get that experience without the stress of searching for the perfect job.

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham allows students the opportunity to get real-world engineering experience without having to leave the comfort and familiarity of a school project. As part of Olin's project-based curriculum, the Senior Consulting Program for Engineering (SCOPE), gives seniors the chance to use what they’ve learned to take on an actual engineering project for a real client.

The project is financed by an educational grant from that client, who in return for the project idea and funding, keep intellectual property rights on the products the students design. The sponsor also provides access to corporate, technical and market expertise, and hardware and test facilities. In turn, students work under a nondisclosure agreement to protect the interests of the company.

Once the teams of four or five students receive their project, they work with a faculty adviser and have access to other resources, such as the Olin technology base and an Olin technical expert group.

The teams then work 60 hours per week for two semesters, providing progress reports to the sponsor and presenting ideas before critical audiences along the way. When the project is complete teams provide a final report to their sponsor.

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. David Barrett developed SCOPE, set up the corporate partnerships, and directs the various teams. On the Olin website, Barrett offers this statement in support of SCOPE, “All companies have three classes of problems. Class 1: are the mission critical problems that your best people must focus on for survival. Class 2: are the strategic problems that have been sitting on your back burner for years, for lack of time and skilled labor to address them. Addressing these problems could significantly and positively affect your bottom line, provide a foundation for explosive growth or enable successful entry into a profitable new business area. Class 3: are low-level problems that have no significant impact on your corporations operations.If you have a really great Class 2 problem, one that could significantly benefit your company but has been sitting on your back-burner for years, if you know deep in your heart that solving it would have a dramatic upside for your company, if you would be interested in exploring the pure venture R&D opportunity of having a team of 6 world-class, innovative, entrepreneurial engineers backed by Olin’s faculty, staff and cutting edge facilities focus on it for a year, please contact me. Olin students can do extraordinary work, let them take on your challenge and work for you."

Olin, one of the newest engineering schools in the area, founded in 2002, works with a number of mainstream companies to create solutions for real industry needs. This year, some of the projects include a light weight passenger seat for commercial aircrafts, sponsored by Boeing, a surgical instrument to be used in endoscopic procedures, sponsored by Boston Scientific, an unmanned orchard farm tractor, sponsored by ROCONA, and a device that helps Stage I Alzheimer’s patients live independently and stay in touch with family, sponsored by Olin itself (See Boston Globe article on the project). For the Olin-sponsored project, the students retain intellectual property rights for their designs.

Other sponsors include Deka, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Lexmark , Darpa Grand Challenge, Nortel Networks, Pratt and Whitney, ProActive Community and Schlumberger.

Posted by Jessica MacNeil on August 22, 2007 | Comments (0)