A new center at Purdue University has been designed to work with industry partners to develop and improve technologies that, in turn, will lead to increased competitiveness.

The Center for Technology Development, headquartered in the College of Technology, was officially launched Wednesday (January 11) with the signing of a charter by the directors and founding members.

The center will involve professors, graduate students and undergraduates from the colleges of Technology and Engineering and will be led by Vahid Motevalli, professor of mechanical engineering technology, and Henry Zhang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering technology. They will focus on direct problem solving for industry products, high risk research and development, feasibility study for future industry products and scholarly work for academia.

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Vahid Motevalli will be taking on a new role in the College of Technology that initially will be to lead two very important initiatives: the Center for Technology Development and EcoCAR 2.

Ken Burbank will become the interim head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology as well as retaining his current position as head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology.

A search committee will be formed very soon to begin the process of hiring the next department head of MET.

The Community Education Coalition in Columbus, Ind., has announced that Purdue's College of Technology at Columbus will manage the metrology lab in the new Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence. The environmentally controlled lab is already well-equipped and provides the opportunity to do industry projects, academic research projects and short-term industry training classes in addition to enhancing their current class offerings.

The Columbus location will take over management of the facility this fall.

The student creators of an automated machine that produces customized miniature Purdue hammers are finalists in Phoenix Contact’s international xplore New Automation Award 2012.

Two representatives from the seven-person team and their faculty advisor will travel to Bad Pyrmont, Germany, with their machine March 23 for the final competition presentation. The Purdue team is one of 28 finalists; more than 100 teams started in the competition.

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Two College of Technology professors are participating in the Spring 2012 cohort of the University's IMPACT program.

IMPACT (Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation) was launched by the Provost's Office in 2010 in an effort to improve rates of course completion and retention in foundational courses. Faculty in the program learn about course redesign options by working with a team of instructional, technology and assessment specialists. They also participate in a Faculty Learning Community.

Technology professors participating and the transformed courses are:

• Mark French, associate professor of mechanical engineering technology, MET 213: Dynamics.
• Craig Miller, professor of computer graphics technology, CGT 163: Introduction to Graphics for Manufacturing.

Read the full news release.

Erika Healy, a sophomore in mechanical engineering technology and mentor chair for Women in Technology, is profiled on this month’s “Five Students who are Example Makers” feature on the Purdue Web site.

Check out her story and  those of her fellow Boilermakers who understand the importance of mentoring and giving back.

Sarah Leach, an associate professor of mechanical engineering technology, has taught at Purdue’s College of Technology in South Bend for 12 years. She holds a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Notre Dame. She is on track to earn her doctorate in mechanical engineering from Purdue in 2013. Leach was employed by CTS Corporation in Elkhart for 15 years prior to joining Purdue. She is a registered professional engineer and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

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