‘Game-changing’
addition takes program to new level
MURFREESBORO — Barely
had the ink dried on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s approval of
the MTSU mechatronics engineering program when things began to stir in the
university’s Engineering Technology department.
Telephones began ringing and
emails began coming in to the offices of department chair Walter Boles and
faculty member Ahad Nasab less than 24 hours after the late July approval.
Nasab, who will be the program’s coordinator, received 12
emails and phone calls by the next day. Several days later, he was meeting with
students extremely interested in jumping into what will be Tennessee’s only
mechatronics engineering bachelor’s degree program, one that makes MTSU a
full-fledged engineering school.
“It’s, quite honestly, a game-changer,” said MTSU alumnus
and industry partner Jimmy Davis, owner of Murfreesboro-based The Davis Groupe
and member of the Engineering Technology Advisory Board. “Now MTSU is a true
engineering school. They have a true engineering degree. … The engineering
technology department is taking it to the next level.”
A video about the mechatronics engineering program can be
viewed on YouTube at the following link:
Boles said Davis “is a very strong supporter of our
department and mechatronics.” Davis’ company supplies machinery, tools and
parts to clients that include Toyota, General Motors and Nissan, among others.
Davis is an Engineering Technology Advisory Board member and past president.
“It’s exciting. We know how to proceed from here,” said
Boles, adding that more steps lie ahead to get the program going. “There’s more
work for us, but we’re willing to do that because we are public servants and we
need to get it done.”
Mechatronics is a design process that includes a combination
of mechanical, electrical, control and computer programming. The mechatronics
engineering program is based on a three-level international certification
program created by Siemens AG, a German engineering company.
A perfect example of a mechatronic system is a surgical
robot, which performs precision mechanical work under sophisticated electronic
and sensory control
There’s a high demand for skilled workers to maintain and
repair mechatronic systems. People trained and certified in mechatronics
engineering can expect high growth opportunities and wages.
“This is not one of those things where if you build it, they
will come,” Nasab said of the increasing student interest. “They are already
here.”
Some 50 to 100 students are expected to be in the program by
the end of the fall semester “because the first-year coursework will transfer
into the mechatronics engineering program with no problem,” Boles said. “So we
should be able to start offering the mechatronics engineering courses beginning
in the spring.”
Presently, 595 undergraduate and 25 graduate students are
enrolled in engineering technology, which is one of 10 departments in the
College of Basic and Applied Sciences.
Nasab said $500,000 is being requested for mechatronic and
automation equipment, which initially would be housed in one of the Voorhies
Engineering Technology laboratory spaces. He added that the equipment
represents “complete systems, which is different than the equipment we have
now.”
MTSU alumnus and state Sen. Bill Ketron has a unique
perspective of this new program from being a small business owner and a member
of the Engineering Technology Advisory Board.
“It (mechatronics) fills a niche that a lot of students have
not been able to fill because it was never available,” Ketron said.
One of the fascinating aspects surrounding the arrival of
the new program is the range of community and worldwide partnerships involved
since the beginning.
Collaborators include Motlow College, Rutherford County
Schools (top administrators and Oakland and the new Stewarts Creek high
schools), elected officials and industry, including Nissan North America Inc.,
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operation, Yates Services, Siemens AG and others.
“Industry leaders are the ones who pushed it,” Nasab said.
Ketron said the economic impact will be significant.
“Once we start training these young people and the
industries and manufacturing concerns realize there’s a good, trained and
educated workforce for their needs, they’ll start locating here or not even
think about pulling up and moving to some other location,” he said.
One student’s path to
the mechatronics program
Michigan native Dallas Trahan planned to study business at
Michigan State University. Unsure of what he wanted to do, Trahan (pronounced
TRON) eventually dropped out and took a year off from school. He and a friend
moved to Nashville, where Trahan found full-time work with a soft drink
company. His friend did not find work and returned to Michigan.
Trahan, 20, said he started attending MTSU “because it was
affordable and close by.” His MTSU academic interest had been electro-mechanical
engineering.
That is until he learned in April that MTSU was considering
adding mechatronics engineering. When he recently heard the program was
official, he scheduled a meeting with Nasab.
“I want to be a person who can do everything,” Trahan said.
“Mechatronics seems to be the way to go. A lot more opportunities could arise;
a lot more doors can open than with just an engineering technology degree. With
mechatronics, you can do what you want.”
Nasab told Trahan he expects “a lot of students will switch
from other majors after this year, and a majority of them are currently between
their sophomore and junior year.”
Trahan added that he believes mechatronics engineering “will
be the most valuable degree I could get here.” He said he received a draft copy
of the curriculum before it was approved. “It was a little intimidating at
first. I had to go back and forth, but I believe it’s the right path for me.”
Boles told Trahan there will be a one-hour course preparing
mechatronics students for the fundamentals of engineering exam that normally is
given to engineering seniors in their last semester.
Boles said the exam is part of a two-step process for
obtaining a professional engineering license. After graduation, several years
of experience is required before the individual is allowed to take the
licensure exam.
“We want you guys to hit a home run with it,” Boles told
Trahan, talking about the fundamentals of engineering exam. “We want you to
graduate with a higher passing rate than at any engineering program in the
state.”
Nasab added that the importance of the fundamentals of
engineering test is that many schools use the results to show how well prepared
their students are for an engineering career.
A professor’s
perspective
Ahad Nasab, who accepted the challenge to run the program,
has served on the MTSU faculty since 1991. In brief, he earned his bachelor’s
from California State University Northridge near Los Angeles and both his
master’s and doctorate in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, one of the
nation’s top engineering schools.
With research interests in robots and automation, he was a
natural fit to take the lead role with the program.
“Our program is different from a traditional mechatronics
program,” he said. “It is going to have a systems approach. We are going to
start with a system, then break it down into subsystems, learn the subsystems,
then break it down into components and in the process, learn all the
engineering related to the entire system. So our graduates will be able to
design products with a system in mind, not just one component.”
In July, after the TBR approved the program but before THEC
OK’d it, Nasab attended a Siemens Level 1-A certification workshop in
Pennsylvania. He traveled to Berlin, Germany, for a Level 1-B certification
workshop in August as well as holding talks on cooperation for development of
the Level 3 certification.
“We had a very productive week at Siemens Technical Academy
(in Germany),” Nasab said. “Besides the training workshop, we held daily talks
on streamlining the Siemens objectives with our new mechatronics engineering
program.”
Nasab said the development of the new Level 3 certification,
which requires a bachelor’s degree, will be conducted with close collaboration
between MTSU and Siemens.
“Once the model and the requirements are developed, the
resulting methods and literature will be distributed worldwide for others to
consider Level 3 certification,” he said.
Nasab said he will be in charge of establishing new courses
for the program, recruiting new students, cooperating with local high schools
and community colleges and seeking external funding for mechatronics equipment.
Benefits of mechatronics
In addition to the traditional benefits of an engineering
degree, the MTSU mechatronics engineering degree offers the following benefits:
• Systems approach problem-solving techniques;
• Team interaction and dynamics;
• Understanding
system integration of mechanical/electrical/control components;
• Professional communication and documentation skills; and
• Learning the business, operation and safety aspects of
engineering.
For more information about the program, email Nasab at Ahad.Nasab@mtsu.edu or call
615-898-2052.
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