The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
presented the South Dakota Mines Department of
Mechanical Engineering (ME) with the Donald N.
Zwiep Innovation in Education Award during their annual Mechanical
Engineering Education Summit (MEED) held in March at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan,
Puerto Rico.
ASME recognized Mines’ mechanical engineering
department for “introducing a rigorous program on project-based product
development that couples across several courses and all four years of the
undergraduate curriculum.”
Mines’ mechanical
engineering curriculum empowers students to learn by doing. From the
start of the four-year degree, students are placed in team projects that help
them conceptualize, design, prototype and demonstrate products that solve a real-world
problem and address social needs.
“This award reflects the world-class education
offered at South Dakota Mines,” says Mines President Jim Rankin, Ph.D., P.E.
“We’re proud to be educating the next generation of STEM professionals to the
highest standards. The work of our graduates is vital for keeping our country
at the forefront of innovation and technology into the next century.”
ASME also recognized the Mines mechanical
engineering department for leading broad changes within the department to focus
on higher order learning and for making significant investments in initiatives,
industry and faculty buy in.
“We’re very proud of this award and for the external
validation of the cutting-edge mechanical engineering education that we provide,”
says Pierre Larochelle, Ph.D., P.E., department head of mechanical engineering
at Mines and a featured speaker at this year’s MEED conference.
Mines mechanical engineering graduates are sought
after by the highest levels of industry, including NASA, Caterpillar, Garmin,
Nucor and many more. In recent years, an increasing number of Mines mechanical
engineering graduates have been able to stay in the state going to work for
companies like B9Creatons, RESPEC, VRC Metal Systems and others.
Mines also offers a minor in aerospace engineering,
which gives graduates a competitive edge in the aerospace industry with
employers like NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, Airbus, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin,
Collins Aerospace or Blue Origin, among others.