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The Minnesota Center for Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence will become the renowned national model for stimulating strong partnerships between higher education and industry to address workforce needs in Minnesota, and to attract new business from the Midwest to Minnesota.”

Dr. Richard Davenport
President
Minnesota State University, Mankato

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ENGINEERING BETTER ENGINEERS>>MSU center aims to build interest, talent By Robb Murray, Mankato Free Press Staff Writer

August 9, 2006 MANKATO - When it was announced last year, it was all theory and pie-in-the-sky and wouldn't-it-be-cool-if-we-did-this type rhetoric.

Now, however, it's no longer just theory. At least not in Mankato.

This summer, the Minnesota Center for engineering and Manufacturing Excellence at Minnesota State University put in place its permanent staff. They will guide the center on its initial forays into its goal of enhancing engineering and manufacturing education - and the K-12 pipeline from which MSU students come.

The center is one of four set up at four-year state universities across the state. They come from a $10million state appropriation initiated by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and approved by the legislature. Each center receives $2 million to $4million over a two year period and is required to generate other funding as well.

Kuma Takamura is heading the Center for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence at MSU. He most recently served as adviser and engineer in the research and development office for the SuSumu Co. of Japan, parent company of Thin Film Technology in North Mankato.

The center's program director is Jim Mecklenburg, whose primary function will be to administer the center's work with the national Project Lead the Way program. It provides school districts with curriculum and training for teachers who wish to implement hands-on, fun science-based activities in their classrooms. He has 31 years of experience in education and since 1999 has served as the Minnesota State leader for Project Lead the Way.

The center will work closely with technical and community colleges, including South Central College. The goal is to ease the transition for students at those schools who want to pursue four-year engineering or manufacturing degrees at MSU.

Takamura and Mecklenburg also will work closely with K-12 schools. They hope to get their message out - especially to girls and students from underrepresented groups such as Native Americans - that careers in science can be fun and rewarding.

Reaching those groups, Takamura said, is key. A recent survey showed that just 10 percent of eighth-graders were interested in jobs in engineering. "A lot of people think engineering is a dirty job," Takamura says. "We have to change that perception." A big part of reaching those kids will be Project Lead the Way, which takes a nationally known curriculum and puts it into the hands of teachers. It allows kids to learn about science and engineering by doing science and engineering.

And it appears to be working. A typical dropout rate among students who enroll in engineering programs is 50 percent. Students exposed to Project Lead the Way drop out at a rate of about 15 percent.

Mecklenburg says a comment from a teacher at a recent training session illustrates the desire teachers have for more effective ways of teaching science.

"She said, 'The students are going to love this. I can't wait to get into the classroom this fall to teach this,'" Mecklenburg said.

MnSCU [Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System] hopes each center will become regionally or nationally recognized in its area. In addition, a statement from MnSCU says, "some center intend to enhance services to recruit and retain a more diverse student population so as to better reflect the state's changing demographics."

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