TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – A new engineering design and laboratory building – the Kremer Innovation Center – is providing opportunities for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students to enhance their hands-on, collaborative educational experiences.
Fabrication equipment, 3D printers, wind tunnels and dimensional analysis tools available in the “KIC” are within easy reach of students working on competition teams, capstone design projects and in mechanical engineering classrooms.
The 13,800-square-foot Richard J. and Shirley J. Kremer Innovation Center that opened at the start of the 2018-19 winter academic quarter will be dedicated Wednesday, April 3, with a special ceremony beginning at noon.
Richard Kremer, a 1958 chemical engineering alumnus, went on to start FutureX Industries Inc., a manufacturing company in Bloomingdale, Indiana, that specializes in custom plastic extrusion. The company has grown over the course of the past 42 years to become a leading supplier of plastic sheet materials to transportation, printing, and manufacturing industries.
Located on the east side of campus adjacent to the Branam Innovation Center and named to honor the couple’s philanthropy to Rose-Hulman, the facility has expanded and enhanced opportunities for innovation and experimentation.
The KIC offers equipment that students are using to create device prototypes for a variety of projects. A CNC router in the Fabrication Lab (dubbed “Fab Lab”) cuts large sections of foam and wood to create cross sections of vehicles for racing teams. A water jet machine, wood cutting equipment and new tabletop CNC router shape metal, thick plastic, wood and glass into useful parts of all shapes and sizes.
Several new 3D printers will soon allow students to take their designs from the drawing board (or computer screen) to fabrication and then prototype stage – the early stage in the production cycle of any engineering project.
The building also has a new Thermofluids Laboratory (“Wet Lab”) with a water channel and other equipment that allows mechanical engineering professors to build dimensional analysis experiences into their fluids classes, which are being taught in the adjacent classrooms. Other classes utilizing the educational spaces are covering such topics as theoretical aerodynamics, introduction to design, propulsion systems, fatigue analysis and combustion.
“The Kremer Innovation Center is giving our students the skills, experiences and mindset to play a key role in developing future advances benefiting all areas of our lives,” says Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons. “Richard and his career success are excellent examples of the core values of this institution at work; values that continue to consistently provide a rock-solid foundation for the current and future success of Rose-Hulman and our students.”
In the middle of the KIC is a Maker Laboratory, where students tinker and develop creative ideas. In addition, open workspaces and a conference room are in use throughout the day and night by a variety of competition teams collaborating across disciplines. A design studio is being added for the 2019-20 school year to support students majoring in engineering design, a new program added to the 2018 curriculum.