Pros Who Know Bolster EPIC Lessons

PRODUCT DESIGN & MANUFACTURE STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM INDUSTRY SPEAKERS

It’s one thing to design a pump that works. It’s quite another to choose the right materials, components and manufacturing processes to ensure that thousands of identical pumps can be made efficiently, cost-effectively and safely.

That’s why BU’s Product Design & Manufacture curriculum features a steady stream of expertise in the form of guest speakers drawn from industry, including from corporate sponsors of the BU Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC).

“There’s an entire process that happens after design,” says Professor of the Practice Steve Chomyszak (ME), who has years of design and manufacturing experience under his own belt. “It’s good for my students to hear from people in industry who have expertise in all these aspects of the process and can interject all of these details throughout the course. The speakers help bolster what I teach and give the course added credibility.”

For example, this fall, in the course Manufacturing Processes for Design and Production, Chomyszak’s master’s degree students—who are tasked with redesigning a basic pump for various applications—got a guest lecture from Jim Wilson, principal engineer at GE Aviation, on geometric dimensioning and tolerance, “the universal language that engineers use on their manufacturing drawings,” says Chomyszak.

Brianna Mikolich, a product training manager at aPriori Technologies, showed students how to use her company’s software to predict the cost of every component of their pump given a host of variables. “It teaches them the impact of their design decisions,” Chomyszak says. “Decisions made early have consequences later on, and it can get super expensive to change your mind the further you go down the process.”

Toner Plastics CEO Steve Graham spoke about injection molding, which students are also gaining hands-on experience with in EPIC. The cutting-edge facility “has just been a tremendous asset to the class,” says Chomyszak.

And Don Loughlin, senior technical director at Procter & Gamble, visited the class to discuss how to set up a production line. “He did a great job of relating this all back to the customer,” says Chomyszak. “What value does this component bring to the customer? That’s something I’m constantly harping on in my own lectures.”

EPIC Director and Professor of the Practice Anna Thornton (ME) hosted a guest lecture series at EPIC this fall, and she, too, appreciates it when a speaker dispenses advice that happens to echo her consistent lessons: “The students realize, ‘Oh, wait, the reason Professor Thornton is

Anna Thornton (ME) is director of EPIC.

always talking about this is that it’s relevant to industry. She’s not just teaching this out of a book.’”

Beyond technical skills and general principles, Thornton hopes that hearing about professionals’ evolving careers—and staying in touch with them after the semester—will help manufacturing students navigate their own journeys.

“I try to bring in speakers who talk about their arc,” says Thornton. “Where did they start? What were their job titles along the way, and how did they leverage their experience from each job to get the next job? How did they use their network? What risks did they take? What projects did they take on that they think got them that next promotion? That’s what makes you a successful person in industry.”