{"id":134477,"date":"2022-12-09T16:04:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T21:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=134477"},"modified":"2023-02-01T11:29:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T16:29:17","slug":"endowment-funds-student-design-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2022\/12\/09\/endowment-funds-student-design-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Endowment Funds Student Design Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Covers costs of supplies in EPIC, BTEC<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Michael Seele<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the College opened cutting-edge makerspaces eight years ago, student use of them has been strong and getting stronger. While use of these facilities has always been without cost to students, often the materials and supplies needed for design projects have not been. Now, thanks to the generosity of the College\u2019s industry partners and alumni, that burden has been lightened.<\/p>\n

A $1 million endowed fund has been established that will generate the income needed to cover the cost of these supplies.<\/p>\n

When the Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC<\/a>) opened in 2014, student demand for access was immediately strong and has grown in the years since. A similar phenomenon occurred following the opening of the Bioengineering Teaching and Entrepreneurship Center (BTEC<\/a>) and is expected to remain strong when the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Teaching and Innovation Center (RASTIC<\/a>), now under construction, opens.<\/p>\n

Not only was demand strong among students for curricular and extra-curricular projects, but faculty soon began taking advantage of these facilities for new and revamped courses, increasing their use. The facilities also support a number of Senior Capstone projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phenomenon of, \u2018If you build it, they will come,\u2019 was emerging at an extraordinary rate,\u201d said Dean Kenneth Lutchen<\/a>. \u201cThis was exactly what we wanted, but hadn\u2019t thought all this initiative and innovation would bring the need for supplies associated with projects. A year ago, we realized our increase in expenditures was approximately $40,000 a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although not budgeted for it, departments pitched in, as did some student clubs, but the students working on projects bore the cost as well. Seeking to relieve this burden, the College began raising funds for a $1 million endowed Student Design Fund that would generate annual income to obtain supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, we turned to our industry partners,\u201d Lutchen said. \u201cPTC and Amazon Robotics came through with a total of $275,000 to anchor the fund. Then, generous and engaged alumni interested in enhancing the student experience stepped up. This semester, we completed the quest and reached the $1 million goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those alumni donors is Daniel Maneval (BME \u201982), who made the lead gift to the fund with his wife Edna Chow Maneval, who also holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering. Support for undergraduates\u2019 exposure to experiential learning was one reason for their support of the Senior Design Fund. They hope the fund will help students gain the practical experience that will distinguish BU engineers as they enter the workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to see continued enthusiasm among students in BTEC and EPIC,\u201d said Daniel Maneval, who is a consultant in the early research and development of biopharmaceuticals, and a member of the College\u2019s West Coast Alumni Leadership Council. \u201cHands-on experience differentiates engineers from theorists. The Senior Design Fund provides flexibility for the College and provides students with technological expertise and hands-on experience for what\u2019s next. It will help them define what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other major donors to the Senior Design Fund include Nirav Arvind Dagli (ENG \u201992, \u201996), Mikhail Gurevich (ENG \u201907, QST \u201912), Kimberly E. Samaha (ENG \u201989) and Richard D. Reidy (QST \u201982).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Covers costs of supplies in maker spaces. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2662,"featured_media":134478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,908,1],"tags":[884,251,883],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134477"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136352,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134477\/revisions\/136352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}