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Emma Sparkman doesn’t expect to do much welding after she graduates with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, but in the event the need arises, she’ll be ready.

Sparkman, along with five other College of Engineering students, learned welding, machining, electronics, and other applied manufacturing processes (including computer-aided design and programmable logic controllers) in a summer 2023 practicum conducted by the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center.

In the summer of 2023, an instrumentation teaching lab on the third floor of Rogers Hall was transformed into the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering’s new Industrial Automation Laboratory.

The redesigned facility features new workstations, 3D printers, a laser cutter, and dedicated space for project builds, along with modern robots, new cameras, projectors, and screens for instructional use including distance education.

Richard Wirz sometimes jokes that the word “aerospace” makes no sense.

“Aero means air, and space means the absence of air,” said Wirz, executive director for aerospace research programs and Boeing Professor of Mechanical Engineering Design at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering. “It’s like I study air and no air. Why are they even in the same category?”