Indiana State University - College of Technology

09/17/2013

Students soaring in new ISU Flight Academy

While attending the Terre Haute Air Show when he was 14, J. J. Dover grabbed the cockpit steering wheel while in mid-flight and discovered his life's calling.

The Indiana State University student is now departing a Terre Haute runway that's preparing him and other aspiring pilots for their careers in aviation.

Indiana State this fall opened the ISU Flight Academy at Terre Haute International Airport. The academy features a newly renovated facility and a fleet of aircraft that the university purchased as part of the new flight school. The aircraft feature navigational equipment and other technology that students will encounter as pilots working in the aviation industry, said Dover, a senior professional aviation flight technology major from Cloverdale.

"Since it's a brand new academy, the foundation is set, and the only way that they can go is up," Dover said. "The opportunities are there. There's just going to be more and more opportunities there as this gets bigger and bigger."

Indiana State will continue to teach pilots in the classroom on campus, before they practice on the fleet of aircraft at the Flight Academy. Terre Haute International Airport features an air traffic control tower, which will give the pilots additional training in communicating with controllers as they fly.

"The driving factor is student success, and giving our students opportunities that we really haven't had in the past to help best prepare them to go out there and compete for jobs in aviation," said Harry Minniear, chair of the aviation department at Indiana State's College of Technology. "It's about what we can do to make sure that students are getting the best training and education that ISU can possibly give them. Having the flight school gives us that kind of leverage."

The academy is located in the former FedEx building at Terre Haute International, which was renovated during the summer to make way for its new purpose. The fleet of planes includes several Diamond DA40s that ISU bought from the U.S. Air Force Academy and which are commonly used to train pilots. The aircraft features the same type of instrumentation that the airlines use, said Kevin Donnar, chief flight instructor at the academy.

"I had a dean tell me once years ago that if you don't keep up with technology and you keep training in the same aircraft and the same type of equipment, then you become history teachers," Donnar added. "If you don't change with technology, then things become stagnant all around."

Indiana State pilots will now receive a standardized syllabus and training at the academy, said Megan Henderson, assistant chief flight instructor at the flight school.

"They'll be more qualified for their jobs in the future," she added. "That's why students will want to go to Indiana State University."

Pilots are not the only Indiana State students who are benefiting from the new academy. Students majoring in aviation management will help run the academy's daily operations. Several students will have internships, while others will work as crew members, dispatching planes and helping with the logistics of operating the school.

"By having our own flight academy, it gave us the opportunity to integrate the management students into the school's daily operations," Minniear said. "A lot of these management students will go on to manage a facility fairly similar to what our academy is like."

09/16/2013

New dean takes charge in the College of Technology
By Tamera Rhodes News Editor
Robert English, associate dean of the College of Technology, will begin serving this week as the college’s interim dean.
Former Dean Bradford Sims has left ISU to advance into a higher position as a chief executive officer at a university in Florida.
Throughout the past four years of his leadership, the College of Technology has experienced significant growth.
“We have increased the enrollment in the majors in the college during the last four years by 75 percent,” Sims said.
While he is proud of that accomplishment, Sims credits the entire College of Technology staff for working as a team.
English, who has served ISU for the past 37 years, said Sims has accomplished great things while facing many challenges along the way.
The enrollment increase dealt not only with providing the right academic programs, but it also dealt with helping students become aware of the skills and knowledge needed in the industry and business, he said.
“Selecting a major that will help them get a good paying career … also deals with selection of faculty who knowledgeable of what is going on in industry,” English said.
A flight school was created and more than 250 majors were added.
In addition, the College of Technology’s unmanned systems is nationally recognized for many things, Sims said.
English plans to pick up where Sims left off by focusing on student retention. English said he will miss Sims’ abilities of handling major situations for improvement.
“Dean Sims is a very clear thinker,” English said. “He had the ability to look at complex problems and to determine what was noise and what was really good information to base a decision on.”
Sims commonly used social media to connect with both students and employers. He also worked to connect students and academic programs to employers whose needs were not addressed elsewhere.
Sims’ awareness led to a civil engineering technology degree and a partnership between ISU students and the Indiana Department of Transportation.
English said he will miss Sims, but expects him to prosper in his new endeavor.
“I am saddened to see Dean Sims leave, he has been a wonderful leader for the last four years,” English said. “He’s accomplished a tremendous amount of work in a very short period of time.”
“For selfish reasons I would prefer that he stayed here, but he has a wonderful job opportunity and I applaud him for moving on and doing great things.”
http://www.indianastatesman.com/news/new-dean-takes-charge-in-the-college-of-technology-1.3055239 #.UjcOrsaCt8E

Robert English, associate dean of the College of Technology, will begin serving this week as the college’s interim dean.

08/20/2013

Indiana State co-hosting regional unmanned systems conference in September

An upcoming conference will focus on the role that unmanned systems technology will have in the future of national security and emergency response situations.

Indiana State University is co-hosting the second Mid-America Defense Conference in Scottsburg, Ind., on Sept. 18-19. The conference will feature presentations and discussions about the ways that unmanned systems are having a growing impact on fields ranging from national security to agriculture. Richard Baker, director of the Center for Unmanned Systems and Human Capital Development at Indiana State, and Indiana Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Jeff Hauser, who is also an assistant professor of aviation technology at ISU, will be among the speakers at the conference. The National Center for Complex Operations (NCCO) will co-host the conference with Indiana State.

"This is one of the few conferences that specializes in unmanned systems in support of first responders," Baker said. "They're just starting to understand the use of technology in the first responder field because first responders typically don't have large budgets, but now the technology is coming down in cost to where it is becoming affordable for more agencies."

The technology has advanced so quickly that an unmanned aerial system considered advanced when it first arrived on the market two years ago is now available for one-quarter of the price, Baker said.

"First responders want to know what technologies and capabilities are out there to help them when there is a disaster," Baker said. "This technology is changing so rapidly that what they knew a year ago may have completely changed by this year. "

The conference will feature sessions that provide insights on a variety of areas, including a panel that Baker will moderate about academic developments in unmanned systems. Faculty members from Wright State University, Purdue University and the University of North Dakota also will participate in the panel.

"The technology that we use reaches out to a number of different fields," Baker said. "It is multidisciplinary."

http://www.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=3646

08/20/2013

Technology students creating NSF-funded educational prototype

Indiana State University sophomores Jonathen Akens, James Conners and Erik Gaskey enjoyed working together on technology projects in one of their first classes at Indiana State last fall.
They also impressed their professor - to the point where he requested the students dedicate the next several years of their college experience to creating a unique project with the potential to change the way future students learn about automotive engineering.
Akens, Conners and Gaskey are part of a group of five students creating a customizable microcontroller board, a device similar to a computer motherboard, and a new user interface program that can allow different components used in automobiles to be connected and used. Microcontrollers are becoming more common in vehicles, increasing importance for students to learn more about them, said Yuetong Lin, associate professor of electronics and computer engineering technology. He conceived of the project and enlisted the students to design the first-of-its-kind prototype.
"I first noticed the group in my classes. These three are among the most focused and hard-working students," Lin said. "They are willing to get their feet wet to learn new things and welcome the challenges. These are the most important qualities I seek from students."
Commercial microcontroller boards have fixed components that cannot be interchanged with different components. The boards available on the market also are more tailored to computer or electrical engineering programs, rather than automotive engineering, Lin said. In recent years, he added, mechanical and electrical systems have become more interconnected, including in microcontrollers.
The Indiana State students are researching and developing the prototype "to read and send sensor data from an engine that the automotive department has so they can use it for classroom purposes," said Conners, a computer engineering technology major from Gary.
The microcontroller board is the hardware component, while the user interface is the program that students and professors would operate, such as Windows is for computer users. The students developing the project have needed to learn about some of the technology - along with its benefits and limitations - on the fly.
"The most difficult part is we're so new to this kind of stuff," said Gaskey, a computer engineering technology major from Gary, "We're trying to [learn and create the new technology], but we also have to make it so that it's easy for someone who's not a computer engineering person to understand it, as well as make it easy enough for different teachers ... using it."
A team of Indiana State professors including Lin received a National Science Foundation grant of more than $190,000 for the project, which they called "CULMINATE: Customized Laboratory using MIcrocontroller for New Automotive Technology Education." The project is scheduled for three years: two years to design and create the new microcontroller board and user interface program, with one year to test and refine the board and user interface.
"The project aims at giving students with no profound knowledge of electronics and automation an educational tool to learn how some basic automotive sensing and control systems work," Lin said. "The board together with the user interface should give our targeted users an easy to use tool and good learning experience."
This is not the only NSF-funded initiative in the College of Technology at Indiana State. Conners, Gaskey and fellow student Heavenly Goodrum-Michell also received the Sycamore Technology Academics and Recruitment Scholarship (STARS), an NSF-funded program for students who meet certain financial requirements and who participate in certain additional programs at Indiana State."The new microcontroller board under development has incredible potential to improve the way automotive engineering technology is taught to college students," said Bradford Sims, dean of the college. "The fact that is also being created by students, including those with scholarships funded by the National Science Foundation, is a testament to the experiential learning that happens every day at Indiana State."

http://www.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=3644

08/13/2013

http://www.suasnews.com/2013/08/24414/preparing-students-for-careers-in-unmanned-systems/

Preparing Students for Careers in Unmanned Systems by Press • 12 August 2013Readying students to meet the demand for workers in the unmanned systems industry, Indiana State University (ISU) recently acquired two new UAS Training Systems from Corsair Engineering.ISU acquired the newest release of the...

08/01/2013

Indiana forum next month to discuss opportunities for girls to learn about STEM fields
By: Austin Arceo, ISU Communications and Marketing Staff
July 17, 2013


The Indiana Girls Collaborative Project will host a forum next month for educators and others interested in creating opportunities for attracting girls to science and math-related fields.
People can network and discuss collaborative opportunities that exist to encourage girls and women to consider science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers at the forum, which will be at Conner Prairie in Fishers on Aug. 5 from 12 to 2:30 p.m. The event organized by the Indiana Girls Collaborative Project (INGCP) will provide an organizational overview, as well as discuss some current efforts already underway.
"The Indiana Girls Collaborative Project is a community engagement initiative emphasizing the importance of collaboration in achieving the goal of informing and encouraging girls to pursue careers in STEM fields," said Bev Bitzegaio, director of outreach and student career support for the College of Technology at Indiana State University and leader of the Indiana collaborative. "The forum in August will bring together people from different fields who are all interested in working together with this goal in mind."
The event also will include information about funding sources to support future collaborative projects. The INGCP has $10,000 available in mini-grants for programs that support girls to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math.
"The INGCP mini-grants are awarded to girl-serving STEM programs to support collaboration, address gaps and overlaps in services and share exemplary practices," Bitzegaio said. "Participants will also learn about other financial resources available through different sources." The Indiana Department of Education will be announcing the Math and Science Partnership grants. In addition, Indiana Afterschool Network will present their database of funding sources and how to remain informed.
Girls and women are underrepresented in many STEM-related fields, which makes educational and outreach programming critical to educate people of the different possibilities that exist, said Bradford Sims, dean of the College of Technology at Indiana State.
"The Indiana Girls Collaborative Project provides a great forum to develop programming that introduces girls and women to topics and fields they may know little about," Sims said. "Even in the midst of the weak economy, there have been many STEM-related fields where there is a great need for employees, and even more fields exist where a diverse workforce can provide greater insights and benefits than currently exist in today's workforce."
The INGCP already includes members from a variety of fields, including the Indiana Department of Education, Girl Scouts, multiple universities, Indiana Afterschool Network,Great Lakes Equity Center and Terre Haute Children's Museum, who have worked together to organize the kick-off event.
"The INGCP Collaboration Forum is truly a collaborative effort," Bitzegaio said. "We have a variety of representatives serving on the leadership planning this event, and we are hopeful that even more collaborative partnerships will develop out of the forum."
The forum costs $10 to attend and will include light refreshments. To register online, visit http://www.ngcproject.org/indiana-girls-collaborative-project-collaboration-forum. For more information, contact Bev Bitzegaio at [email protected].

The National Girls Collaborative Project brings together organizations throughout the United States and Puerto Rico that are committed to informing and encouraging girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)

08/01/2013

Business Card Contest:
Indiana State University will be dedicating its new Career Center on Friday, September 6. Rather than a normal ribbon-cutting, the Career Center would like to utilize a ribbon of alumni business cards to showcase the various careers and positions our alumni pursue after graduation. To enter, send your business card to Office of the President, Attn: Teresa Exline, Parsons Hall 208, Terre Haute, IN 47809. Entries must be received by August 26. All entries will be put into a drawing for a special Sycamore Fan Package

06/20/2013

Elevated Aspirations: Graduate utilizes continuing education for personal, career goals
By: Austin Arceo, ISU Communications and Marketing Staff
June 19, 2013
http://www.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=3610

When John Duncan abandoned his high school lessons at 17, he never imagined that he would eventually meander back into a classroom years later - as a college instructor.
The skilled tradesman's unusual life path has included an associate degree from Ivy Tech Community College and a bachelor's degree from Indiana State University through DegreeLink, a program for students at two-year colleges to complete their four-year degrees via distance education.
For Duncan, DegreeLink facilitated a route through life that has gone from abandoning high school to attaining a bachelor's in adult career education and becoming an Ivy Tech instructor who encourages his students to continue their educational pursuits beyond a two-year degree.
"Education does pay off, especially if you have a technical background," said Duncan, who received the distinguished alumni award from Ivy Tech, Lafayette at the college's spring commencement ceremony. "Technical fields today are where it's at."
Duncan dropped out of high school, convinced that the compulsory school system had little to offer him. From there he worked a number of low-skill jobs - digging ditches, washing dishes, mowing lawns. He eventually found his way to a factory in Monticello, where his employer one day announced that they were bringing Ivy Tech Instructors in to provide classes to improve employees' skills.
Duncan attended the classes in hopes of getting a bump in pay. They ended up changing his life.
"I took their classes, completed them," Duncan said, "and it was that initial exposure that set me on my higher education path."
He began taking classes on a part-time basis in 1992, ultimately completing his associate degree in industrial technology in 2000. One night, while in the student lounge at the Ivy Tech campus in Lafayette, he noticed a poster from Indiana State advertising the DegreeLink program.
Duncan researched the program, and in 2002 he began his pursuit of a four-year degree from Indiana State's adult career education program.
"That's really a very relevant subject matter today, and it ties in really well with the nontraditional student, and keeping people on the (education) path, even if it's at a part-time pace," Duncan said. "I advocate pretty heavily for keeping and strengthening those pathways for people to go to school."
While taking classes at Indiana State, he started teaching as an adjunct instructor at Ivy Tech. Duncan also kept working full-time, even completing several technical certifications and two four-year apprenticeships. He attained several highly competitive openings through the years, he said, because his education helped set him apart while also preparing him for hiring exams and interviews.
"You can make a good living and you can still continue your education like I did," said Duncan, who currently is an elevator mechanic at Purdue University, where two of his daughters attend college on scholarships and where he is halfway through his graduate degree work in career and technical education. "We fail to realize that today, and that's one of the biggest things my efforts are focused on - the non-traditional journey as an alternative pathway to success. Because you follow a different path or a slower trajectory doesn't mean you can't reach a level of success that goes beyond even those who have had the good fortune to have journeyed along a traditional education pathway. I know, because I've done it."
Indiana State offers bachelor's degree completion programs via DegreeLink in 11 areas, from accounting to insurance and risk management, and even nursing and technology management. In the past year, nearly 250 Sycamores have attained their bachelor's degree through the program, which is expected to have two more majors added in the next year.
"DegreeLink really helps ISU contribute to the state's goal of increasing the number of Hoosiers who have postsecondary credentials," said Ken Brauchle, dean of Extended Learning at Indiana State. "It allows people to complete a bachelor's degree anywhere without having to relocate, uproot their family or quit their jobs."
ISU also has more than 70 articulation agreements with Ivy Tech for students who complete their associate degree and want to continue their education.
"We have a great relationship with Ivy Tech, and they have worked diligently with us to help their graduates continue pursuing their four-year degrees at Indiana State, including in many of our technology programs," said Bradford Sims, dean of the College of Technology at Indiana State. "We are always pleased to hear of students like John Duncan who have taken advantage of the programs that Indiana State has for students of all ages and professional backgrounds to further their education."
While it took Duncan longer to complete his bachelor's degree on his non-traditional path, he points out that he graduated with no student debt. That is particularly significant, as the national student debt currently stands at more than $1 trillion.
"Gaining a high-skill high-demand technically focused education is just one step in the process of personal development," he added. "You build on it, 2+2 (years of education), you continue on and that's where you achieve real success. It isn't stopping with just a technical expertise, it's tying that in with the academic, the cognitive, that will allow you true upward mobility and to live a more rewarding life. I've done quite a bit in my time, even as a high school dropout, because I never let my position in life limit my goals for my life."The "nontraditional" student is in fact the traditional one, as they are a majority of students pursuing a postsecondary education, Duncan said. He quotes a report by Commission on Higher Education that reports that 59 percent of Indiana college students are attending part-time. He continuously points that out to his students, particularly those students he knows who are finishing their coursework for an associate degree.
"Lifelong learning means you learn the entirety of your life, so you're always a learner," Duncan said. "If you're fortunate, you get to give back to that process, and that's where I'm at. I'm a lifelong learner giving back, happily."
For more information on DegreeLink, including the different programs that are available, visit www.indstate.edu/degreelink

Indiana State University offers on-line bachelor degree-completion programs for transfer students.

06/19/2013

Two College of Technology Class of 2017 President's Scholars Named
Class of 2017 President's Scholars named
By: ISU Communications and Marketing Staff
June 17, 2013

Indiana State University has recognized 20 incoming students as President's Scholars.
The President's Scholarship is Indiana State's most prestigious financial award, with a four-year value of $68,000. President's Scholars are chosen based on academic performance in high school, personal accomplishments and interviews during campus visits. This year's incoming scholars boast an average high school grade point average of 3.9 on a 4.0 scale.
"These students are the best of the best," said John Beacon, vice president for enrollment management, marketing and communications. "President's Scholars are selected following two intensely competitive weekends when more than 140 students come to campus to write essays, be interviewed and problem solve. Every student is a winner before the competition begins, and each is destined for a successful future."
The President's Scholarship is just one component of a $13.2 million per year financial aid program that awards more than $8.5 million in merit scholarships. About 4,200 undergraduates have enrolled at Indiana State with merit awards during the past four years, and more than 1,400 more will join this group when they enroll in the fall, Beacon said.

Mariah Wright of Clinton, a graduate of South Vermillion High School, is the daughter of Sherri Russell and David Wright. She plans to major in construction management at Indiana State. While in high school, Wright was a Hoosier Girls State delegate, a class officer, youth group teacher at Grace Tabernacle and a member of the girls' soccer team.

Kayleigh Bordner of Bringhurst is a graduate of Carroll High school and the daughter of Shana and Jeff Border. She plans to major in professional aviation flight technology. While in high school, she served as a cadet volunteer firefighter and was active in National Honor Society and Carroll County 4-H.

05/30/2013

Career Center works to better prepare grads for job market
By: Dave Taylor, ISU Communications and Marketing Staff
May 30, 2013

Indiana State University is launching a comprehensive skills training program to certify the skills its graduates have for potential employers, university officials announced today.
The program will include an array of certifications, both university-administered and third-party offerings, along with an expanded student work program that will ensure students are learning and using professional work-place skills in their student employment positions. Indiana State will provide verification of the skills the students have obtained through a co-curricular transcript.
"These programs are part of Indiana State's commitment to ensuring our students have the skill sets necessary to help their employers be successful from day one," university President Dan Bradley said in announcing the initiatives. "Employers hiring our graduates will not only know what degree they earned but will also know if a student is certified in a specific set of skills."
The skills certificates will enable students to enhance their attractiveness to employers by completing one or more non-credit certifications coordinated through the University's Career Center.
This summer, a team of faculty and staff members in consultation with employers of new graduates will identify and develop up to 10 university certifications. One example of a certification already in the works is Team Facilitation in conjunction with the Sycamore Outdoor Center's teams course program. Third-party certifications being explored include Microsoft Office Specialist, Certified Associate in Project Management and CompTIA A+ Certification.
"Students will not be able to obtain these certifications merely by taking a course. They will have to prove they have mastered these skills through interactive activities, evaluations and, in some cases, demonstrating what they have learned to a faculty observer," said Darby Scism, Career Center director.
While it is expected to take about one year to fully implement the planned skills certifications, the university will have the Sycamore Career Ready Certificate available this summer for new and returning students. This certificate will assure employers that students completing the program have received extensive professional development in career planning and communication skills, said Nancy Rogers, associate vice president for community engagement and experiential learning.
"Employers tell us they are looking for students with professionalism and maturity, as well as a realistic understanding of the world of work and of their own professional goals," Rogers said.
"Students completing the Sycamore Career Ready Certificate will demonstrate their commitment to professional development and will be prepared to be competitive in the workplace."
Indiana State's career readiness program has drawn praise from the chief personnel officer at Union Hospital, west-central Indiana's largest employer.
"In this competitive job market, this program will enhance the students' opportunities for job placement in positions that they desire," said Sally Zuel, vice president of human resources. "The content will enhance the skills, knowledge and abilities of the students and make them stronger candidates for employment and allow them to transition readily into the work setting."
In another development designed to improve services to students, the Career Center has moved to a central location off Dede Plaza in the heart of the Indiana State campus in the building formerly occupied by the Student Computer Center.
http://www.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=3591

Indiana State University is launching a comprehensive skills training program to certify the skills its graduates have for potential employers, university officials announced today.