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Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Rose-Hulman Ventures marks its 10th
anniversary as a premiere one-of-a-kind engineering educational experience
that puts theory into action, developing cutting edge medical devices,
providing technical support to innovation-based businesses, and making
technical and business support available to technology-based companies and
entrepreneurs.
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Working On Project: Tom Gardner, a junior mechanical engineering
major, displays one of the many projects that Rose-Hulman Institute
of Technology students worked on during the summer. |
Established through an initial $29 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.,
Rose-Hulman Ventures (RHV) operations fill a 35,000 square foot facility on
Rose-Hulman’s 180-acre South Campus, along Indiana 46, five miles south from
the main campus. The site is a Certified Technology Park.
RHV meets real and urgent product development needs of companies mainly on
fee-for-service basis. While a segment of companies associated with Ventures
are start-up companies, well-established companies and nationally known
corporations also provide more opportunities for student involvement. During
the past decade, 749 students have worked as interns for 117 companies. This
real-life, project-based program offers students professional practice
experience and the forward-thinking necessary to set them apart from their
peers in a competitive engineering market.
“First and foremost, the culture at Rose-Hulman is one that pushes the
boundaries of excellence in undergraduate engineering, science and
mathematics education,” states Mitch Landess, manager of RHV client
programs. “We try things that are new; we innovate . . . We’re a unique
model which provides benefits to students and leading technology companies
at the same time.”
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Innovative Medical Devices: Rose-Hulman Ventures Project Manager
Zhan Chen works with student intern Erinn Sheridan, a senior
biomedical engineering major, on a medical device for a client
company. |
Bill Kline, associate dean for professional experiences and director of RHV
operations, adds: “Rose-Hulman Ventures was a bold concept and it still is .
. . Thankfully the Lilly Endowment shared our vision. The model was
architected with sustainability as a key feature, and even though the grants
have concluded, the program is well positioned to continue and grow.”
RHV takes educational hands-on projects into a whole new dimension. It
offers a unique operational model for university/industry interaction.
Unlike research universities and their relationships with industry, RHV is a
model that makes businesses comfortable, according to Landess. It produces
solutions to their technology challenges, keeps intellectual property with
the client and maintains confidentiality.
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Problem Solvers: Rose-Hulman Ventures student interns Mike Hein,
a junior computer science major, and Kevin Wells, a sophomore
software engineering major, exchange ideas on a project. |
When students walk into Rose-Hulman Ventures, they enter the industrial
world. They are engineers working on real projects in designated work areas
modeled after the companies they work for. They are a part of a professional
staff and a multi-disciplinary team of engineers with a dedicated
infrastructure, including office and lab space, IT and workstations, lab
equipment and software tools. In the real world, engineering doesn’t end
with product design; nor does it at Rose-Hulman Ventures. Testing, writing
product documentation, monthly progress reports and communicating regularly
with top management as well as project engineers are required. Rose-Hulman
Ventures offers no contrived projects.
Landess compares the RHV experience to a race car mechanic in the pit. That
mechanic knows every tool in the tool box and knows how to use and apply
every tool in the tool box -- he is an expert. But when his car comes in,
he’s not going to touch every tool. He’s going to go for only the necessary
ones and he’s going to get that car back on track as soon as possible. The
RHV experience for students is just like that. Their Rose-Hulman academic
education teaches them every tool in the tool box. The RHV experience
teaches them to identify which tools are necessary tools to get the job
done.
“In the real world, engineers often don’t do things like they would in a
textbook,“ Landess said. “Our students get this real-world, hands-on
experience before leaving campus. It makes those exceptional students a much
different and much more valuable employee.”
Brian Dougherty, engineering manager at RHV, added: “When students see
people behind the projects with real needs and an opportunity is presented
to them to make a difference, they won’t leave that project alone. This is
the first time in most of these young peoples’ lives where there’s been
someone else’s skin in the game besides their own. For the first time it’s
not just their grade -- it’s somebody else’s pain . . . They realize they
need to be a part of something bigger, they need to be a beneficial part of
society.”
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Summer Project: Patrick Nowicki, a senior software engineering major, and
Nathan Shevick, a junior computer science major, showcase mobile technology
that they helped develop as interns at Rose-Hulman Ventures. |
Some of the most recent real-world projects with real world results for real
companies include developing cutting edge medical devices for
Indianapolis-based Suros Surgical Systems (now known as Hologic Inc.) and
NICO Corporation, helping bring tissue, neuro and spinal tumor excision
devices into the hands of surgeons throughout America; helping cultivate a
rapid, bedside assessment of kidney function for FAST Diagnostics of
Indianapolis; creating software solutions for Terre Haute’s Infraware, Inc.
which has helped drive 30 percent month-over-month sales increases
throughout 2007; helping startup Griffin Analytical (now ICX Technologies)
develop a Minotaur Mass Spec product; and developing laboratory
instrumentation that enabled Terre Haute’s Glas-Col to launch five new
products.
Other success stories have come from projects for Cook Medical,
ConocoPhillips, Dow Agrosciences and Vectren.
“Companies are amazed at what we do,” Dougherty said.
An online survey of 54 Rose-Hulman Ventures customers from the last two
years, conducted by Walker Research in Indianapolis, revealed that RHV
creates positive business impact for customers; Rose-Hulman students are
more attractive for the workforce through their experiences with RHV;
customers tend to have positive experiences with RHV; and RHV customer
loyalty exceeds the norm for businesses across the many industries in
Walker’s database.
“Rose-Hulman believes that we need to look beyond graduating a top class of
engineers, scientists and mathematicians merely in terms of competency
within their fields,” Kline stated.
“We want to take some ownership in
arming students with both the technical and professional skills required to
launch a career. We feel strongly that this is an important innovation
within undergraduate math, science and engineering education, and Rose-Hulman
Ventures is a leader in making it happen.”
More information about Rose-Hulman Ventures can be found at
www.rhventures.org.
Watch a recent interview with Rose-Hulman Ventures' Bill Kline and Mitch
Landess on Inside INdiana Business at
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/video-player.asp?HideVideoAd=1&ID=10434&CategoryID=30.
How Rose-Hulman Ventures Works
- Each member of the student team signs a non-disclosure agreement prior to
employment.
- Clients work closely with the student teams and project manager on the
technical development and project status. Interaction with the teams is
encouraged.
- Project mangers lead teams of academically talented students who have
proven success in developing cutting-edge, innovative products and services
for medical, industrial and information technology markets.
- Student interns apply their engineering skills in the context of
real-world projects and are exposed to the unstructured technical, business
and financial issues surrounding the project that influence their technical
work and decisions. They receive unique and valuable educational experiences
while clients benefit from the resources of one of the finest engineering
institutions in the country.
- Project delivery takes many forms. It can be a prototype used in a trade
show to potential new customers. It can be a prototype that directly moves
into the commercial production phase.
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