CSUN students win first place in Miller Ingenuity Challenge
Two CSUN graduate students, one earning a master’s degree in manufacturing systems engineering and the other pursuing a master’s degree in English literature, beat out more than 30 competitors to take first place and win $7,000 in the Miller Ingenuity Challenge, a national competition to encourage more people to pursue careers in manufacturing. The contest was launched to celebrate the opening of Miller Ingenuity’s Creation Station, a Google-like think space in the middle of the company’s factory. Miller Ingenuity is a Minnesota-based rail manufacturing company.
James McCloskey, the CECS graduate student, and Lily Thiemens, the English literature student, responded to the question “How might American manufacturers attract the best and brightest innovative minds to pursue careers in the manufacturing industry?” with a written document and a video that laid out a plan starting with elementary students and following through to higher education. The plan, which included video and simulation games for elementary students, after-school programs and mentorships for high school students and recruitment strategies for university students, was designed to identify top students and engage them in manufacturing. In formulating the plan, the pair drew from their own experiences in after-school programs and as video gamers.
Their win complements CSUN’s own priorities. The campus is one of 150 universities nationwide that have pledged to help “fuel a renaissance” in American manufacturing as part of the White House Maker Faire Initiative launched in June 2014. CSUN is also taking a leadership role in the University Alliance Partnership to build strategic partnerships with universities around the country to strengthen advanced manufacturing. In addition, it is part of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership, launched in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Commerce to encourage communities to develop comprehensive economic development strategies that will strengthen their competitive edge for attracting global manufacturing and supply chain investments. CSUN is part of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership of the Southern California Manufacturing Community, one of 12 communities selected out of 70 nationwide. The partnership is focused on aerospace and associated industries in the supply chain and is led by USC’s Center for Economic Development. It includes local governments, businesses and educational institutions, including the five CSU campuses in the region.
