{"id":229,"date":"2014-02-06T18:50:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T18:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/?p=229"},"modified":"2023-02-20T22:54:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T22:54:21","slug":"industry-partnerships-haas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/2014\/02\/06\/industry-partnerships-haas\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry partnerships – HAAS"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAAS Automation<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1997, Stewart Prince, professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded an NSF grant to develop a paperless machine design facility\u2014one where students could do all their design work on computers and then produce the parts using CNC machines and rapid prototypers. In shopping for the CNC machines, Prince approached Haas Automation, the largest machine tool builder in the United States, to see how far the grant funds would stretch. The company, located in Oxnard and founded by CSUN alumnus Gene Haas, responded with a unique proposition: instead of selling the machines, it would entrust them to the college, as long as they were incorporated into the curriculum. And thus the Gene Haas Machine Design and Manufacturing Lab\u2014and a fruitful ongoing partnership\u2014were born.<\/p>\n

The new 2,000-square-foot lab was dedicated in October 1998, enabling the department\u2019s 300 students to design and manufacture parts for assignments and projects. And under the terms of the agreement, every couple of years since, Haas has come in, evaluated the college\u2019s needs and replaced the existing machines with the newest, state-of-the-art technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have completely integrated these machines into our curriculum, so almost every student in our program is exposed to the Haas machines,\u201d says Prince, who continues to oversee the lab. \u201cAnd it\u2019s in Haas\u2019s best interest to make sure we have the latest and best machines. We create mechanical engineering students, not technicians, so the students who come out of here will be mechanical engineers who work at Haas designing the CNC machines of the future. Haas can select its employees from among our students, and that\u2019s how it benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today there are more than 750 students in the mechanical engineering program, and the lab has grown to 5,000 square feet, divided into two halves\u2014one devoted to fabrication, where students make parts, and one where they work on their senior design projects, including the Human-Powered Vehicle, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Formula SAE car, and Intelligent Ground Vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are using the machines to make incredible products,\u201d Prince says. \u201cThey love it because they can see their products come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CSUN lab is part of a network of more than 2,000 Haas Technical Education Centers worldwide, mainly at community colleges and universities, where the company either provides machines through an entrustment, as it has at CSUN, or allows the institutions to purchase them at a deep discount.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause CSUN is also the alma mater for Gene Haas and it\u2019s close to home, we support it at a higher level, primarily with equipment and any technical support we can give,\u201d says Peter Zierhut, Haas\u2019s vice president for European operations, who also manages the company\u2019s educational programs. \u201cWe also show up at TechFest and job fairs and regularly hire students from CSUN.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, the company has begun to support the school with financial contributions as well. Through the Gene Haas Foundation, it began providing program funding in 2004, and last year supported an assistant technician for the lab, as well as several student projects and scholarships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Haas corporation and Gene Haas in general have been very, very good to us,\u201d Prince says. \u201cWe\u2019re very grateful.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Haas Automation may be one of the college\u2019s most visible industry partners, it is by no means the only one, and over the past year, several other partnerships with area companies have been formalized, expanded and solidified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HAAS Automation In 1997, Stewart Prince, professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded an NSF grant to develop a paperless machine design facility\u2014one where students could do all their design work on computers and then produce the parts using CNC machines and rapid prototypers. In shopping for the CNC machines, Prince approached Haas Automation, the largest machine tool builder in the United States, to see how far the grant funds would stretch. The company, located in Oxnard and founded by CSUN alumnus Gene Haas, responded with a unique proposition: instead of selling the machines, it would entrust them to the college, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}