University Park, Pa. -- John S. Lamancusa, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Learning Factory, is one of five engineering educators chosen by the National Academy of Engineering to share the 2006 Bernard M. Gordon Prize, a $500,000 award that recognizes innovation in engineering and technology education.
Lamancusa and his colleagues were honored "for creating the Learning Factory, where multidisciplinary student teams develop engineering leadership skills by working with industry to solve real-world problems."
The Learning Factory originated from a coalition that included Penn State, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (UPRM), the University of Washington (UW), Sandia National Laboratories, and 36 industrial partners who shared a desire to give undergraduate engineering students first-hand experience in design, manufacturing and business.
In the program, students tackle real-world problems provided by industrial partners. Working in teams, they define and characterize the problem, build a solution prototype, write a business proposal and present their ideas in a final report. Recent projects include designing a neonatal chest movement sensor to monitor infant respiration, and improving a car seatback adjustment mechanism to enhance passenger safety.
"The Learning Factory is an internationally recognized leader in interdisciplinary, industry-partnered, active learning," said Lamancusa. "The Learning Factory is based on the belief that students learn better from immersion than from passive listening. As Albert Einstein said, 'The only source of knowledge is experience.'"
Initially funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation/Advanced Research Projects Agency as a Manufacturing Engineering Education Partnership (MEEP), the Learning Factory was integrated into the curricula at Penn State, UPRM, and UW in 1997. Since then, Learning Factory concepts and course materials have spread to other departments at these institutions and to other universities in the United States and Latin America. More than 10,000 students have created more than 1,200 Learning Factory design projects involving more than 200 industry partners.
The four other recipients of the 2006 Gordon Prize are:
-- Jens E. Jorgensen, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at UW. Jorgensen led facilities development at all three partner universities and directed the Learning Factory at UW until his retirement in 2000;
-- Lueny Morell, director of university relations for Latin America at Hewlett-Packard and former professor of chemical engineering at UPRM. Morel led the Learning Factory curriculum development at UPRM, and continues to conduct dissemination workshops and assessment activities;
-- Allen L. Soyster, dean of the College of Engineering at Northeastern University and former head of the industrial and manufacturing engineering department at Penn State. Soyster led the administration of the MEEP and was responsible for assembling the Learning Factory faculty and staff and for establishing the Industry Advisory Board;
-- Jose L. Zayas-Castro, professor and chair of industrial and management systems engineering at the University of South Florida. Zayas-Castro established the Learning Factory at UPRM and has adapted Learning Factory concepts to other U.S. universities.
The National Academy of Engineering is an independent, nonprofit institution. Its membership consists of the nation's premier engineers, who are elected by their peers for seminal contributions to engineering. The academy provides leadership and guidance to government on the application of engineering resources to social, economic and security problems. Established in 1964, it operates under the Congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.