image: UTSA Mechanical Engineering Professor Frank Chen shows San Antonio area high school students one of the research laboratories in UTSA's new Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems. view more
Credit: Kris Edward Rodriguez
The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Engineering has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Department of Defense to build and support new research laboratories in manufacturing engineering. The grant will greatly enhance the research infrastructure of UTSA’s new Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems which was established last spring.
Leading the UTSA team of investigators is Frank Chen, Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Advanced Manufacturing and Can Saygin, associate professor of mechanical engineering.
“We feel UTSA’s new Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems will attract more federal funding as well as help local communities to build up their manufacturing business and assist our manufacturing industries around San Antonio and South Texas,” said Chen, director of UTSA Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems. “We are looking at radio frequency identification system technologies which are gaining popularity and in some cases are being mandated for suppliers to use as part of their required supplier qualification systems.”
The center will serve as a “one-stop, unique source of expertise in flexible and lean technologies and systems, state-of-the-art technology applications in manufacturing, service, and defense industries” with the intention to work with industrial partners and assist them with their manufacturing and system needs.
Additionally, the center will serve as a catalyst in the continued exploration of adding additional master’s degree programs in the College of Engineering. The benefits of the center are countless not only for its industrial partners, but also for College of Engineering students participating in the program as the experience and knowledge gained will solidify their potential to become tomorrow’s leading minds in engineering.
One of the nation’s leading producers of Hispanic engineers, the UTSA College of Engineering offers high-quality doctoral, master’s and ABET-accredited bachelor’s degree programs. The college’s four departments—Biomedical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering—have prepared thousands of graduates for successful careers in the public and private sectors and higher education. Over the past five years, the college has seen a 90 percent increase in enrollment with more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in its programs.
For more information, go to http://engineering.utsa.edu/.
The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Texas and the second largest of nine academic universities and six health institutions in the UT System. As a multicultural institution of access and excellence, UTSA aims to be a premier public research university providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
UTSA serves more than 28,500 students in 63 bachelor’s, 43 master’s and 20 doctoral degree programs in the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, Sciences and Graduate School. Founded in 1969, UTSA is an intellectual and creative resource center and a socioeconomic development catalyst for Texas and beyond.