The J-916 computer is being purchased through a partnership between Stout and Phillips Plastics Corporation, Chippewa Valley Technical College, Cray Research and the Wisconsin Department of Development. DOD has awarded the university an initial grant of $500,000, Phillips will provide an additional $100,000 in support, and Cray Research has pledged a product discount and technical assistance.
The unit will be housed in the Stout Technology Park at the Origen Center, a research and development facility owned by the Origen Group, an affiliate of Phillips Plastics. The computer will be used to serve small to midsize manufacturers in product design analysis and manufacturing problem-solving simulations. It will be linked to the Stout campus where it will be used by students and faculty in programs such as manufacturing engineering, applied math, and physics.
"This is symbolic," said Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen. "It shows that a school our size can be in the forefront of manufacturing technology, that business doesn't have to look to the big, major universities." The chancellor pointed out that the acquisition supports the university's long-standing technology transfer program, through which dozens of small companies have been assisted in re-tooling with the latest manufacturing technology.
Bob Cervenka, CEO at Phillips, said at a press conference announcing the purchase, that the computer is "the ultimate tool" for simulated manufacturing processes. He noted that the Cray computer could do in five minutes what would take other computer systems up to 27 hours to do.
During the next five years, about 450 companies are expected to be served through the computer. The project will leverage more than $5 million in private and other public funds.
"A strong U.S. apparel industry is important for military mobilization as well as for providing a faster response to military ongoing special clothing needs," an Army spokesperson said, adding that "the goal is having the right product in the right place at the right time-at a competitive value."
To achieve this goal, the Department of Defense selected 24 agencies in the country as Apparel Research Network (ARN) partners, one of which is UW-Stout.
The net contract is $50,000 for the first year and $50,000 for the next two consecutive years. The purpose of the initial three-year contract, according to Albrecht, is to develop a "roadmap" of projects for the next seven years that will strengthen the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry.
"The objective is to reduce the number of dress uniform orders treated as `special measurement,'" Albrecht said. "This will be possible by using existing CAD (computer aided design) technology to make available, by special order, sizes beyond the current size tariff as well as commonly needed alterations which are impossible to accomplish after the garment is made."
Albrecht said that computer technology makes it possible for extensions of the size tariff and variations of the standard pattern to be resident on computer for access whenever needed. This saves the cost of repeating the same pattern alterations.
"This speeds the process of producing the majority of out-of-tariff (unusual size) uniforms which do not require individually sized patterns," Albrecht said.
The project will extend electronic grade rule tables of the U.S. Army dress uniform components to the limit of larger and smaller sizes determined necessary by historical data, according to Albrecht.
"Computer integration is the key to strengthening the apparel industry," Albrecht said. "Currently, CAD systems are the most favorably received and well developed."
What a difference a century makes. What was once Stout's Training School for Domestic Science Teachers evolved into the School of Home Economics, and has now, by recent action of the UW System Board of Regents, been renamed the School of Human Environmental Sciences.
"A primary purpose of that (first) unit was to prepare home economics teachers," Esther Fahm, dean of the school, said. Today there are many specialized degree program offerings which lead to a variety of professions.
Programs lead to professional careers in business, industry, education, and community and government agencies. Programs are science-based and integrate the social, biological, natural, developmental and managerial sciences for the purpose of improving the human condition and the quality of life and service, according to Fahm, and so the name-Human Environmental Sciences.
"This new name reflects the evolution and development of our professional field of study in higher education," Fahm said. "It builds upon the rich tradition of disciplines that our school has historically offered."
Provost George DePuy said he did a study of 19 similar schools around the country, and only six still maintain the term "home economics" in their name.
"This name change, from Home Economics to Human Environmental Sciences, reflects the fact that the discipline that was called home economics has evolved far beyond its original definition," DePuy said. "Most other schools of home economics at other universities have already changed their names."
Other universities using the name human environmental sciences include University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, East Carolina University, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Oklahoma State University.
"The administrative team, faculty, staff and students join me in announcing with esteem this new era of development in our field at UW-Stout," Fahm said. "The name change is a momentous event for our school."
Q: What professional titles will graduates from the School of Human Environmental Sciences use?
A: Individual professional titles may be determined in many ways. However, for years our graduates have frequently used their area of specialization, certification and/or occupational roles as professional titles. Graduates have called themselves dietitians, apparel designers, hotel managers and early childhood teachers. Our graduates will continue to utilize such titles.
Family and Consumer Educational Services is the general degree program within our school. Human Environmental Sciences serves as an "umbrella" descriptor of the academic programs array and focus of our unit as a whole and not necessarily the professional title for graduates.
Q: Since the profession adopted the name "Family and Consumer Sciences," why did the school not adopt the same name?
A: At UW-Stout, a major goal of the name change was to reflect the focus and evolution of academic programs that have already occurred within the school, and to position the unit for the 21st century in an increasingly complex society and higher education environment. Academic programs have become increasingly specialized within our school. They align with the unifying focus and conceptual framework of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences as well as with that of several other professional organizations such as the American Dietetic Association, the Council on Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Education and the American Apparel Manufacturers Association. The name Human Environmental Sciences reflects a broad scope of programs, specializations and professional alignments within the school.
With a $90,000 lab modernization grant from Stout, the physics department was able to update the lab and make the latest in computer technology available to students, allowing them to access information worldwide. The lab has been made more aestheically comfortable as well with carpeting, lower ceilings and lights to reduce glare. But 90 percent of the grant went to purchasing top notch high-tech equipment such as multimedia computers with sound cards and CD-ROMS, a color scanner, a color printer, a ceiling-mounted camera and video capture capability.
"We can take any video source and 'capture' or convert it to digital and store it in our computer," Jim Pejsa explains. These video clips can be used later in instruction modules. Pejsa, professor of physics, has been integrally involved in setting up the new lab.
A video of a basketball free throw could be "captured" and saved to use for a physics projectile motion lesson. It can be viewed in motion or frame by frame.
"We're excited about it," Pesja says. "It's a very advanced computing lab, especially as far as our Internet activity." He notes that the software the lab uses is highly sophisticated and connects easily to the "World Wide Web."
"We can provide our students with the absolute latest software available to enable them to access information worldwide," he says. Computer graphics, color, sound and animation draw students into an exciting world of science and technology that few would have dreamed possible 25 years ago.
The lab is also used to teach other classes within the department such as astronomy and meteorology. Students can get a satellite image of the latest weather maps anywhere in the world. Pejsa notes that Purdue University has an excellent weather processor that UW-Stout students use often.
Curriculum has been designed for the World Wide Web, and instructors can find teaching modules to use for students as well.
Lab reports are all done with computers, Pejsa says. Students should become very familiar with computer spreadsheets because they are ubiquitous in the business world. They are especially adaptable to physics lab reports.
"More and more is being produced on CDs in physics," Pejsa says. One CD can contain all the information from six physics textbooks with lots of room left over.
Pejsa, who has been in love with computers for 25 years, says he had always wanted to use them for teaching, but they just weren't powerful enough. "Now there are all kinds of ways to use them in teaching. We are doing some amazing things."
An object or a visual aide placed on a table beneath the ceiling-mounted camera can be viewed by students on four television screens located strategically in the lab.
Pejsa, who has been teaching for 20 years, says the new technology makes teaching even more exciting. "And we are constantly developing new curriculum to make use of this high technology," he says.
People in the UW-Stout physics department call their new lab "Laboratory Heaven."
Check out the Physics Home Page.
Industrial design students within the department of art and design have been involved in a number of projects in conjunction with well-known national companies. Two such collaborative projects have been with Rollerblade Inc., of Minnetonka, Minn., and PUMA USA, of Brockton, Mass.
Projects like these are one reason so many students are drawn to the art and design department at UW-Stout. According to Paul DeLong, art program director, there are more than 600 students in the program, and there's a waiting list for some concentrations.
"It is one of the largest undergraduate art programs in the state," DeLong said. "And it's the only industrial design program in the whole UW System." DeLong said that the only other such program is at a private art school.
The project with Rollerblade was initiated by UW-Stout alumnus Todd Olsen, senior industrial designer at the company. The endeavor was supported by a small grant, and the company provided product samples and informational support. Olsen, a 1983 graduate from New Ulm, Minn., advised and directed students and critiqued their work.
Olsen said UW-Stout students gave a diverse, fresh look to Rollerblade products. "They did an excellent job," he said. "Our management was impressed."
Benjamin Pratt, instructor of the industrial design class, said the project was good for students in that "they saw ways in which the skills they are learning can be used professionally. And it was great to work with a company so open to creativity and new ideas."
This was the second time UW-Stout students worked with PUMA. Last year students worked on ideas for footwear. This year, juniors in Robert Rabinovitz's industrial design class designed a new sport or activity and the gear that would go with it, from the clothing to the arena.
Rabinovitz said students were innovative with their ideas for both sports and equipment. Designs included a virtual reality shoe, shoes for walking the tracks of roller coasters and power walking shoes which incorporate an elastic band between the hands and shoes.
Todd Ellis, a UW-Stout graduate from Green Bay, is employed as a designer at PUMA and engineered this collaborative effort. "We're always looking for new ideas," he said, "and we wanted input from the Midwest. Stout students generated a lot of new ideas."
"Todd (Ellis) advocated for the selection of his alma mater due to its up and coming industrial design program which is improving every year," said David Miller, director of research and design at PUMA.
"The final presentations surpassed all expectations," Miller said. "As director of research and design at PUMA USA, I can assure you that we will definitely try to do this project next year or the following year."
Puma must, in fact, have been impressed. The company recruited another UW-Stout student, David Stender, a design student and athlete, after seeing his work in the program.