School of Engineering Designated a Haas Technical Education Center
Engineering students at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, now have ongoing access to the most modern computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools.
The college’s School of Engineering was recently named a Haas Technical Education Center by Oxnard, Calif.-based Haas Automation Inc., the world’s largest CNC machine tool builder. “Haas selected the School of Engineering based upon its nationally accredited programs, the number and quality of its students, and its progressive manufacturing laboratory facilities,” Ken Fisher, professor of engineering and associate director of the school, said. “As a result of the agreement, the School of Engineering has five state-of-the-art Haas CNC machine tools available for teaching and applied research, and the machines will be replaced regularly so that students and faculty are always working with the most current technology.”
Haas Technical Education Center designation also makes Penn State Behrend students eligible to participate in Haas’ scholarship, internship and career placement programs. Pennsylvania now has three Haas Technical Education Centers, all of which are located within Penn State: The School of Engineering at Penn State Behrend, the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at University Park, and Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.
Haas Automation’s product lines include CNC vertical and horizontal machining centers, CNC lathes, rotary tables, indexers and machine tool accessories. The company’s million-square-foot facility uses a “lights out” automated flexible manufacturing system to maintain cost competitiveness with foreign machine suppliers.
The School of Engineering at Penn State Behrend offers three associate and seven baccalaureate degree programs, as well as one minor. Accreditation is provided by either the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) or the Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Students participate in 11 student chapters of honorary and professional organizations, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). The School of Engineering and the Sam and Irene Black School of Business are co-located in the college’s $30 million, 160,000-square-foot Research and Economic Development Center, making Penn State Behrend one of the first institutions of higher education in the country to house its engineering and business schools together in the same facility.