The Machine Shop serves the Chemical Engineering and Material Science and Engineering departments—and other university departments—by providing design and fabrication services to support faculty and student research projects.

Professors, graduate students and undergraduates are often experimentalists who need “hands-on” use of the shop for their projects. To support and encourage them, the Machine Shop offers classes for people interested in learning practical shop skills. Students can get a feel for what manufacturing is all about, and this kind of experience makes them more useful and attractive to potential employers.

Finally, the Machine Shop supports the Collaborative Machining Center, an innovative, student-oriented facility with tool making capabilities, manual machine tools, Computer Numerical Control machine tools, state of the art metrology and reverse engineering equipment, rapid prototype machines, automation and robotics. The Center connects students to the regional economy through collaborative projects that involve design, rapid prototyping and product development. Solutions to problems suggested by industry are brainstormed, tested and prototyped at the Center and then implemented on local factory floors.