Mechanical Engineering Gift Supports Student Design Projects

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Mac and Sheila Hogan.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Mac and Sheila Hogan of North Little Rock have contributed $150,000 to the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas. The funds will be used to support the Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate (CDIO) Initiative in the department of mechanical engineering through the purchase of equipment for a Virtual Machine Shop.

 “Mac is an outstanding graduate and partner of the College of Engineering,” said Dean John English. “He is leading an alumni effort to better equip our mechanical engineering students in the area of design that begins with the new Virtual Machine Shop. This new laboratory will take the CDIO concept and use it to enhance our efforts to graduate experienced engineers.”

The College of Engineering’s department of mechanical engineering is now an official member of the Initiative, which is considered the state-of-the-art approach to educating engineers. The university joins the ranks of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Purdue and the University of Michigan in this movement, as well as other universities worldwide. A primary objective of the initiative is to ensure students are prepared to work as engineers upon graduation.

Mechanical engineering department head Jim Leylek is leading the effort, which helps students master the engineering fundamentals through design projects. When it is fully implemented, engineering students will be provided with design projects at the start of their curriculum and have the opportunity to accumulate an impressive amount of design experience through many short, medium and long-term projects by the time they graduate. The Virtual Machine Shop will be an integral component of the initiative, as it provides students the opportunity to test the functionality of their designs by machining them in virtual space before actually making parts. Parts may also be made in prototype form on the integral 3-D printers included in the system. Few mechanical engineering departments have such an advanced design system, which allows students to experience the “implement and operate” aspects of their Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate-based engineering education.  

 “Our best hope to prepare students who are capable of engineering immediately upon graduation is CDIO,” Leylek said. “The ability to engineer immediately upon graduation will give our students the edge they need to become successful in the marketplace. It’s going to do a lot of good for many generations of future students in our program at the U of A. The Arkansas Academy of Mechanical Engineering has provided significant encouragement for this effort, and the Hogans had the vision to see that the timing was right to push for the creation of the Virtual Machine Shop in an effort to help us realize our dream. The entire mechanical engineering family is so appreciative of their support, generosity and leadership.”

Hogan, a member of the Arkansas academy, said, “Arkansas’ mechanical engineering department is in the enviable position of being first in its region to adopt this exciting curriculum and now joins the greatest universities in the world. What is now required for success with this exciting opportunity is financial support to guarantee the latest equipment technologies and world-class facilities for the faculty and students. Sheila and I hope our gift is the stimulus for support from all the stakeholders in the mechanical engineering department’s future – alumni, corporate sponsors, foundations, the general public and more. We must ensure all appreciate how lives are changed for the better through mechanical engineering.”

Hogan is a 1965 graduate of the College of Engineering’s mechanical engineering program and received the distinguished alumnus award in 2012. He is chairman and president of Poloplaz Inc. and Air Tech Coatings Inc. and is also a member of the College of Engineering’s Campaign Arkansas Steering Committee.