The mission of the O.T. Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory is to provide clinical “real-world” experiences for Rensselaer students.

The O.T. Swanson Lab provides a culminating experience intended to prepare engineering students to enter the workforce. Projects are sponsored by global companies including Albany International, Barclay Capital, General Electric, Harris Corporation, International Business Machines, General Motors, Pitney-Bowes, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop-Grumman, and United Technologies Corporation. For each project, sponsors provide significant grants and have direct participation with the students, faculty, and staff who collaborate to provide design solutions to the problem.

The projects of the O.T. Swanson Lab are open-ended, technically challenging design problems that encompass a broad array of important contemporary issues such as technology innovation and entrepreneurship, manufacturing productivity and quality, environmental conservation and alternative energy, and aids for people who are physically and/or mentally challenged.

To date, student participation has predominantly involved mechanical, materials, electrical, computer systems, biomedical, and industrial engineering majors. In addition to industry-sponsored projects, individual entrepreneurs, and public and private foundations have sponsored projects as well. These projects enhance and broaden the mix of possible project options for students.

The O.T. Swanson Lab includes the Haas Technical Center, which provides the latest in advanced computer numerical control machine tool technology for Rensselaer students. A grant from Agilent Technologies has established a new state-of-the-art electrical instrumentation and test area.

In addition to physical facilities, the O.T. Swanson Lab is very much a function of the students, faculty, staff, and sponsors who become involved with projects. A multidisciplinary team of faculty advises students on projects; core engineering staff members provide invaluable project support services; and sponsors provide the students with first-hand exposure to the business world.

The O.T. Swanson Lab is used for a variety of popular hands-on design and manufacturing-related courses that include Introduction to Engineering Design, Inventor’s Studio, Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory, and Product Realization. Approximately 400 students utilize the Lab on a weekly basis each semester.

2003-2004 saw the beginning of seven new industry-sponsored projects, two service-oriented projects, and one entrepreneurial project. More than 190 students from mechanical, electrical, computer systems, materials, industrial, and biomedical engineering are participating in sponsored projects.

Design projects include:

• Feature development for a new car options package appealing to young buyers
• A steam test facility for evaluating new energy efficient turbine system concepts
• Demonstration of smart adaptive machine controls for integrated factory automation
• Advanced filtration for new and improved energy efficient indoor air quality
• High efficiency magnetic filtration system design to capture and dispose of CRUD
• Steam turbine seal design for improved energy efficiency
• Parametric mapping system for inspection of paper making porous media
• Course development for embedded controls using an intelligent blimp
• System concepts for independent senior living
• Concept development and engineering test of a vertical axis wind turbine

Learn more about the O.T. Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory.