Horizons Online Edition

Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: News

After nearly five years of planning and construction, the new Aerospace Experimentation and Fabrication Building has been completed. At the spearhead of the building project was Dean Don Raybern. In his speech at the grand opening he voiced his amazement that the project was completed as fast as it was.

Chancellor Dan Carrell told the people in attendance that the AXFAB will, "take ERAU to the next level." Many of the faculty and students in their individual presentations also took the same stance. Later in his speech Carrell described the building by saying it, "reeked of technology."

At every turn there is some new piece of equipment or space where equipment will soon go. Professor Jim Helbling gave a short presentation on his, "six and a half ton Erector set," which can be used to do static testing on full-sized models. He gave credit for some of the project to the advisors from Northrop Grumman who helped develop it.

During his speech, Rabern also emphasized that the AXFAB project was directly influenced by many industrial leaders. Helbling described it as, "a collaboration of industry" and also said that almost all the requests of these leaders as well as faulty members were fulfilled. This helped attain the goal of building a bridge between the classroom and industry.

According to Helbling's philosophy of, "In the real world there is no back of the book," this building is a big step forward for students on their way into careers. The AXFAB will open a lot of opportunities for both faculty and students to gain experience without ever leaving the campus.

The biggest impact that this building has had on the faculty is the capability for more research. Currently Dr. Lanning and another faculty member are using both of the building's independent research areas. For students pursuing a career, this opens huge opportunities for experience without having to leave the campus.

The senior projects are another one of the things most affected by the AXFAB. Not only will the quality of the projects increase, but also the accuracy of the tests. Some of the new equipment allow for a full-scale model to be tested instead of a scaled model.

After the speeches Harsh Menon, an Aerospace Engineering senior, was touring the facilities. He gave a short presentation on the materials lab and then explained some of the projects he had done in there. One of them was testing materials at different temperatures and then observing them under the powerful electron microscope.

Menon also described the prospect of doing his senior design project in the AXFAB as "exciting." Like most seniors he was also a little sad to only get to use the facilities for one year. The alumni also looked longingly at the AXFAB as they remembered their materials lab.

The wide open bays and labs of the AXFAB are far different from the two rooms that comprised the former materials lab. Much the size of an office, it contained technology from wall to wall. As Dr. Lanning describes, the microscope was in "a broom closet." However, the accomplishments of past classes in the old materials lab are one of the reasons for receiving the AXFAB.

According to Dr. Tom Gally, the university does not foresee any big projects for the College of Engineering for a while, but more classrooms are always useful. As for the AXFAB, over the next few years older equipment will be replaced and new equipment will be received.

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