New Product Development Assistance
Faculty mentor/Supervisor:
Scott Leavengood
Email Address:
Department Affiliation:
Wood Science & Engineering
Project Location:
Primarily Richardson Hall and Oak Creek Buildings
Project Description:
Student will assist the Oregon Wood Innovation Center in its efforts to foster innovation in the forest industry.
Describe the type of work and tasks you anticipate the student will perform:
Student will work with faculty mentor and industry representatives to help solve product performance issues, develop new products, and to test the performance of these products. This will involve tasks such as: work in the composites lab to produce plywood or particleboard; use common woodworking tools like chop saws and table saws to cut test specimens; measure the performance of the specimens in accelerated weathering chambers as well as universal testing machines (for properties such as hardness, bending strength, etc.); assess materials with a microscope to determine depth of penetration of adhesives, causes of failures, etc.
Hourly rate of pay:
16
What is the expected timeline of this project?:
November 19th through the end of Winter term (could start sooner but mentor will be on a Fulbright Fellowship in Finland until November 15th)
Are special skills or knowledge required to work on this project?:
No
Will training be provided?:
Yes
How many hours per week do you anticipate a student to work?:
10
How many hours per week do you anticipate engaging in direct mentorship?:
2-3
Detail your mentorship plan:
I have been working with student workers for well over a decade. I learned early on that the students really want to understand the what and why of the work they do, not just the how. This takes mentoring. So I always directly involve the students in discussions with industry clientele about the scope and scale of new product development projects and then in the conduct of the projects themselves and well as in the development of the follow-up reports. Student workers typically only work unsupervised after a significant amount of training and education about the details of the work they are doing (e.g., bending tests provide information on modulus of rupture; how is that calculated and what exactly does it mean??)