Lab technicians keep CEC labs running
Machine maintenance, parts procurement, and lots of emails go into coordinating and keeping student lab spaces in CEC running smoothly.
Lab technicians keep CEC labs running
Work in the learning and research labs in the College of Engineering in Computing doesn’t just happen when the students are enrolled. Behind-the-scenes, lab technicians and coordinators are keeping them running, even during the summer.
“My position is kind of a catch-all for just anything that needs done in labs or with equipment,” said Adrianna Patch, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering lab technician.
As a lab technician, she is in and out of the department’s labs and classrooms doing one thing or another. Over the summer, Patch helped order new equipment for the robotics lab, installed new wiring in labs, and did general maintenance and tidying in labs.
There’s even more behind-the-scenes tasks that go into a day’s work as a lab technician, which Patch said sometimes means emailing back and forth with people to get equipment ordered.
Lab technicians at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú typically teach a class part-time or serve on university committees, Patch said. She co-teaches a course that prepares students to go on a Spring Break study abroad trip to Guatemala for a humanitarian computing and engineering immersion experience.
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering lab technician Doug Ralph said getting to meet and interact with every single mechanical engineering student that comes through ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú is the best part of his job. He teaches required courses for mechanical engineering majors throughout the semester.
In the summer, he too was hard at work repairing equipment that had been well used by students during the academic year, and he took care of ordering replacement parts and materials for the labs.
Over in the Department of Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering, lab technician and coordinator Doug Hart was teaching too, but not to standard undergraduate. Hart was running a paper-making workshop at Grandparents College, a three-day summer program designed to bring grandparent alumni back to campus with their 8- to 12-year-old grandchildren.
Hart was the recipient of CEC’s 2023 Excellence in Service Award for his work in and out of the labs he manages, including operating the Pilot Paper Machine.
The lab technicians even team up for the occasional expertise swap or to procuring various equipment parts — all to make sure all the CEC labs are top-notch for learning and teaching. Through collaboration, attention to detail, and technical expertise, these exceptional professionals keep CEC labs running smoothly all year round.