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NEWS ARCHIVE

LEADERSHIP TEAM MEMBERS PRESENT AT ENGINEERING CONFERENCE

Two Illinois Valley Community College students participated in the American Society for Engineering Education IL/IN Section Conference recently.

Samuel McCauley of Princeton and Steve Smith of Marseilles presented a poster at the Rose-Hulman Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute, Ind. April 5.

McCauley and Smith are studying electronics. McCauley, the son of Paul McCauley of Princeton and Jody Bell of Indianapolis, Ind., is a 2006 graduate of Princeton High School. Smith, the son of Stephen and Becky Smith, is a 2006 graduate of Ottawa High School.

Both students are members of the Leadership Team at IVCC, which honors promising technical students and provides them with opportunities for personal and professional growth. The poster they presented focused on their Leadership Team activities.

"I liked being able to present next to two Rose-Hulman students," said Smith. "It speaks pretty highly for our program when we are between students from the top ranked engineering school in the country."

McCauley, who is in his second year on the team, received an award to attend the Advanced Technological Education Principal Investigators Conference in Washington D.C. in fall 2007 where he presented a showcase. He also participated in the American Society for Engineering Education Conference in Indianapolis, Ind. last year.

"It was great going back to the ASEE conference and presenting again," McCauley said. "I believe these experiences will help further our program at IVCC and hopefully inspire programs at other colleges."

McCauley will earn an Associate in Applied Science degree in electronics in December 2008. He plans to transfer to a university to pursue a bachelor’s degree in electro-mechanical engineering. He is currently working as an apprentice electrician at Elmore Electronics in Princeton.

Smith will earn an Associate in Applied Science degree in electronics in December 2008. He is currently working as an auto mechanic at Wal-Mart in Ottawa.

Leadership Team activities are supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

The students were accompanied to the conference by three IVCC professors who are the Principal Investigators on the grant: Dorene Perez, Program Coordinator of Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Engineering; Jim Gibson, Program Coordinator of Electronics; and Rose Marie Lynch, communications instructor.

The IVCC professors presented a workshop at the conference on the Making Industry Meaningful In College (MIMIC) project in which both McCauley and Smith participate.