Illinois Valley Community College’s Making Industry Meaningful In College (MIMIC) project was the focus of a workshop at Starved Rock Lodge & Conference Center May 21 – 23. Twenty participants, from as far away as North Carolina and Nevada, learned to develop similar projects at their schools and colleges.

The award-winning MIMIC project teams students in engineering design, electronics and business into student "companies" that design, prototype, manufacture, market and sell products. The multi-disciplinary student teams simulate a business / industry environment. The project emphasizes workplace skills including communication, critical thinking, teamwork and problem solving.

A National Science Foundation grant, which has been supporting the project for the past three years, also funded the workshop.

"The NSF asked us to offer the workshop to encourage more schools to provide similar workplace preparation to their students," said Dorene Perez, workshop coordinator and Program Coordinator of Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Engineering at IVCC.

To read more about  MIMIC WORKSHOP

MIMIC PROJECT FEATURED IN NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ATE IMPACT BOOK

Illinois Valley Community College’s Making Industry Meaningful In College (MIMIC) project has been featured in the National Science Foundation’s ATE Project Impact book.

In 2005, IVCC was awarded a $230,000 grant from the NSF to build its technical programs around the MIMIC project, which allows engineering design, electronics and business students to experience a work environment in a classroom setting.

Under the grant, freshmen in engineering design and electronics are introduced to continuous quality improvement, reengineering and team work. In their final semester, students work in MIMIC teams, called companies, to design, produce, market and sell a product.

Promising technical students are also being provided with opportunities to develop their leadership skills and are utilizing those skills in recruiting and mentoring activities.

The Impact book features 84 Advanced Technological Education (ATE) projects supported by the NSF and is co-sponsored by the American Association of Community Colleges.