2008 Woodie Awards
College collaboration benefits students
Nicole DeVendra
Issue date: 4/12/06 Section: News
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The partnership will be good for faculty within the college of business, said Dr. Berkwood Farmer, dean of the College of Business.
The partnership will "provide an opportunity for faculty to look at new opportunities for research. This is good for the faculty and also lets them provide a valuable service to the Mound (the MMCIC)," Farmer said.
It will also provide students with an opportunity to intern. This will provide students with more opportunities when they graduate, Farmer said. "The program supports part of the College of Business mission statement, which is: become involved in the business community," said Farmer.
The MMCIC is concerned with the Mound Advanced Technology Center (MATC) in Miamisburg. Associate professor of management Dr. Scott Williams, said the MATC is a research facility with advanced lab space, high tech lasers and a highly trained work force.
The facility was created by the Department of Energy for work on explosives and weapons technology, including nuclear programs. In 1993, the Department of Energy turned the facility over to the community, and a long cleanup process of sensitive materials began.
In the fall of 2005, the federal government allocated an additional thirty million dollars for cleanup.
When the cleanup is complete, the facility will become a high tech business park. Some businesses are already operating at the sight, Williams said. Some of these businesses are concerned with the development of alternative fuels and medical devices.
"The facility has turned from weapons to the benefit of society," Williams said.
Wright State faculty and students from the Raj Soin College of Business can become involved because there are a number of business problems to be solved at the site, said Williams, who serves as a senior strategy consultant for the MMCIC.
Strategic plans are being developed to make the most of the facility. Since March 1, the Raj Soin College of Business has had a memorandum of understanding with the MMCIC to investigate other ways to collaborate, and eventually graduate courses may be offered at the site.
Business students are not the only students who may benefit from the partnership, said Williams. In addition to interns currently at the site from the Raj Soin College of Business, there are also students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science working on the project, and there may be many opportunities for engineering students in the future.
