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Facilities

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The Prince Engineering Design Center and the Vermeer Engineering Projects Center consist of two large work areas arranged to facilitate student engineering design, especially the capstone "Senior Design Project" course. This building provides space and equipment for all Calvin student-engineers to do research, design models, and build and test prototypes.

A building that teaches

The building houses faculty and student research, senior projects, metal and wood shops, and many other project facilities. All the major building systems—structural, heating & cooling, and electrical—serve as teaching devices.

Some examples: strain gauges applied on the roof trusses allow for load-deflection and stress/strain analysis, instrumentation on the air handling unit and thermocouples on the wall surfaces allow for thermodynamic analyses, and electrical power monitoring devices connected to a computer-based data acquisition system allow for remote analysis of energy usage.

Other facility features

  • Several overhead doors and cranes to handle large-scale items, allowing Calvin engineering students to conceive and produce projects up to the size that can be delivered on a flatbed truck
  • A wet lab that can house large-scale hydraulic systems
  • A design yard that offers the opportunity to test bridge components and solar-powered systems
  • Machine and wood shops designed to accommodate large machines, such as numerically controlled milling machines
  • Interior shop walls constructed with glass panels to provide high visibility and isolation of noise and particles

A creative and interactive environment

Whether Calvin engineering students are working on design projects or developing life skills, their professors serve as teachers, models, and mentors. Our facility provides an environment that fosters important student-faculty relationships, incorporating space where students and faculty can share their time, their faith, and their experiences. The mezzanine includes a study area with tables, chairs, and computer workstations. Several faculty offices are located on the perimeter of the facility, offering easy access for students.

Additional learning areas and resources

Departmental laboratories in the Science Building and DeVries Hall include computer-aided graphics and design, chemical engineering, fluid/thermal sciences, vibrations/material science, instrumentation, electronics, and hydraulics/soil mechanics. Computer-driven machine tools are also available. The reading and reference room includes a collection of books, journals, and handbooks dedicated to engineering. Computers and engineering computer programs are used throughout the program, starting in the first-year "Graphical Communication" course. Engineering students have access to many computers in a few labs.

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