Tag Archive | Engineering
24 January 2013  

‘Engineering Plastics’ Social Group Overthrown

By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
January 24, 2013

Note: This column originally appeared as part of the Exponent’s Sugarbeet page, a satirical biweekly feature that attempts to stimulate discussion of critical community issues.

The Engineering Plastics plot their next lunch room brawl at the Union Market. Illustration by Pat Hessman, MSU Exponent

The Engineering Plastics plot their next lunch room brawl at the Union Market. From left to right, Drs. Otto Stein, Joel Cahoon, Dan VanLuchene, and Dan Miller. Illustration by Pat Hessman, MSU Exponent

In a shot heard ‘round Cobleigh Hall, a mostly peaceful coup d’état has toppled a tight-knit social group of three civil engineering professors known colloquially as the “Engineering Plastics.”

Dr. Dan VanLuchene, a structures professor, orchestrated the apparently successful coup, according to sources within the College of Engineering Dean’s Office.

The three toppled professors were Drs. Joel Cahoon, Otto Stein and Dan Miller. According to sources, the three professors had overseen a reign of terror since Miller was hired in fall 2008 and regularly ate lunch together in the Union Market. Read More…

22 March 2012  

STEM Majors Need Increased Flexibility for International Success

By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
March 22, 2012

It’s a rare engineering or science student who has never suddenly wondered, perhaps as he or she frantically crams for an exam in the suffocating late-night hours, “When will I ever use this?”

Many students slogging through the death march of calculus and basic science courses fail to see how their degrees will actually help others, and some switch majors or drop out altogether.

The week before spring break, three other students and I gave a presentation to the Engineering Advisory Council on international opportunities available to engineering students at MSU. While waiting to speak, employees from companies as diverse as Boeing and American Express discussed how important international experiences and cultural sensitivities are. Read More…

1 March 2012  

MSU to Launch ‘Conservative Arts’ Program

By Brent Zundel
For the MSU Exponent
March 1, 2012

Note: This column originally appeared as part of the Exponent’s Sugarbeet page, a satirical biweekly feature that attempts to stimulate discussion of critical community issues.

In response to the wide diversity of potentially conflicting opinions presented in liberal arts institutes across the country, MSU announced plans this Monday to launch a “Conservative Arts” program. MSU professor and newly appointed program director Johan Oldmeier promised this new initiative will “make America great again,” presumably referring to the Golden Age of conservatism in a distant, romanticized past, when the Cuyahoga River caught fire due to a lack of pollutant regulation and people still died of things like polio.

“While liberal arts programs encourage introspective self-searching — like smoking weed,” Oldmeier explained, “this conservative arts program will focus on strict discipline and controlled learning environments, using the judicious application of medication and military force to obtain both.”

“Yes, that means Ritalin and corporal punishment,” he clarified. Read More…