Cedarville Magazine, Spring/Summer 2015

time to get all the data in the real world,” he said. “Designing an engine requires using your best engineering assessment within your constraints. The senior design project requires students to think with a real-world mentality.” “Cedar v i l l e’s a c ademi c excellence stands out,” commented Abraham Vivas ’12, an Electronic Controls Engineer on the Dodge Ram diesel engine. “The classes, the rigorous projects, the competition opportunities, and the professors’ expectations match the levels of more renowned universities and in some ways, exceed them.” Senior-level classes at Cedarville would count as graduate courses at other schools, Dewhurst contended. Dewhurst earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate from Cornell University. “When they go for their master’s degree, it’s like a review,” he said. “Former students tell us they feel very well prepared for graduate school.” Vivas was part of the Cummins recruiting team that visited Cedarville last year. One of the other scouts, who had never even heard of Cedarville, was pleasantly shocked by the vast opportunities students have to work through normal engineering workplace problems. “I took a new course onmicrocontrollers that was just being developed,” Vivas continued. “I practiced skills that I’m using at my job every day.” Students grow in their engineering confidence by trying, failing, assessing, and improving, Dewhurst noted. “They see things that don’t work,” he explained. “They had to build a boat, and then they went back and fixed it.” Call it the Genesis 32 approach to engineering education. “It’s like Jacob wrestling with God,” Dewhurst continued. “They have to wrestle with it till they get it; that’s what we’re doing here. Wrestle with it till you master it — that’s a whole other level of ability. I think our senior design course captures that.” Last year’s Solar Boat team struggled with engine problems during the competition at Eastwood Lake in Dayton, Ohio. “The team worked extremely hard last year, but the motors failed,” Dewhurst said. “The boat was incredible. We’re considering patenting our solar panel design, but we didn’t quite get there. “We could have taken the boat from the previous year and the competition wouldn’t have come close. But it also wouldn’t have been very educational.” Kinsinger concurred. “Engineering is more and more theoretical,” he said. “Application is going out the window. It’s so much easier designing on a computer than actually building something and seeing if it works or not. It’s a quantum leap difference. “Employers keep saying they want experience, teamwork, and hands-on, but universities aren’t going that direction. Except for Cedarville.” Cummins offers challenging, meaningful work right away to new hires and interns. “We give them the support they need, but at the same time, they’ve got a lot of work to do,” Wenig said. “The Cedarville students have been very successful.” Transmitting the Knowledge And they match their engineering acumen with written and verbal skills that would make any English professor proud. “We force them to present,” Dewhurst said. “Our [Solar Boat] teamhas won first place for technical report many, many years. Several years ago one of the other teams asked, ‘How come Cedarville is always winning the report?’ One of the judges said, ‘There’s nothing really wrong with your report, but if you read the Cedarville report, it is just so good.’” All Cummins summer interns, regardless of their school, give an end-of-summer presentation. “It’s very easy to pick out the Cedarville students,” said Wenig. “They have strong presentation skills and are very confident in their work without being arrogant or overconfident. They know how to lead meetings. Cedarville grads have no problems with presentations.” Students are required to give presentations in many of their classes, Vivas remembered, sometimes before students, sometimes before faculty, and sometimes to people who don’t know the engineering field. “Communication skills are extremely necessary in today’s workforce,” he said. Coaching at the Core Another factor that stands apart in the Cedarville program is the way faculty members engage with their students — outside of class as much as in class. “At state institutions, faculty are committed to research; graduate students teach the class,” Kinsinger said. “That’s not the case at Cedarville. We do research, but our primary motivation is teaching. That’s a real distinctive.” Brown compared the experience of his Cummins colleagues who attended other schools. “Not many of them had their professors’ home telephone numbers,” he said. “We were expected to actually make that phone call. But that’s the commitment Cedarville professors make. That’s a large part of our success.” “Professors are genuinely interested in the students’ learning and development,” Vivas added. “It is not uncommon to see professors staying later than usual or being flexible with their schedules to help students whose hours don’t match with their office hours.” What stands out the most about Cedarville professors is that they are interested in more than just academics, but in the students’ development as a whole. “Many of my professors gave me advice on internships, career-related decisions, life decisions, and spiritual matters,” said Vivas, “and for that I am truly grateful.” ClemBoyd is Managing Editor of Cedarville Magazine . Abraham Vivas ‘12 and Joshua Brown ‘11 are two of 38 Cedarville graduates now working at Cummins. 14 | Cedarville Magazine