New Years Brings New Directions

The College of Applied Science and Technology has been working on transitioning into the new age. Not only has there been change throughout the college to keep up in the classroom, there has also been an increase in the college’s social media presence. Other announcements include COAST combining efforts with the Linquist College of Arts and Humanities to produce unique works of art, important career resources, and COAST student competition results. 

Since the beginning of the school year the college has created an Instagram account to promote general activities within the COAST. The college updates the Facebook page with Upcoming Events and exciting new announcements and has increased their traffic by 55%. The College is putting an emphasis to make themselves more widely known and accessible to prospective students. 

New purchases made by the college includes new automated robots and machines. One of the new additions is the Baxter robot, which was purchased through a generous grant from the Perkins Company. This machine will be used by students in the Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Technology and Design class (MET 1000), and will demonstrate automation
capabilities. The robot will also be used as a recruiting tool to show potential Technology Major students what kind of technology they might be encountering in their career. In addition to new robotics, the college has added six semi-computerized HAAS lathe machines. This will help the machining courses transition into the fully automated future of machines.

The College of Applied Science and Technology and the Linquist College of Arts and Humanities collaborated for a public art class. In this class, Manufacturing Professor Andrew Decuester and Art Professor Jason Manley traveled to different public art exhibits, took trips to Spiral Jetty—an earth art form located in the Great Salt Lake—and then exhibited original pieces of art at Antelope Island. Using 3D CAD software, a 3D printer, and a water jet, the two professors designed pieces that taught students new techniques to create projects.

Weber State University students placed second in the national AbilityOne Design Challenge. The AbilityOne Design Challenge is a high school and college-level competition rewarding students who develop devices or systems to help people with disabilities succeed in the workplace. The Weber team received the second place “Best Engineering Design” trophy for creating the “Engineered Queuing User Interface and Point of Sale,” in collaboration with Pioneer Adult Rehabilitation Center. The Android-based tablet software helps employees of Runway Ruby’s Restaurant at Hill Air Force Base, who have autism or Asperger syndrome, to more accurately and efficiently take, prepare and deliver food orders.

COAST is one of only two colleges that has their own career placement officer to find students and graduates find internships and full-time jobs. Karen Doutre has set up many STEMPS fairs, and other companies to have talk sessions. Karen also is always open to helping with preparing resumes and offering interview tips for important interviews. 

Many of the departments inside the college rank well by a number of standards. For example, the online Computer Science program ranked 6th in the country with a score of 95.54 out of 100. The analysis appears comprehensive and the list includes ASU (1st), University of Massachusetts (18th) and BYU-Idaho (25th).  Another example is our undergraduate Engineering Program; our newest major. Weber State University ranks #86. That nestles us between Utah State University at #109 and the University of Utah at #57. That’s pretty great for a program that began a few years ago and just got ABET accreditation last year. Weber State does pretty well in
undergraduate rankings generally as well. WSU is #68 while USU and the U are #194 and #129 respectively.