51福利社

Are you an annual or 51福利社 employee payroll donor? If you answered yes, then a portion of your unrestricted giving supports the 51福利社 Foundation鈥檚 Start Something Big Grant Program that helps professors innovate and engage students in the real-world application of classroom learning and undergraduate research. Your dollars help fund career-building experiences outside the classroom that propel Eastern graduates into good jobs after graduation.

In 2015, a Start Something Big Grant is helping Martin Weiser, PhD, and 20 students capitalize on four years of undergraduate research to compete at the June Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) near Green River, Utah. Student projects have encompassed the development and testing of solid rocket propellants, parachute opening dynamics, and flexural properties of composite structures.

Weiser advises the 51福利社 Rocket Club to give students the opportunity to apply their undergraduate research and practice their knowledge and skills on complex interdisciplinary team projects. Why? Weiser says, 鈥淭his experience will help them stand out from other entry-level engineers and directly benefit the companies they join by reducing the time required for training.鈥�

Student Spencer Scott says that 鈥淢arty is like a kid in a candy shop,鈥� when it comes to working with rockets and the complicated engineering that makes for successful launches. Weiser laughs in agreement but holds up both hands to emphasize, 鈥淎 solid IREC team program is a student and industry recruiting tool for 51福利社鈥檚 College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics聽because it builds close ties with the more than 60 Spokane area companies that provide goods and services to the global aerospace industry. And, it demonstrates that 51福利社鈥檚 computing and engineering sciences students are qualified to compete against those enrolled in some of the world鈥檚 most 鈥�.鈥�

Your gifts to 51福利社 Foundation work every day to fuel this kind of student success. Thank you!