Kurt Colvin’s Boeing Adventure

After spending his summer as a Boeing Welliver Faculty Fellow and meeting with more than 200 Boeing engineers and managers, some of whom were Cal Poly alumni, industrial and manufacturing engineering professor Kurt Colvin observed, "Nobody in the world can do what Boeing can do."

The Boeing program exposes eight select professors from U.S. and international universities to key elements and the business realities of industry and promotes interaction and collaboration between the company and academia.

Over the course of eight weeks, Colvin learned about both the Boeing military and weaponry programs and the commercial airplanes, including the 737, 767, 777, 747 and the new 787.

"I was exposed to the entire life cycle of complex system development, from initial conceptual design of the next generation, the manufacture of the large, complex assemblies, through the support of operating airplanes in the commercial fleet," explained Colvin.

Asked how his fellowship experience will influence his teaching, Colvin responded: "Cal Poly is a major source for Boeing's next generation of engineers. I bring back undergraduate projects, monetary support and the task of connecting Boeing's engineering needs with our graduates. I anticipate my collaboration with Boeing will last for the rest of my career at Cal Poly."

 

Return to the Winter 2011 Newsletter.