{"id":10397,"date":"2022-06-17T01:02:37","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T01:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/?p=10397"},"modified":"2022-06-13T12:06:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T12:06:08","slug":"toyota-cornell-university-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/toyota-cornell-university-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota, Cornell University Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toyota Material Handling (TMH)<\/a> and Cornell University\u2019s College of Engineering have entered a partnership dedicated to the development of an innovative learning studio that incorporates Toyota<\/a> equipment to elevate immersive engineering education to an entirely new level.<\/p>\n

The Forklift Learning Studio will be built and developed during the summer with a goal of officially launching it to Cornell engineering students at the start of the fall semester in August.<\/p>\n

Toyota<\/a> and faculty from Cornell Engineering\u2019s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) began discussing this partnership late last year as a way to revolutionize the way engineering students learn by finding a more optimal balance between lecture and lab sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students enjoy theory, but they are motivated by action \u2013 building and testing. They respond best to seeing engineering systems first and having the system motivate the theory they learn,\u201d said David Erickson, the S.C. Thomas Sze Director of MAE.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe educational opportunity Toyota<\/a> is enabling us to bring to life will fundamentally change the student experience by allowing them to see how each area of engineering connects to a larger system \u2013 in this case, a forklift. We believe this will provide students a uniquely engaging learning environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erickson intends for this to be the first of multiple learning studios. Each one will be designed to unify multiple courses and link students across classes and skill levels as they engage in work with real-world applications. They will each incorporate a fully functional system \u2013 like a forklift \u2013 so that students can use it to perform experiments and model problems that connect to lessons from other classes. This set of lab redesigns is supported by an Innovative Teaching and Learning Award from Cornell\u2019s Active Learning Initiative.<\/p>\n

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The Forklift Learning Studio will be built and developed during the summer with a goal of officially launching it to Cornell engineering students at the start of the fall semester in August.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe are excited about the future of this partnership and the impact it will have on the next generation of engineers,\u201d said Brett Wood, President and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America<\/a> and a Cornell graduate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a former engineering student, I would have loved the opportunity to learn in such a hands-on way that connects the classroom to the real world. Young people often wonder how they\u2019ll use certain theories in their professional lives because it\u2019s often difficult to connect the dots. In our Forklift Learning Studio, all of the \u2018dots\u2019 will exist in the same space as the finished product. This connects perfectly to our Toyota<\/a> culture of continuous improvement by giving Cornell Engineering students a place for continuous learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toyota<\/a> proposed that forklifts would be a perfect fit for such a learning studio and offered to donate the equipment and branding work necessary to bring the idea to life. Forklifts encompass all aspects of a mechanical engineering curriculum \u2013 they use internal combustion engines (thermofluids), bear weight (structural mechanics), and their use depends on dynamic stability (dynamics and controls).<\/p>\n

This innovative learning space will provide students with opportunities to discover new principles and to build bridges \u2013 both between their courses and from their coursework to their careers. For the college, this model provides an efficient and effective use of space that allows engaging lab work to be spread evenly through the curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cSystems thinking is at the core of what we teach students. The ability to take apart a complex system \u2013 and to analyze its key components and their interconnections \u2013 is essential to modern engineering,\u201d said Lynden Archer, the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering at Cornell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis learning studio will advance our educational priorities and enrich the MAE experience for all students. I anticipate that the model we\u2019ve formed with Toyota<\/a> will be replicated in programs that span the entire college. We deeply appreciate the expertise and forward-thinking approach that Brett and his colleagues at Toyota<\/a> have brought to the table as we reimagine engineering education and strengthen our connections to important industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to modernizing the way students learn, the mutually beneficial partnership will expose them to new products and industries where they could build successful careers. The forklift industry is an essential part of the nation\u2019s supply chain, and it is coming off a record year in 2021 with 334,000 units sold in North America. The industry contributes more than $26 billion to the United States\u2019 annual GDP and offers wide-ranging opportunities for engineers \u2013 including in automation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about it, forklifts are incredibly important to the world we live in. Everything that we buy at the grocery store, every package that ends up at our front door was touched by material handling equipment at some point in the process,\u201d said Brian Kirby, the Meinig Family Professor of Engineering at Cornell\u2019s MAE. \u201cIf we can\u2019t move goods and materials, it has a domino effect on all kinds of things in industry, the economy, and ultimately our society. The opportunity to expose our students to such an important industry while also revolutionizing the way they learn is a win-win on every level.\u201d<\/p>\n