Now complete, Carthage Engineering Center designed for practicality

The fresh scent of innovation wafts throughout the Engineering Center at Carthage College, a recently completed 15,000-square-foot facility that empowers students to learn engineering by practicing it.

Explore Carthage Engineering

Since last summer, when the second phase of renovations wrapped up on the lower level of Lentz Hall, students and professors in the College’s fast-growing engineering program have settled into several new spaces:

• a Thermo-Fluid Systems Laboratory to complement coursework in dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics
• an Electro-Mechanical Systems Laboratory to build on coursework in statics, solid mechanics, materials, and electronics
• a Design Research Studio with dedicated space for seniors’ industry-sponsored capstone projects
• a seminar room that connects to both engineering laboratories for instruction and industry seminars
• a makerspace for prototyping, part of the hands-on element of the curriculum
• two design studios to support the industry-coupled, practice-based component
• a collaboration space and conference area for small classes and meetings with industry partners
• offices for engineering faculty members

The first phase of the facility previously opened in fall 2023.

Engineering professor Kathryn Hasz works with students in the design studio.“Carthage engineering students are already seeing how this new Engineering Center facilitates our program’s emphasis on real projects that address real needs of our community,” says Robert Nagel, director of engineering. “Our graduates will have an advantage over others because their studies mimic authentic engineering practice.”

Depending on their goals and interests, students can pursue either of two related majors at Carthage.

• Engineering: A Bachelor of Science degree aligned with ABET accreditation standards prepares students for a variety of pathways in the engineering profession.
• Applied Engineering: A Bachelor of Arts degree develops an engineering mindset for students to solve problems in business, biotechnology, the arts, and other career fields.

The Carthage engineering curriculum teaches students to identify and solve challenges through design, analysis, and testing of devices and processes. By working with community stakeholders like InSinkErator and Engineered Exhaust Systems, students are assured of at least 2 1/2 academic years of engineering project experience before graduation.

While the center is designed to accommodate engineering students, the faculty and staff encourage others to mingle in the common areas. When hiring “maker mentors,” laboratory manager Bennett Cook draws from the full student population.

The current mentors, all physics majors, helped develop a training process for the makerspace and its fabrication equipment. This spring, they’ll train newcomers how to safely use the laser cutter, vinyl printer, and 3-D printers.

“My favorite part, by far, is learning and working with all of the equipment,” says Semaje Farmer ’26, one of those mentors. “We all come together and teach each other what we’ve learned about different machines. That, to me, is amazing.”

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