By University Relations
Bernie Sievers won first place in the Mastercam Innovator of the Future contest
VINCENNES, IN – A Vincennes University alumnus and student is the recipient of a national technology award. Bernie Sievers, Vincennes, a 2007 graduate of VU’s Advanced Manufacturing program who continues to refine his skills in VU classes, won first place in the Mastercam Innovator of the Future contest. The contest involved designing and manufacturing a steering wheel.
This marks the second year that Sievers has won the award and the third year that a VU student has won the Innovator of the Future award.
Sievers recently returned from the award presentation in La Habra, Calif., as the guest of Mastercam, sponsor of the national contest. Doug Bowman, associate professor of Machine Trades Technology, accompanied Sievers. As part of the trip, Sievers and Bowman spent more than five hours with CNC designer/programmer/machinist Kevin Christenson, who is employed by the late Boyd Coddington’s award-winning
hot rod shop and wheel company. Coddington served as celebrity judge for the contest.
Last year Sievers won the national contest by designing and manufacturing a 1/4-scale monster truck gas over oil shock. Celebrity judge Paul "Pablo" Huffaker, the driver of the famous monster truck named Grave Digger, came to VU last summer to present that award
"My son came to VU about 13 years ago and he has worked on three Indy car teams," Sievers said. "Like him, I would really like to work on a professional race team and one of the ways to get your foot in the door is to know the tool-and-die business. Although I really did not want to leave my home in Phoenix, Arizona, I could not find a college that even compared to Vincennes University, so I thought it was the right thing to do to come back to Vincennes to enroll. I’m glad I did."
Three years ago VU swept the national Innovator of the Future contest when VU student Zac Frame, Logansport, won the grand prize, and the second and third place finishers were VU students Daniel Hill, Unionville, and A.J. Sullivan, Louisville, Ky.
"The contest looks for people who have the desire and the ability to come up with new innovations for industry. It is a fantastic project because it tests exactly the type of things that the students need to learn to do," said VU Machine Trades Associate Professor Doug Bowman.
The contest is integrated into the curriculum of the Advanced Manufacturing program in VU’s Machine Trades Technology Department. The third-year option specializes in CAD/CAM/CNC. Under the direction of Bowman, students utilize the CNC programming lab in the Technology Center to design and program their projects. They then machine the projects in the CNC lab, known as the Haas Technical Education Center. This lab consists of 13 Haas CNC machining and turning centers.
Mastercam’s Innovator of the Future contest helps introduce students to real-world manufacturing by asking them to produce a specific part that will be judged by a special guest from the manufacturing industry. The guest judge this year was legendary hot-rod builder and designer Boyd Coddington of the Discovery Channel's "American Hot Rod." Coddington died in February
from complications that were brought on from a recent surgery.
