| Michael Vennard |
|---|
 |
I am a second year Mechanical Engineering student at Michigan Technological University.
Current Academic Involvement[edit | edit source]
The Honors Institute of Michigan Tech[edit | edit source]
The Honors Institute is a small program of ambitious Michigan Tech students whose work load exceeds that of normal college work. I am currently a member of the said program. We are required to complete three projects that are 20-25 hours of work each that are unpaid and do not count for school credit. We are also required to maintain a GPA of 3.5 in order to remain in the Institute and graduate with honors.
Operations Committee[edit | edit source]
I currently hold a chair on the Operations Committee of the Honors Institute. The Operations Committee is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Institute and its budget. My most recent project focused on streamlining the process of applying for travel funds by Institute members.
Research Interests[edit | edit source]
- 3D Printing
- Plastic and Metal
- Open Source Distributed Manufacturing
- Open Source Collaboration
- Furthering the Open Source Community
- Efficiency of Photovoltaics
- Cost Effective Electrification of Developing Countries
- Advancement of Developing Countries using 3D Printing
Experience[edit | edit source]
Current Project: Honors Institute 3D Printer[edit | edit source]
I am currently starting a project with a partner, Michael D. Patrick, to build a 3D printer for use by members of the Honors Institute. We are also investigating the process of printing directly through CAD software, eliminating the need to convert to a .stl file to then open it in a program like Slic3r. Our current design is the Delta RepRap