TDCI’s Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners Awards Grants to 13 Tennessee Universities

Thursday, April 27, 2017 | 04:16pm

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) announces today that the Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners has awarded grants totaling $331,700 to 13 Tennessee universities. Grant funds may be used for computers to be utilized by students, laboratory or instructional equipment, library resources, or to pay intern development program fees or examination fees for students in accredited architectural, engineering, landscape architectural, and interior design programs.

“The Board appreciates the opportunity to assist in the education of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and interior design students,” said John Cothron, Executive Director of the Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners. “Education lays the foundation for developing the knowledge and skills needed to practice the design professions and to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare.”

Receiving grant funds this year are:

  • Christian Brothers University—$13,835 to the School of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized to purchase a differential scanning calorimeter repair/upgrade, hydrographic surveying equipment, a ground based robotics systems, and an unmanned aerial system.
  • East Tennessee State University—$3,000 for the interior design program.  Funds will be utilized to pay Interior Design Fundamentals Examination (IDFX) fees for students and to purchase a color laser printer and construction tools.  The IDFX exam is typically the first step in the process leading to registration as a Registered Interior Designer (RID), and may be taken by students in the senior year of an interior design curriculum. 
  • Lipscomb University—$12,777 to the College of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized to pay Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination fees for students and to purchase a complete water quality lab and total coliform lab.  The FE exam is typically the first step in the process leading to licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE), and may be taken by students in the senior year of an engineering curriculum.
  • Middle Tennessee State University—$3,000 to the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences for the interior design program; $13,605 to the Mechatronics Engineering program.  Funds will be utilized to pay FE examination fees for students and to purchase a
  • CNC router and 3D printer for the mechatronics engineering program, and resource library equipment and computer-related items for the interior design program.
  • O’More College of Design—$3,000 to the School of Interior Design.  Funds will be utilized to purchase a desktop laser cutter.
  • Tennessee State University—$18,649 to the College of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized to purchase equipment to renovate the Civil Engineering laboratory, including a concrete compression machine with controller.
  • Tennessee Technological University—$33,725 to the College of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized to purchase furniture, computer equipment, networks for Internet access, and work benches for a student design center.
  • Union University—$10,962 to the Department of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized to purchase a heat treat oven, a printed circuit board (PCB) computer numerical control (CNC) router, components for a wind tunnel, and vertical mill accessories.
  • University of Memphis—$22,614 to the College of Engineering; $25,439 to the College of Communication and Fine Arts for the architecture and interior design programs.  Funds will be utilized to purchase interdisciplinary design lab equipment (3D printers, laser cutter, color printer, flatbed scanner, oscilloscopes) for the College of Engineering, and security alarm equipment, a projection system, blackout shades, cachet chairs, design+build studio equipment, and a laser printer for the architecture and interior design programs.
  • University of Tennessee-Chattanooga—$25,716 to the College of Engineering and Computer Science; $3,000 to the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies for the interior design program; $20,000 for a special project grant.  Funds will be utilized to purchase a signals and systems experimentation station and control design applied experimentation stations for the Electrical Engineering department, and to pay IDFX exam fees for students and purchase lighting equipment and design studio supplies for the interior design program.  The $20,000 special project grant will be used to develop an interdisciplinary low-income community design studio in Chattanooga in partnership with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
  • University of Tennessee-Knoxville—$44,461 to the College of Architecture and Design; $42,825 to the College of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized pay FE examination fees for students and to purchase transportation simulation laboratory upgrades, portable materials science laboratory equipment, and 3D laser scanning equipment for the College of Engineering, and plotters, workstations and laptop computers for the College of Architecture and Design.
  • University of Tennessee-Martin—$12,800 to the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences.  Funds will be utilized to purchase a servo rotary table.
  • Vanderbilt University—$22,292 to the School of Engineering.  Funds will be utilized to pay FE examination fees for students and to purchase a professional graphics workstation and 3D printer.

Grant funding is provided from the Board’s revenues or reserve funds.  The Tennessee General Assembly and Governor Bill Haslam authorized funding for the grants (2016 Public Acts, Chapter 758, Section 7, Item 31).  The Board has awarded over $3.5 million in grant funds since the inception of the program in 2002.

For more information on the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners, visit http://www.tn.gov/commerce/section/architects-engineers or call 615-741-3221 or 800-256-5758 (toll-free).

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