The University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering recently unveiled a cutting-edge laboratory donated by the Omron Foundation, the charitable arm of automation solutions provider Omron in the United States. Designed for electrical and computer-engineering students, the lab includes advanced technologies and equipment.

At the lab’s opening ceremony, UH faculty and Omron representatives examined a variety of senior capstone projects, including a sorting robot and a mobile robotic billboard. The lab contains an area dedicated to senior design projects, which provides the real-world design experience needed for gaining employment after graduation.

The next generation of engineers in the Omron lab

“Prospective employers will expect them to speak intelligently about what they worked on for their design project so the experience they gain at this stage is very important,” says Len Trombetta, the associate department chair. “This makes our graduates very marketable because these are skills companies want. We’re grateful to Omron for making this possible.”

Omron Automation Americas President, CEO and COO Robb Black described the importance of preparing today’s students for the latest challenges in engineering and manufacturing. “We want to bring the skills they have learned in school into the manufacturing sector,” says Black. “I think it’s a great way for students to learn real-world technology and apply it once they leave.”

Omron Foundation has been supporting the Cullen College’s electrical and computer engineering students since 2010, when it established the Omron Scholarship in electrical engineering and sponsored a team of students applying their engineering knowledge to real-world industry problems in the Capstone Design course. Omron also provides one-on-one mentoring to UH engineering students.

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