Engineering students raise thousands for charity

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Michael Owens

The students in engineering professor Robin Borkholder’s project management class worked this semester with area nonprofit agencies to raise more than $9,000 through a variety of festive events, including a Zumbathon.

Santa’s elves will resemble several industrial engineering graduate students this year.

The students in engineering professor Robin Borkholder’s project management class worked this semester with area nonprofit agencies to raise more than $9,000 through a variety of festive events such as raffles and sales, meeting therapy dogs, pumpkin-carving and a Zumbathon.

Funds will be distributed at a reception at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the Gordon Atrium, located in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, to representatives from Cure Childhood Cancer, Golisano Children’s Hospital, Lollypop Farm and the Humane Society of Greater Rochester, Save the Tigers/World Wildlife Foundation and Friends of Borgne (Haiti).

Student teams worked with personnel from different agencies to develop coordinated project plans—from proposal development to risk assessment and evaluations. It’s a hands-on service-learning component that Borkholder adds to the project management course, and she has seen the students put theory into valuable practice.

“Project work is extremely useful in the integration and use of various concepts presented in my classes,” said Borkholder, a lecturer in the industrial and systems engineering department. “Service-learning projects raise money for worthy causes, while students learn and practice project management. This fosters communication, teaming and leadership skills which will help students to work effectively within teams in their professional careers and personal lives.”

Students from a previous class provided similar funds to eight local organizations last year, and this past spring, a graduate class worked with three local companies on develop process improvement plans. It is a chance for the students to understand the internal processes, including decision-making and resource allocations, involved in organizational projects before they graduate and take on roles as industrial engineers in a company.