In the spring of 2017, USC and Clemson students will have the opportunity to work alongside each other at local Michelin companies through a new course called ECIV 490.
This course will focus on sustainability in industrial and manufacturing systems. According to the promotional flyers, topics covered will include: "an overview of sustainability," "sustainability models," "sustainability metrics," "sustainable business and engineering analysis concepts" as well as "tools and methods for analyzing industrial" systems.
Brittany VanderBeek, second-year MBA student, worked for Michelin over the summer and was part of the effort to develop the new course.
“I was invited to start a partnership with USC, Clemson and Michelin and it could be anything I wanted, and so looking at all of our institution schools, I found that we really align in sustainability,” VanderBeek said. “We decided to establish a two-year partnership starting with a class for undergraduate students, cross-disciplinary, co-developed between Clemson and Michelin that starts in the winter of 2017.”
The course, Michelin Industrial Sustainability Creative Inquiry, will be taught by Dr. Paul Ziehl. The course does require a minimum of a 3.0 GPA for students who are interested in taking the class.
“I think it’s good exposure for our students to get real world problems and get hands-on experience and to be exposed through the classroom to relatively high-level speakers on the topic of sustainability in general,” Ziehl said. “There will be high level speakers, experts that come in and talk on different areas of expertise about sustainability.”
Speakers will include such specialists as Dr. Ken Harrison from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the country’s original scientific laboratories. The sustainability course will involve students developing new ways for Michelin to dispose of their tires and will present students with the opportunity to go into Michelin factories and have hands-on experience in the factory.
Jesslyn Lowell, assistant director of development corporate and foundation relations for USC, hopes to accommodate 12 students from each campus and help them travel to Michelin on required days.
“USC and Clemson are working together to make sure that the students will be able to take advantage of that Michelin tire plant experience,” Lowell said. “They’ll actually go into the plant and see how the tires are made and it’s going to be a real hands-on, professional development experience. Students are also going to be interacting with Michelin executives through this course and gain exposure to potential internship opportunities.