Illinois Institute of Technology students build a ghost city of Chicago, help NASCAR racing vehicles cut corners
Chicago, IL — April 18, 2001 —
The Illinois Institute of Technology will hold its 6th annual Interprofessional Project (IPRO) Day on Friday, April 27, 2001 to showcase team-based projects students have developed over the past semester.
IPRO teams consist of 5 to 15 students from sophomores through graduate students from any of IIT’s professional programs (engineering, science, business, law, architecture, design, and psychology) that fit the needs of each project. Topics for projects come from faculty, students, and often from business sponsors like Union Tank Car, which supported an IPRO team that developed sensor technology to detect leaks in gas tanks.
One IPRO project that will present its work on IPRO Day called “Operation Kosovo,” led by IIT’s Chicago-Kent School of Law, has been going on for over three years. Students on this IPRO team have visited the Balkans several times to develop computer software systems to catalog and organize war crime testimonials and information relating to the deaths and disappearance of thousands of refugees and to develop technical means to deliver legal and humanitarian assistance.
Another IPRO group has teamed up with Jack Rabbit Racing, Inc., a company developed by IIT alum David Finch. Finch hopes to race a car in NASCAR’s 2001 racing season with technology developed by the IPRO team to optimize cornering by adjusting the car’s suspension.
“Ghost City Chicago” is an IPRO involving students from computer science, engineering, and design who are developing a computer graphic reconstruction of Chicago's built environment, including destroyed buildings. The goal is to explore the buildings and neighborhoods of Chicago as they existed one hundred years ago and as they exist today.
Since the IPRO program started in 1996 as a way to get students to learn how they will eventually work – as teams of individuals from different areas of expertise – it has gone from 5 projects per semester to 35 projects this semester. IIT students are required to participate in two semesters' worth of IPRO projects. About one-third of the projects have external sponsorships, with professionals from organizations like Motorola, Skytel/Worldcom, the International Engineering Consortium, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, and DaimlerChrysler interacting with the teams throughout the semester.
IPRO teams involving a heavy business component are part of the Ed Kaplan Entrepreneurial Studies Program, supported by a donation from Ed Kaplan, founder and CEO of Zebra Technologies and an IIT alum. Inspired by the IPRO Program as a member of IIT’s Board of Trustees, Mr. Kaplan has articulated his vision based on personal experience that IIT’s undergraduates, particularly in engineering and science, can benefit from business perspectives and experimentation with new venture ideas before graduating.
A panel of Chicago area business leaders from the Chicago area will judge entrepreneurial IPRO teams presenting their projects on IPRO day. They could win up to $20,000 in seed money to advance their business plans.
IPRO Day presentations will take place on April 27, 2001, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Hermann Union Building at 3241 S. Federal St. Visit http://ipro.iit.edu for more IPRO descriptions and a schedule of presentations.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university that awards degrees in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business, and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
