Fluke and Washington State University (WSU) Align Education With Industry

Fluke Corporation has strengthened its relationship with Washington State University (WSU). Recently, the companies announced the formation of the Fluke Engineering Lab at WSU Everett in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. The partnership benefits both organizations by better preparing students for industry employment through training on Fluke equipment. Fluke instrumentation is commonly used in industry, and students who are familiar with it will be an asset and may also serve as advocates for purchasing new Fluke equipment.

Fluke and WSU have partnered to equip the next generation of technical and engineering talent for career success. Image used courtesy of Fluke Corporation

Lab Equipment Frustration

One of the most frustrating problems with undergraduate laboratories is faulty, nonintuitive, or unreliable equipment. Instead of performing experiments, students are left scratching their heads and troubleshooting equipment. Perhaps they waste valuable class time waiting for a lab tech or teaching assistant to fix the problem. They may lose sight of the experiment's purpose in these situations. For upper-level students, this is frustrating. For first-year students, it can mean a change of major.

Design projects are typically open-ended. The difference between a daydream and a design is the ability to attach numbers or quantify the design to make it something that can be physically constructed. However, many such design projects are limited in scope due to limited instrumentation and thus limited data for optimizing designs.

Fluke Donates Industry-Standard Tools

As part of the Fluke-WSU partnership, Fluke will provide professional test and measurement technology to five different WSU campuses. With this donation, equipment will be standardized across programs. Controls and displays will be similar across entire sets, simplifying laboratory standard operating procedures. With standardization, students can better focus on collecting and analyzing data that demonstrates course content, rather than dealing with learning multiple equipment topologies.

Example set of instrumentation and tools provided by Fluke. Image used courtesy of Fluke Corporation

Fluke Engineering Lab at WSU Everett

In addition to tools, Fluke has established the Fluke Engineering Lab at WSU Everett. The new lab will be outfitted with instrumentation equipment, including thermal cameras, airflow meters, energy loggers, and thermocouple readers. While the Fluke laboratory will be located on the Everett campus, four other campuses (Pullman, Tri-cities, Vancouver, and Global) will receive access to new equipment. All of this equipment is used in industry; these aren’t just academic toys but precision instruments designed to operate in challenging environments.

Besides the direct use of equipment in specific laboratory classes, students can rent equipment, similar to how library books are borrowed. This tool library will be particularly beneficial to senior students and students in design projects who may have a specific need for precision measurements. The tool library will be located on the Pullman campus at the Owen Science and Engineering Library.

Hands-On, Real-World Experience

WSU serves over 4,000 engineering students, most of whom will be able to use some of the equipment gifted to the university. Through the use of Fluke equipment, students can get hands-on, real industrial equipment experience, improving their understanding of the physical phenomena, rather than fighting and learning a hodge-podge assortment of equipment. With their latest collaboration, Fluke and WSU aim to cultivate a future-ready workforce of skilled technicians, electricians, and engineers.