{"id":2906,"date":"2019-07-29T15:49:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T22:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/foss\/?page_id=2906"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:52:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T17:52:47","slug":"vcea-shops","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/foss\/vcea-shops\/","title":{"rendered":"Voiland College Shops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Voiland College Shops work with faculty members, graduate students, and student clubs to fabricate the parts, tools, and machines needed for their research and competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Four
The Voiland College Shop Technicians.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shop personnel are skilled at conceptualizing, industrial design, fabrication, sculpting, artistry, and cost management which facilitate solutions many other providers cannot match. The shop\u2019s staff members pride themselves on their varied backgrounds which, “allows them to quickly resolve design challenges to fabricate, modify or repair equipment to exacting standards,” per Miles Pepper. From preparing material specimens and building lab equipment, to developing complex research tools like the ammonia telescope for professor George Mount, or the baseball bat cannon for professor Lloyd Smith, shop staff are responsible for specialized research equipment found in all areas of the university. \u201cWhile the major projects are important, the graduate student that comes in with a stripped screw that needs replacing right away is just as important,\u201d Gary Held said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, to help the researchers be as successful in their projects as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture has had shops since circa 1892, which started as a support unit of the college\u2019s Division of Industrial Research (DIR) in the 1940’s. After a handful of relocations, by the mid-1930’s, the shop settled where the Engineering Teaching and Research Laboratory (ETRL) is currently located. The shop found its permanent home in 1946, when Dana Hall was built. The shop serves Voiland College, and others across the university, with over 700 work requests per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the Voiland College Shops:<\/p>\n\n\n\n