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Video production program work highlights viability of Wisconsin as film hub

goersab — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:00:25 +0000

Video production program work highlights viability of Wisconsin as film hubgoersab June 24, 2026

Students, alums assist in Deming’s unique medical drama ‘Winter Hymns,’ filmed in Menomonie

Los Angeles-based Wisconsin filmmaker Nathan Deming believes that there is an immense, untapped wealth of authentic storytelling in his Midwestern home state, and his goal is to continue highlighting regional characters and communities that audiences instantly recognize.

With his latest film, “Winter Hymns,” Deming also highlighted regional filmmaking talent. His professional crew worked alongside ��Ͽ� Polytechnic video production students and recent graduates: Doran Acero, Braden Borgerding, Parker Cmeyla, Bennett Johnson, Ethan Kulinski, Connor Nelson, Ryan Rumary and Caleb Sander.

“Making movies in the Midwest allows us to capture a genuine, grounded human element that also hasn’t been seen that many times authentically on film before,” said Deming, originally from Tomah.

Bennett Johnson (center left) and Parker Cmeyla (right) on the set of 'Winter Hymns.' / Parker Cmeyla

“Having ��Ͽ� Polytechnic students work alongside a more experienced crew was an incredibly rewarding aspect of this production. The creative energy on set was fantastic because the students brought an immense eagerness to learn, and the professionals involved were incredibly generous with their mentorship,” he said.

“Winter Hymns” was featured at ��Ͽ� Polytechnic’s 4th annual Unspooled Film & Animation Festival, May 9-10. This year’s festival placed a strong spotlight on regional talent and locally produced cinema.

Bringing filmmaking to the Midwest

With his creative roots firmly planted in the Midwest, Deming was at the forefront of the movement for Wisconsin’s new film office, Film Wisconsin. Operated by the Department of Tourism, Film Wisconsin promotes and supports the film and television industry in the state.

The office’s film tax credit makes $5 million available annually to assist the production of feature and short films, scripted and unscripted television shows, documentaries, broadcast advertisements, and production infrastructure in Wisconsin. The tax credit helps drive economic development, builds long-term investment in Wisconsin’s creative community, boosts domestic and global reputation and inspires movie tourism in Wisconsin.

Colleen Madden (left) in a scene from 'Winter Hymns.' / Peggy Trojan

Video production Lecturer Co O’Neill believes filmmaking is on the rise in Wisconsin, as productions decentralize from the coasts. “The passing of the film tax credit was a big deal for Wisconsin. Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan already had state film offices. The opportunity upped the profile of people already making movies here. More people now have a platform and are building a state network of resources for local folks,” he said.

Gabe Roeske, a department assistant in the School of Art & Design and 2019 alum, thinks that with the new tax credit being passed, more potential crew coming out of the university’s video production program, and more independent productions, like “Winter Hymns,” coming to the area, things are starting to move in a positive direction.

“There are already a lot of very passionate and incredibly talented video production people living in Wisconsin,” Roeske said. “They’re people who want to make films just as much as anyone else in the country, and they have the skills to pull it off. Unfortunately, with previous tax laws, lack of film incentives, and just a general lack of productions going on, a lot of people end up moving away in search of video production work.

“Hopefully projects like these, and the work of the video production professors and students, keep the momentum rolling and we can see Wisconsin filmmaking really flourish for the first time,” he said.

Doran Acero assists with sound on the set of 'Winter Hymns.' / Ericka Kreutz

Acero’s “You Must Destroy,” also featured at Unspooled, was filmed in his hometown of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Having graduated in May, he plans to remain in the region, knowing the rich storytelling culture and wanting to represent on film the places he feels most connected to.

“I am so happy to have been a part of the making of ‘Winter Hymns,’ and I want more films like it to be made here in the Midwest. I love the craft of filming and ideally, I can continue to pursue that here; in a place I love with people I love,” he said.

Bringing filmmaking to Wisconsin is something Johnson believes is “incredibly important, especially given the current state of the film industry. As independent filmmaking continues to grow and with the launch of the film tax credit, many young filmmakers in Wisconsin want our voices to be heard and our work to be seen around the world.

“Our goal is to help attract more film and television productions to Wisconsin and establish the state as a viable production hub,” he said. “Beyond the economic benefits, I think it’s an opportunity to showcase what Wisconsin truly has to offer. We are more than our accents or the Green Bay Packers – we’re a state with stunning landscapes, unique locations, and diverse, creative people whose stories deserve to be told.”

‘Winter Hymns’ – A golden opportunity

“Winter Hymns,” which was featured on Wisconsin Public Radio, was inspired by Deming’s father, a family physician who practiced palliative care late in his career. The unique drama, set over the course of a single day in a Midwest hospital, follows a dedicated palliative care doctor, played by Colleen Madden, who meets with a series of dying patients and their families.

Ethan Kulinski and Parker Cmeyla on the set of 'Winter Hymns.' / Parker Cmeyla

Working on a small budget, Deming reached out to O’Neill to see if video production students were available to help. O’Neill’s small-town connections also served well in helping Deming secure the lease of an affordable office building near the hospital in Menomonie for filming.

“Nathan learned about Stout’s program and the quality of our students,” said O’Neill, who’s taught video production for more than 20 years. “They’re composed, professional and excited to be on set. Working on the production of ‘Winter Hymns’ helped the university’s and the program’s profile, while giving the students professional experience. It was a symbiotic experience.”

Acero and Johnson joined Deming’s production team to help with lighting the week before principal photography. As second assistant camera, Johnson was responsible for changing lenses, helping build and prep the camera each day alongside Cmeyla, first assistant camera, and assisting with the on-set camera workflow. Acero served as production assistant, assisted the gaffer, operated the c-camera and ran sound.

Parker Cmeyla (right) on the set of 'Winter Hymns.' / Parker Cmeyla

The students also worked with sound recordist Roeske, who handed the main audio dialogue to a professional post-production sound mixer at Warner Bros.

“As the whole film takes place in a single room, we had to figure out how to make the doctor’s office visually appealing and squeeze a lot of visual variety out of this one location,” Acero said. “This short stint on an independent production was golden. I picked up so much new terminology, got to use tools that were a step above what I previously had, and I made professional connections that have already benefited me greatly.”

O’Neill added that watching professionals work, like cameraman Leo Purman, was life-changing for the students. “Watching his methods was an immersive experience for them that they wouldn’t have had in the classroom. In these guided experiences, they build soft skills while gaining knowledge of equipment and processes. They understand more and come back to the classroom changed in ways of professionalism,” he said.

Nathan Deming (right) and cinematographer Leo Purman on the set of 'Winter Hymns.' / Nathan Ouellette

2026 Unspooled Film & Animation Festival

The Unspooled Festival recognized outstanding achievements across multiple categories:

Best Documentary: “Making It” by Benjamin Mohr (M.F.A. design student).
Best of the Midwest: “A Date with Your Family” by Joel Sacramento (Madison)
Best Short Film: “Stay” by Aden Gonzalez (Racine)
Best Student Animation: “Badge of the Dead” directed by Hannah Brown (B.F.A. animation student)
Polytechnic Pioneers: “Delivery Life” directed by El Ovall (B.F.A. animation student)
Best High School: “Everything I Am, Everything I’m Not” by 17-year-old Xavier Alexander (Texas)
Best Student Short: “Seeing Diabetes” by Ryan Rumary (B.S. video production graduate)

The festival hosted animation premieres, including “Closet Combat 3” by alum Augustus Hinton, with support from a Minnesota Arts Grant; and “Glow” produced by Professor Jesse Woodward alongside several ��Ͽ� students.

Beyond screenings, the festival offered educational programming and workshops that provided hands-on industry experience to Wisconsin students, including ��Ͽ� Polytechnic students and secondary students from Eau Claire, Mauston and Milwaukee.

Guest speakers included Deming, who discussed the art of cinema and regional production, drawing on his decade-long “The Year Project” and his upcoming, untitled Wisconsin thriller. Jeff Kennel, an immersive documentary and editorial filmmaker who has documented conflict, post-disaster recovery, and poverty across 11 countries for NGOs like Americares, alongside commercial work for Trek Bikes and NMDP.

Eau Claire-based filmmaker Tim Schwagel joined the festival to share his invaluable expertise on the art of the short film. Guest speaker Hinton offered audiences an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. Bowling Green State University animation instructor Rachel Immel, Sacramento, and alum Reed Theship-Rosales led hands-on mentorship sessions for students.

The 2026 Unspooled Film and Animation Festival was supported by a $10,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation and the Modern Language Association.

��Ͽ� Polytechnic’s School of Art & Design offers bachelor’s degrees in animation and digital media; game design and development-art; graphic design and interactive media; illustration; industrial and product design; interior design; studio art; arts administration and entrepreneurship; fashion design and development; and video production, and an M.F.A. in design.

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Students, alums assist in Deming’s unique medical drama ‘Winter Hymns,’ filmed in Menomonie Video production, Winter Hymns, directed by Nathan Deming

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Hero Caption: Nathan Deming (center left) directs Colleen Madden (center right) in a scene from 'Winter Hymns.' Photo by Nathan Ouellette.

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Ashley, Cadrex, Apogee among companies benefiting from engineering students’ prototypes

giffeyt — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:45:05 +0000

Ashley, Cadrex, Apogee among companies benefiting from engineering students’ prototypesgiffeyt June 15, 2026

Capstone projects demonstrate mechanical, manufacturing know-how, leadership skills

Tom Giffey

��Ͽ� Polytechnic mechanical engineering student Dominick Marco faced several challenges when he became team leader for the second semester of a capstone project on behalf of Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions.

In addition to designing and building a prototype that would automatically assemble a plastic latch and a steel bracket into a completed part, Marco had to ensure that his six-member team stayed on track as the project deadline – and graduation – approached.

Marco wasn’t just learning engineering; he was learning leadership.

“I worked on delegating by asking questions rather than directing, and through this and similar techniques, I was able to stay up to date on my team’s progress while helping direct team members to work on important tasks without overstepping or feeling like I was micromanaging,” explained Marco, of Eleva.

“Working on a project like this with a team is a very valuable experience,” Marco continued. “Learning alongside other up-and-coming engineers has been an incredible two semesters.”

Students, faculty and industry representatives examine the prototype for Cadrex after the demonstration.

Such applied learning, which is key to the polytechnic mission that distinguishes ��Ͽ� Polytechnic, was on display in mid-May as mechanical engineering and manufacturing engineering seniors presented their capstone projects to industry leaders, faculty members and peers. These two-semester projects aren’t theoretical exercises. They lead to real, working prototypes designed to solve problems for industrial sponsors. In addition to Cadrex, one of the nation’s largest metal fabricating firms, corporate sponsors included Ashley Furniture, Tomahawk Manufacturing, Apogee Enterprises, Genesis Industries, Frost Inc. and Industrial Heat Transfer.

“This course sequence truly is a capstone on a student’s academic career at ��Ͽ� Polytechnic,” said Assistant Professor Nathan Spike, part of the capstone teaching team. “Over the two semesters, a student completes the transition from engineering student to a full-fledged, career-ready manufacturing or mechanical engineer – or, in some cases, both for students pursuing a dual major. Students can put what they have learned in these courses directly into practice as they transition into their engineering career.”

According to the university’s most recent First Destination Report, 100% of 2024-25 graduates from the manufacturing engineering program reported they were either employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation, with an average starting salary was $76,000. During the same period, mechanical engineering graduates had a 99% employment rate within six months and an average starting salary of $66,000.

A ��Ͽ� Polytechnic student adjusts piston positions in the prototype. / Submitted photo

Process teaches communication skills

At the culmination of the capstone process, second-semester teams offer presentations of their mechanical and manufacturing solutions, then demonstrate them. During their presentation, Marco and his team – fellow seniors Aiden Koepsel, Ben Swift, Will Schlafke, Darren Byle and Josiah Castleberg – described their project scope and how they reached their final design. Originally, they considered a conveyor belt to carry the two parts. However, this was ultimately replaced with static, angled ramps that bring the two pieces together to become the completed part, which ultimately will be used in a battery holder in a data rack enclosure.

Later, the Cadrex group and other capstone teams moved into a nearby lab in Fryklund Hall to demonstrate their projects. The Cadrex prototype, a single workstation on casters, came to life, smoothly combining the pieces into completed latches, which flowed into a plastic bin.

The prototype that students developed for Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions combined these two pieces into one component.

After the demonstration, team members chatted about the prototype with Wayne Greensky, an automation engineer at Cadrex’s Osceola plant, who provided technical input during the project. While the students had solid technical understanding when they began the project, what really grew over the course of two semesters was their communication skills, Greensky said.

“Communication with project stakeholders helps students shake off communication anxiety and prepares them for proper meeting etiquette, structure, and progress update communications, while also dealing with customer dictated deliverables,” Greensky said.

The ��Ͽ� Polytechnic students handled challenges – including bill of materials ordering and issues with electrical schematics – promptly and professionally, he added.

“This type of project is useful for getting engineering students comfortable with solving an unsolved problem,” Greensky explained. “Undergraduate degree curriculums typically do not prepare the students with coursework that does not have a ‘correct’ answer or solution method. This senior design experience fills that gap nicely.”

Students discuss a pallet destacker they designed on behalf of Ashley Furniture.

Efforts aimed at automation

During the spring semester, the Cadrex capstone group was just one of 13 teams composed of 83 students from ��Ͽ� Polytechnic’s Robert F. Cervenka School of Engineering who worked on projects in Fryklund Hall labs.

Senior Sawyer Boigenzahn, a manufacturing engineering major from Mondovi, was the first-semester team lead for a project to create an automated system to wash and dry extruded aluminum window frames for Apogee Enterprises, owner of the Wausau Windows and Walls brand.

The frames, Boigenzahn explained, are processed in a CNC machine and emerge covered in chips, coolant and cutting fluid. Currently, the parts must be washed by hand, which leads to inconsistent cycle times. Automation would improve the quality and consistency of the process, ultimately saving Apogee time and money.

The five-member team – which also included Boigenzahn, Logan Boettcher, Brody Bongaarts, Brooks Brewer, and Joseph Gardner – conceived of a device that operated something like a car wash, but they pondered whether the sprayer or the aluminum part itself should be what moves. Ultimately, Boigenzahn explained, they decided it was easier to move the part through the sprayers than vice versa.

Based on feedback from their end-of-semester presentation, the team will return to build a prototype of their design in the fall semester. “We are at the start of that process, because this is a very difficult process to automate,” he said.

Boigenzahn, who previously worked as a welder, said the capstone project is a reminder that engineering isn’t about a single input inevitably leading to a single output: It’s a practical discipline that involves hands-on craft.

“For us, it’s an experiment in terms of our ability to understand the mechanical and engineering principles that we’ve been taught and actually apply them in the real world,” Boigenzahn said. “And more importantly, when you encounter real world problems – including teamwork issues, design problems, people giving you conflicting advice – how do you try to solve them? The thing about design is that you can’t just plug it into a computer and it spits out the right answer. That is just not the way this works.”

Despite the challenging work involved in the capstone process, Boigenzahn said it’s ultimately a valuable part of the ��Ͽ� Polytechnic experience. “I don’t think Stout would stand out as much if we did not do these things,” he said.

Capstone students cut holes in an electrical box while building their prototype for Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions. / Submitted image

Teamwork connects students, faculty, industry partners

The capstone process is a team effort, and not just among the students: In addition to Spike, instructors include Senior Lecturer Glenn Bushedorf, Lecturer Anwr Albaghdadi, Lecturer Brandon Dick and Lecturer Niloofar Moradian, with technical support from Paul Craig, program director for manufacturing engineering.

And it’s an effort that leads to results for industry sponsors, Spike explained. “The prototypes students develop often serve as a starting point or otherwise inform the direction a company will go with their process or product,” he said.

In addition, two semesters of intensive, iterative capstone work provide invaluable experience for emerging engineers as they enter the job market.

“Getting the chance to be a part of a project like this and create such a cool prototype machine for Cadrex has honestly been one of the best experiences to date,” Marco said. “This is the largest, most expensive project I have ever been a part of, and it makes me emotional seeing it come to a close. I am sad knowing that I will most likely never see it after it ships away, but I am so very happy to have gotten to design, develop and assemble the prototype.”

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Hero Caption: ��Ͽ� Polytechnic students demonstrate a prototype they created for Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions as part of their senior capstone project.

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Oshkosh Corporation will host Design Wisconsin, ��Ͽ�’s annual event exploring innovative design

giffeyt — Thu, 07 May 2026 15:25:40 +0000

Oshkosh Corporation will host Design Wisconsin, ��Ͽ�’s annual event exploring innovative designgiffeyt May 7, 2026

Professionals, students will gather May 29-30 for a showcase of the cultural and commercial impact of design

Tom Giffey

Oshkosh Corporation, a leading innovator of purpose-built vehicles and a Wisconsin-based Fortune 500 company, will host the Fifth Annual Design Wisconsin event May 29-30 at its Global Headquarters in Oshkosh.

Design Wisconsin, presented by ��Ͽ�, is a showcase of the impacts of industrial design and fashion design on Wisconsin’s culture, commerce, community and brand. The event typically draws several hundred design professionals and students annually. Admission is free, but organizers request that attendees register in advance.

In addition to serving as host, Oshkosh Corporation will be among the many Wisconsin and Minnesota companies that will display their designs and products at the event, which is held each spring at a different site. In the past, Design Wisconsin has taken place at Milwaukee Tool in Milwaukee, Trek in Waterloo, DELVE in Madison, and on the ��Ͽ� campus in Menomonie.

“We have an exciting lineup of speakers, workshops and exhibitors the embody this year’s theme, ‘Innovation by Design,’” said Professor Jennifer Astwood, director of the industrial and product design program at ��Ͽ�, who is organizing the event with ��Ͽ�’s Continuing Education & Conferences office.

Headquartered in Oshkosh, Oshkosh Corporation employs more than 18,000 people worldwide. Formerly known as Oshkosh Truck Corporation, the company makes vehicles for defense, fire and emergency, commercial, and other market segments. Its products can be found in more than 150 countries under brands such JLG®, Pierce®, MAXIMETAL, Oshkosh® S-Series™, McNeilus®, IMT®, Jerr-Dan®, Frontline™ Communications, Oshkosh® Airport Products, Oshkosh AeroTech™, Oshkosh® Defense and Pratt Miller.

��Ͽ� Chancellor Katherine Frank speaks at the 2024 Design Wisconsin event hosted by Milwaukee Tool.

Designers and executives from Oshkosh Corporation will be among the featured speakers sharing frontline expertise that is actively reshaping how the world around us is designed, built and experienced. Design Wisconsin speakers will include:

Austen Angell, founder and CEO of Modern Edge Inc., a design and development firm at the leading edge of health technology and user research, and CEO of Epira.AI, which harnesses artificial intelligence to modernize how governments and citizens interact. Angell served as chair of the Industrial Designers Society of America and was inducted as a Fellow.
Chad Smith, senior director of engineering at Oshkosh Corporation, leads advanced technology development across autonomy, active safety, electrification and innovation by combining deep engineering expertise with emerging technology leadership.
Jason Sadler, a 1994 ��Ͽ� industrial design graduate, is a visual development artist with more than 30 years of experience in the animation industry. His clients include Apple, Netflix, Disney, Blue Sky Studios and Locksmith Animation.
Rob Wurm, senior industrial designer at KI Furniture, has spent the past decade designing commercial contract furniture. Over his career, he has developed products and design strategies for companies such as Michelin, Hershey, Kimberly-Clark, and Kohler, and has designed power yachts for Cruisers Yachts and Palmer Johnson.
Nyko de Peyer is product expert team lead at Vizcom, an AI-powered design platform. A trained car designer, he worked at Local Motors on projects including the Rally Fighter, the world’s first co-created vehicle, and the Strati, the world’s first fully 3D-printed car.
Mark Charniak, director of engineering at Oshkosh Corporation, where he leads efforts that bring early-stage innovation to life through cross-functional collaboration.
Jesse Gander, industrial design tech fellow at Oshkosh Corporation, specializes in user experience across high-performance, mission-driven vehicles.

An exhibitor speaks to attendees at Design Wisconsin in 2024.

In addition to these featured speakers, Design Wisconsin will include product showcases, panel discussions, networking opportunities, student portfolio review sessions and workshops.

While participating organizations are still being confirmed, organizations that have taken part in Design Wisconsin in the past include Ashley Furniture Industries, DSG Outerwear, Emerson, Fiskars, Generac, Gulf Stream, Harley-Davidson, Kohler, Mercury Marine, Milwaukee Tool, Polaris Industries, National Presto Industries, Room & Board, Sherwin-Williams, Spectrum Industries, Trek and more.

Complete information on Design Wisconsin, including registration details, the event schedule, and accommodations, can be found on the Design Wisconsin website.

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Design professionals from around Wisconsin representing some of the state’s biggest and best-known brands gathered May 18 for the third annual Design Wisconsin.

Professionals, students will gather May 29-30 for a showcase of the cultural and commercial impact of design Audience at 2025 Design Wisconsin event at ��Ͽ�

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Canon selects ��Ͽ� for exclusive Explorers of Light program with award-winning cinematographer

giffeyt — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Canon selects ��Ͽ� for exclusive Explorers of Light program with award-winning cinematographergiffeyt April 23, 2026

Shana Hagan, ASC, has worked on everything from Oscar-winning documentaries to hit sitcoms

Tom Giffey

Shana Hagan, right, is shown filming actress Amy Poehler for an episode of "Parks and Recreation." / Photo courtesy Shana Hagan

Cinematographer Shana Hagan, ASC, whose work ranges from Academy Award-winning documentaries to hit TV sitcoms, brought professional advice and hands-on inspiration to ��Ͽ� recently as part of Canon’s Explorers of Light program.

The Canon program, which recruits world-class cinematographers and photographers as brand ambassadors, only visits about 10 campuses annually. Hagan came to ��Ͽ� April 13-15, speaking to video production students about her career, holding a screening of her work, working with video and photo classes on topics such as editing and production, and reviewing student portfolios.

Hagan was among the first six cinematographers added to the Explorers of Light program in 2024. Her 30-year resume as a cinematographer and director of photography includes work on TV series like NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and HBO’s Peabody and Emmy-winning “Somebody Somewhere”; documentaries such as “Queen of Versailles,” “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” and the Oscar-winning “Breathing Lessons.” Hagan won an Emmy for her work on the documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” and was nominated for an Emmy for the hit reality series “Survivor.”

“My week at ��Ͽ� has proven to me that the future is bright,” Hagan said. “I was absolutely blown away with the quality of work from the students. I admire their passion for filmmaking and their thirst for knowledge.”

��Ͽ� Lecturer Co O'Neill, left, and cinematographer Shana Hagan watch video monitors during a student-led video production exercise.

Cinematographer shares professional skills

Hagan offered lectures and hands-on workshops during her visit, focusing on topics such as camera coverage, lensing choices, lighting techniques and set etiquette. During a workshop with B.S. video production seniors on April 14, Hagan covered all these subjects and more while helping students record a short mockumentary-style video.

As Hagan offered suggestions, about 20 students adjusted lighting, prepared cameras and monitors, hoisted boom mics, and performed in the brief sketch, which will be used to introduce students’ films during the upcoming School of Art & Design Senior Show on Friday, May 8. During a break in the action, Assistant Professor Keif Oss explained that the workshop allowed Hagan to demonstrate her mockumentary-making skills. Among her many Hollywood credits are mockumentary-style series such as “Parks and Recreation,” “Arrested Development” and “Welcome to Flatch.”

“Embrace the imperfections,” Hagan told the students before they began multiple takes of the sketch. “Sometimes the imperfect makes it feel more real.”

Cinematographer Shana Hagan, right, consults a script with ��Ͽ� video production students Luka Sunjic, center, and Sam Cheney, left.

Early in the process, Hagan advised the camera operators to stand in the space and watch a take of the scene unfold with only their eyes, not through a monitor or camera eyepiece. “The No. 1 rule on set is to pay attention,” she explained.

The director of the classroom project, senior Luka Sunjic of New Berlin, said it was a privilege to work with someone who had such extensive industry experience.

“Shana was so knowledgeable and down-to-earth, and she really cares about the medium,” Sunjic said. “I learned a lot about her style. I think what I appreciate most about Shana and her work is how she is able to use cinematography to convey emotion in the frame.”

Sunjic, who will graduate in May, said he attended nearly every event Hagan held on campus. “Shana offered a unique perspective into the industry and offered a lot of helpful advice that I will take with me after graduation,” he said.

Cinematographer Shana Hagan, left, and Assistant Professor Keif Oss, consult before Hagan shares some of her film work with students.

Canon builds strong relationship with ��Ͽ�

Oss, who is program director for the video production program, said ��Ͽ� has built a strong relationship with Canon over the past six years, hosting annual fall visits that include hands-on production workshops using the latest cameras and lenses.

“Canon tends to choose schools where students demonstrate strong engagement and enthusiasm for the craft, which our students have continually shown during these interactions,” Oss said. “I frequently hear the engagement level by ��Ͽ� video production students stands out in a national crowd.”

Taking part in intensive workshops with an award-winning professional of Hagan’s caliber is a clear demonstration of ��Ͽ�’s polytechnic identity, Oss added.

“Bringing consistent, outside industry expertise into the classroom strengthens the connection between theory and practice, ensuring students gain immediately relevant, career-ready skills,” he said. “This kind of engagement adds meaningful value across every aspect of what defines a polytechnic education.”

Hagan said she advises students to get as much experience as possible in school and to work on as many projects as they can, taking each as an opportunity to make a new connection, hone a new skill or use a new piece of equipment.

“I love that this next generation of filmmakers has so many opportunities for work,” she said. “Studios and networks along with streamers and other online platforms provide so many different avenues for an incredibly diverse variety of content.”

��Ͽ�’s School of Art & Design is one of the largest public art schools in the Midwest. It offers bachelor’s degrees in animation and digital media; game design and development-art; graphic design and interactive media; illustration; industrial and product design; interior design; studio art; arts administration and entrepreneurship; fashion design and development; and video production, and an M.F.A. in design. ��Ͽ� also has a new program in game and media studies.

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Shana Hagan, ASC, has worked on everything from Oscar-winning documentaries to hit sitcoms Cinematographer Shana Hagan and ��Ͽ� video student

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Hero Caption: Cinematographer Shana Hagan, right, works with video production major Sam Cheney during a recent visit to ��Ͽ�.

Keif Oss

Keif has an M.S. in Career and Technical Education and an MFA in Digital Filmmaking. He is an Assistant Professor of video production and serving as Program Director for the B.S. Video Production degree. Keif teaches a variety of courses in video production and photography with both narrative and commercial aspects.

Keif has worked on a range of professional and commercial video projects as a senior video producer and owner/independent contractor of A Creative Advocate, LLC. His work includes television/web advertising, documentary, motion graphics and a variety of marketing-oriented materials. Keif’s expertise and creative contributions include work for 100+ clients including Mayo Clinic, Seventh Generation, State Farm Insurance, Royal Credit Union and others.

Keif has also worked on short and feature film projects in various capacities including writing, producing, directing, camera operation and post-production/VFX.

Full Name: Keif T. Oss

Job Title: Assistant Professor / Program Director

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Area of Expertise: Video Production Cinema Production Photography Graphic Communications Cross-Media Graphics Technologies

College: College of Arts & Human Sciences

Department: School of Art & Design Design Department

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Curriculum Vitae: Keif T. Oss CV (408.56 KB)

Education:

Degree: M.F.A. Digital Filmmaking

University: Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Filmmaking

Degree: M.S. Career & Technical Education

University: University of Wisconsin-Stout

Degree: B.S. Graphic Communications Management

University: University of Wisconsin-Stout

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John Deere will benefit from sustainable plastic research conducted by ��Ͽ� students, faculty

giffeyt — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000

John Deere will benefit from sustainable plastic research conducted by ��Ͽ� students, facultygiffeyt April 9, 2026

Two-year project seeks to identify recycled polymers that can be used in manufacturing process

Tom Giffey

John Deere machinery has been recognizable for its distinctive green color for more than a century. Student and faculty researchers at ��Ͽ� are working to ensure that John Deere is also known for a different kind of green: sustainability.

Led by Professor Wei Zheng, student research assistants in the B.S. plastics engineering program have been working over the past two academic years to study how John Deere might be able to use recycled plastic polymers to manufacture vehicles.

Zheng is an active member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, and it was through that organization that she formed connections with engineers from John Deere, which is based in Moline, Illinois. The relationship led to a research contract between the Fortune 500 company and ��Ͽ�, which was facilitated by the university’s Office of Corporate Relations & Economic Engagement.

Beginning in August 2024, students and faculty have tested and molded batches of different types of recycled plastic to see if they meet the manufacturer’s needs.

“John Deere is asking two key questions,” Zheng said. “Can recycled polymers be used to manufacture these parts? And can those parts meet performance requirements?”

The research is part of the company’s commitment to incorporating more recyclable and renewable materials into its products so it can be ahead of the curve in its industry, she said.

Student research assistant Ryan Xu measures plastic samples.

Students create, test samples

This semester, two student research assistants have worked on the project. One of them, junior Stephanie Kuhn, explained that the process begins with pellets of different types of recycled plastic polymer that are fed into a massive injection molding machine in the Plastics Engineering Lab inside Jarvis Hall Technology Wing.

Heat and friction melt the pellets, which are forced into a mold where they take the desired shape. Once completed, these pieces are cut precisely into various testing specimens by Instrument Shop Supervisor John Buss, who also assists with machine-related issues.

Next, students subject the specimens to a range of tests, including evaluating their short- and long-term mechanical behavior under stress, as well as their thermal and physical properties to assess overall performance.

Kuhn, who is pursuing a double major in B.S. plastics engineering and B.S. mechanical engineering, said having an opportunity to do this kind of work as an undergraduate is what attracted her to ��Ͽ�.

“I just love being able to use all the machines hands-on. It helps being able to see and use the equipment,” Kuhn said. While already familiar with the injection units and testing equipment from her coursework, taking part in the research helped Kuhn better understand how the equipment operates, reinforcing what she learned.

Likewise, the importance of the research has been highlighted by Kuhn’s classwork, which has emphasized the need for increasing the use of recyclable plastics. “It has definitely opened my eyes that we need to learn to be more sustainable,” she said. “If John Deere begins to use this, hopefully other manufacturers will, too.”

Sabbatical recap: Wei Zheng, Plastics Engineering, 2024-25

Building biodegradable, sustainable plastics

This semester’s other research assistant, Ryan Xu, a Menomonie High School senior who is already taking classes at ��Ͽ�, said he appreciates the applied nature of the project, including being able to use advanced equipment and analyze data.

Professor Adam Kramschuster has also helped with the John Deere research project by setting up, optimizing and troubleshooting the injection molding process for manufacturing the samples. This work has involved training the student research assistants and helping with the machine during the molding trials.

“I love working with students. It’s why I am here, and I enjoy it when they learn and take responsibility as their knowledge base grows,” Kramschuster said.

“Our labs are exceptional,” he continued, “and the opportunity to use them for industry projects is ideal in that the students get even more real-world training during their undergraduate experience.”

Student research assistants Ryan Xu, left, and Stephanie Kuhn work with an injection molding machine in ��Ͽ�'s Plastics Engineering Lab.

Sustainability key to professor’s research

The kind of research happening in the Plastics Engineering Lab isn’t uncommon at ��Ͽ�. In fact, applied learning and research are among the pillars of the university’s polytechnic identity, which also include business and industry collaboration and career-focused experience – all three of which are part of the John Deere project.

Zheng noted that two of her prior research assistants leveraged their experience on the project to find jobs in the plastics industry at EVCO and Phillips Medisize. “This project helped them to solidify their injection molding and material testing skills, giving them a clear advantage in the job market,” she said.

The research, she added, will continue through at least this August. “John Deere is quite pleased with the results we have generated so far,” she said. “John Deere has been very supportive throughout the process, including providing Stout the plaque mold and materials, as well as sharing their technical expertise. They even connected us with material suppliers and molders.”

Zheng’s work on behalf of John Deere complements her ongoing research focus on sustainability. During the 2024-25 academic year, Zheng conducted sabbatical research in advancing sustainability in the field of plastics, focusing on the biodegradation of plastic materials and the recycling of thermosetting materials. Typically, thermoset plastics have undergone a curing process that prevents them from being remelted or reshaped, posing a challenge in the recycling process. However, plastics engineers and chemists researching the reverse crosslinking process are developing ways to break the chemical bonds, allowing thermosetting plastics to be recycled. Part of Zheng’s research focused on finding ways to reverse the process, increasing the recyclability of this kind of plastic.

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‘My internships built on the strong foundation Stout has given me by showing me how concepts are used in actual production environments.’

John Deere will benefit from sustainable plastic research conducted by ��Ͽ� students, faculty

Two-year project seeks to identify recycled polymers that can be used in manufacturing process

Two-year project seeks to identify recycled polymers that can be used in manufacturing process Plastics Lab Injection Molding Machine

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Hero Caption: Student research assistants Stephanie Kuhn, left, and Ryan Xu hold samples in front of an injection molding machine in ��Ͽ�'s Plastics Engineering Lab.

Wei Zheng

Dr. Zheng is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Plastics Engineering Program at University of Wisconsin-Stout. Prior to joining ��Ͽ�, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 2008. She is the recipient of several state-funded grants including the WiSys Applied Research Grant and the G. A. Taft Professorship of ��Ͽ�.

Her current research focuses on the bio- and/or biodegradable polymers including rheology of polymer melts and glasses, physics of crystallization and glass transition, curing kinetics of reversible thermosets, and structure-property-processing relationship. She has published 32 refereed articles with more than 700 citations. Dr. Zheng has also been active in the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) including serving as the Councilor of the Applied Rheology Division of SPE and the President of Chinese American Society of Plastics Engineers.

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Curriculum Vitae: Curriculum Vitae (134.14 KB)

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University: East China University of Science and Technology

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Room & Board furniture design competition carries ��Ͽ� students’ work from classroom to catalog

giffeyt — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Room & Board furniture design competition carries ��Ͽ� students’ work from classroom to cataloggiffeyt March 17, 2026

Decade-long partnership with Minneapolis furniture retailer creates real-world production possibilities for industrial & product design seniors

Tom Giffey

A decade-long partnership with Room & Board, a national furniture designer and retailer, has helped ��Ͽ� industrial and product design majors refine their skills under professional mentorship. Now, for the first time, a piece of furniture designed as part of the annual competition is available from Room & Board, creating a possible path for more Blue Devil creations to reach the retailer’s catalog.

The competition is the brainchild of 2010 ��Ͽ� graduate Brian Linehan, a Room & Board merchandise and design manager. “The design competition started as an experimental exploration and turned into a pathway for future interns, full-time design hires, and a great way to stay connected to the community,” Linehan explained.

Originally envisioned as a group project, the program evolved into an individual competition that tapped into students’ growing awareness of – and passion for – the Room & Board brand. Winning designs have continued to improve as the competition has focused on specific product categories, ranging from lighting and storage to organization, media and bedroom furniture.

Micah Loder / Submitted photo

“These days it seems like all the students know exactly who they are designing for,” Linehan said. “Students come to the project kick-off with concepts already in their heads and questions they’re eager to get answers for. It’s really been an amazing transformation.”

This year’s competition was particularly special because it came as Room & Board was adding a coffee table designed by 2024 industrial and product design alum Micah Loder to its catalog.

Loder, now a research and development engineer at Dura Supreme Cabinetry in Howard Lake, Minnesota, said it was “incredibly surreal and rewarding” to see his class project, which he called Carver, become a real piece of furniture.

“I was really just overjoyed Room & Board saw the same vision I did when they saw the table next to their line of products,” Loder said. “Knowing any customer could walk through a Room & Board showroom and think the same thing I did when I first mocked it up: ‘This would look sweet as an accent in my living room.’”

��Ͽ� alum Brian Linehan of Room & Board, left, discusses furniture designs with student Porter Christenson, right, as classmate Loyal Prach look on.

Competition bookends winning student’s experience

The competition is part of the capstone course for soon-to-graduate industrial and product design majors. In keeping with ��Ͽ�’s polytechnic approach — which encompasses applied learning, industry collaboration and career-focused experiences — the competition poses the real-world challenge of designing a piece of furniture that not only looks good but could potentially be manufactured and sold.

“Most capstone projects are geared towards inventing a new idea, creating something that changes the world, or embraces an exciting new manufacturing process,” Linehan said. “This project is really about form development, rather than re-invention. It definitely requires students to flex a less familiar muscle and stay within a tighter set of parameters.”

Industrial and product design senior Porter Christenson of Minneapolis said figuring out which conceptual risks to take with his design was the biggest challenge of the project.

“I spent a lot of time studying furniture trends and trying to understand how those trends could fit within Room & Board’s visual brand language,” he said. “Large companies usually have a very established design language that they stick to pretty strictly, so there’s always a balance between respecting that identity and pushing it forward.”

So, Christenson did his homework, interviewing Room & Board salespeople as well as staff from other furniture showrooms. “One of the decisions I ultimately made was to introduce rounded corners into the design,” he said of his dresser, which he named Bellevue. “That was a bit of a risk, because Room & Board is well known for their more defined, sharp-cornered forms.”

��Ͽ� Lecturer Andy Janetski, right, and Professor Jennifer Astwood, center, look at student Jace Johnson's designs during a visit to Room & Board headquarters in Minneapolis.

The risk paid off: Earlier this semester, the Room & Board team chose Christenson’s design as the winner. He received a $2,000 cash prize in exchange for Room & Board reserving the right to manufacture his design. Two other students were also honored: senior Loyal Prach of Milwaukee received $1,200 for his design, Edmond, while senior Aaron Hoyt of Menomonie got $700 for his design, Alberg.

“I was most excited about the possibility of the furniture actually being produced,” Christenson said. “One of the first things I wanted to do was tell my mom, because she loves Room & Board furniture. Being able to share that moment with her made it even more meaningful.”

In fact, Room & Board has bookended Christenson’s ��Ͽ� experience. As a high school student touring ��Ͽ� with his mother, he was introduced to industrial and product design seniors working on the Room & Board project. He also learned about the university’s partnerships with firms such as Milwaukee Tool. As someone with a childhood desire to be an inventor, the possibility of designing tools strongly appealed to him.

“Four years later, things came full circle,” he said. “I completed two internships at Milwaukee Tool, accepted a job offer at my dream job designing outdoor power equipment there a year before graduation and won first place in the Room & Board project. There’s even a possibility that the piece could make it into their catalog, which is incredibly exciting.”

��Ͽ� alum Reid Guse, right, a designer at Room & Board, gives feedback to a student in a ��Ͽ� classroom.

Professional mentors give in-classroom critique

This year, the project kicked off with a class visit from Linehan and fellow ��Ͽ� alum Reid Guse, a designer at Room & Board. A couple of weeks later, in mid-February, the pair returned to the ��Ͽ� classroom for a critique of the students’ in-progress designs. With them this time was another Room & Board designer, ��Ͽ� alum Andrea Meisner.

Founded in 1980, Room & Board is 100% employee owned and has 1,100 employees at its Minneapolis headquarters and at stores and delivery locations nationwide. The company focuses on timeless design and sustainable production, and more than 90% of its furniture and décor are created by American manufacturers.

During the on-campus critique, the three professionals offered feedback on the full-scale cardboard prototypes and digital renderings the students had created. The critiques focused not only on aesthetics but on practicality and cost: Simplifying a construction process or swapping metal elements for lighter-weight wood, for example, may make the difference between a design being feasible or not.

“As a team, we intentionally split up, to ensure we are giving a range of feedback. Design is subjective, and there are no right answers,” Linehan explained later. “We don’t hold back in the critique and make sure we don’t sugar-coat our feedback.”

The process helps reinforce a critical skill in the young designers, Linehan said: Learning to believe in your own decisions and stand by them.

Christenson mixed his own instincts with feedback from the professionals. At the mid-project critique, he recalls, Meisner asked him to try standing like his dresser, which at the time had relatively stocky legs. He found himself with his feet wide and planted, like he was braced for an incoming tackle. It was a funny moment, he said, but it made him recognize that the mid-century modern aesthetic called for a design that was less heavy and defensive.

“After that realization, I pulled the legs inward, made them slimmer, and refined the proportions so the dresser felt lighter and more consistent with the aesthetic I was aiming for,” Christenson said.

��Ͽ� students and faculty members examine a coffee table designed by 2024 graduate Micah Loder, which is now being produced by Room & Board.

Prach, whose media cabinet design won second place, also found himself making significant design changes throughout the project. Room & Board’s design language, he said, was more minimalist than his own approach. The process taught Prach to be adaptable and pushed him outside his comfort zone.

“Early on, I had to consciously step back from over-designed concepts and refine the piece down to one or two intentional focal features,” Prach said. “Instead of relying on surface complexity, I explored proportion, material breaks and subtle detailing to create visual interest. That shift pushed me to grow as a designer and better understand how restraint can strengthen a product.”

The mid-project review helped Hoyt refine the details of his modular shelving system, which took third place. “(The designers) encouraged me to explore different configurations of the base design,” he said. “This led to me coming up with a tall shelf, media shelf and coffee table trio.”

Lecturer Andy Janetski, who teaches the capstone course, said hearing directly from professional designers is valuable for students. “There’s a massive amount of creative energy thrown at it,” Janetski explained. In return, he said, the students receive “feedback that’s not academic in nature.”

For the Room & Board designers, the competition provides an enduring connection to their alma mater, where their design passions were first fueled. In fact, Guse, a 2018 alum, said taking part in the Room & Board competition as a student helped pave his own professional path.

“My interest in furniture design really solidified in the last two years of undergrad, which ended with the Room & Board competition and an internship at Room & Board the following summer,” Guse said.

��Ͽ� students enter the Room & Board headquarters in Minneapolis, where they presented their furniture designs.

Competition culminates in site visit

Just a week after the mid-February critique session, the 17 students’ designs were transformed based on feedback and sometimes feverish work. On Feb. 19, a busload of ��Ͽ� seniors carried posterboard displays and one-eighth scale 3D-printed models of their designs into the Room & Board headquarters in Minneapolis. There they presented their designs to a cross-section of the company’s staff, including their three ��Ͽ� alumni mentors.

The Carver coffee table, designed by 2024 alum Micah Loder. / Photo courtesy of Room & Board

Once their presentations were concluded, the design students received a behind-the-scenes tour of the headquarters, where among the products displayed was the coffee table designed by Loder. Seeing a fellow Blue Devil’s design brought to life provided inspiration to the soon-to-be graduates.

“Winning this competition reminded me that I truly love what I do. It reaffirmed that the craft itself is what I enjoy most: the thinking, making and the constant refinement of ideas,” said Christenson. “In design, craftsmanship is really about the care and attention you bring to solving problems and shaping details.”

Such details are evident in the Carver coffee table, made in New Hampshire from sustainably sourced wood. The table is available on the Room & Board website.

The fact Room & Board is producing one of the ��Ͽ� competition’s designs is encouraging for the future of the partnership, Linehan said.

“We are excited about the opportunity to present Micah’s 2024 project as part of our assortment this year, and I am optimistic we can find another path forward with future designs,” Linehan said.

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Decade-long partnership with Minneapolis furniture retailer creates real-world production possibilities for industrial & product design seniors Winning table design at Room & Board

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Hero Caption: A student in ��Ͽ�'s industrial and product design capstone class hangs furniture designs before a classroom critique session.

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With $2 million federal grant, ��Ͽ� seeks business partners to help fill region’s high-demand jobs

giffeyt — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 14:00:00 +0000

With $2 million federal grant, ��Ͽ� seeks business partners to help fill region’s high-demand jobsgiffeyt February 10, 2026

New program will build certificate courses in areas such as manufacturing, cybersecurity to train hundreds of workers in the next four years

Tom Giffey

��Ͽ� will work closely with Wisconsin businesses to ensure a recently announced $2 million federal grant will provide hundreds of workers with the skills needed to fill the state’s most in-demand jobs.

Over the next four years, ��Ͽ� FUSE (Fast Upskilling for Skills and Employment) will give adult learners, displaced and underemployed workers, and other students the skills needed to succeed through six new short-term programs serving high-demand sectors aligned with Wisconsin’s Hot Jobs, which may include health care and behavioral support, manufacturing and logistics, IT support and cybersecurity, meeting and event planning, and child care.

��Ͽ� is the only institution in Wisconsin and one of only a handful of four-year universities nationwide among the 22 recipients of a U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Special Project Program grant to create high-quality, short-term programs.

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Businesses can help ��Ͽ� create programs to meet the region’s workforce needs.

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Businesses can help determine which programs move forward first by participating in program advisory committees, sharing workforce data, and providing direct input on hiring needs and skill gaps. Interested parties are invited to contact ��Ͽ�’s Educational Pathways & Outreach Office at continuinged@uwstout.edu to learn how they can take part.

The FIPSE grant to ��Ͽ� is in the amount of $2,031,578, and 100% of the federal funds will be used by the FUSE project with no additional funds financed by nongovernmental sources.

��Ͽ� is now building the new certificate programs in cooperation with business and industry partners as well as the West Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, said Executive Director of Educational Pathways and Outreach Beth Hein.

“FUSE is built on listening first — to employers, to industry leaders and to our regional partners,” Hein said. “When business and education work side by side, we create programs that don’t just prepare students for jobs, but for long-term careers. Our ongoing connection with industry keeps our training relevant, responsive and impactful.”

A ��Ͽ� class in the Material Removal Lab on campus.

FUSE will fill training gap

Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota are experiencing sustained and intensifying workforce shortages across multiple critical industries, most notably those targeted by the FUSE program. Employers throughout the region consistently report difficulty filling both entry-level and mid-skill roles, even as job postings persist at historically high levels and unemployment sits near record lows.

However, current short-term employment education programs are fragmented and uneven, tending to focus on very short basic workshops and bootcamps or traditional semester-long courses. ��Ͽ�’s FUSE program will fill the gap between these options.

As Wisconsin’s only Polytechnic University, ��Ͽ� is uniquely poised to contribute to the development of short-term credentials to meet the employment needs of Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. ��Ͽ� has a strong history of applied learning and research, business and industry collaborations, and career-focused education.

The FIPSE grant received by ��Ͽ� in January will build the capacity of employer-aligned programs that last from eight to 15 weeks and culminate in industry-recognized skills and credentials. The programs will also be Workforce Pell eligible, allowing students with financial needs to access them through the newly established Workforce Pell Grant Program, which goes into effect on July 1.

Students in an event planning course meet in the Memorial Student Center.

Programs will launch by end of 2026

��Ͽ� anticipates serving 400 to 600 students during the four-year grant period. The first two FUSE certificate programs will be launched as early as the end of 2026. The certificate programs will be stackable, with a pathway allowing students to apply their FUSE credentials toward ��Ͽ� bachelor’s degrees. FUSE students will also have access to academic support, such as onboarding, academic coaching, digital literacy support, tutoring and other wraparound services.

Among the students FUSE will target are adult, rural and under-resourced learners, who will make up at least 40% of enrollment. The program will use flexible, hybrid evening and weekend scheduling to reduce barriers faced by working adults and caregivers. FUSE will also set specific performance targets, including ensuring that 80% of students complete their program, 75% obtain credentials and 70% find job placement within six months of graduation.

“This work is only possible because of ��Ͽ�'s strong partnerships,” Hein said. “Together with business, industry and community leaders we are creating opportunities that meet real needs and open doors for learners across our region.”

The contents of this media release were developed under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

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Ashley, Cadrex, Apogee among companies benefiting from engineering students’ prototypes

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Oshkosh Corporation will host Design Wisconsin, ��Ͽ�’s annual event exploring innovative design

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Beth Hein

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Royal Credit Union internship gives ��Ͽ� grad student opportunity to apply skills in data science, machine learning

giffeyt — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Royal Credit Union internship gives ��Ͽ� grad student opportunity to apply skills in data science, machine learninggiffeyt January 29, 2026

M.S. applied computer science student finds workplaces experience aligns with coursework

Tom Giffey

A yearlong business intelligence internship at Royal Credit Union, one of Wisconsin’s largest financial institutions, has helped a ��Ͽ� applied computer science graduate student gain confidence and skill in both data engineering and machine learning.

“It’s been a fun experience. I’m really grateful,” said Justin George, who expects to receive his M.S. applied computer science degree in May. “This internship has been the best part of my Stout experience so far.”

George began his business intelligence internship last May at the Eau Claire-based financial institution, which serves 330,000 members through 28 branches in western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Now in its third semester, George’s internship has provided an opportunity for him to apply what he’s learned through his degree program at Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University.

Professor Keith Wojciechowski of ��Ͽ�’s Department of Math, Statistics and Computer Science, who encouraged George to pursue the internship, praised the graduate student for seizing the opportunity and making it a successful experience.

“One of the things that we emphasized and that he was very eager to do was to get an internship where he could apply those skills and learn on the job,” Wojciechowski said.

Lou Heimstead, Royal’s business intelligence and analytics manager, supervises ��Ͽ� student Justin George during his internship.

Student’s work makes business data visual

��Ͽ�’s M.S. applied computer science program provides professionals in a wide range of occupations a pathway to deepen their knowledge, skills and experience with computer systems that automate tasks, analyze data and create new workflows. Through the program, George has been able to focus on topics that interest him, such as data visualization and machine learning, both of which have played a role in his Royal internship.

Lou Heimstead, business intelligence and analytics manager at Royal, said George has been fully integrated into her team and its work. “He’s not doing isolated intern tasks,” Heimstead said. “He’s been learning and applying the same processes that our business intelligence analysts and data engineers use.”

And as George has continued to demonstrate his skills, the scope of the internship has expanded into the realm of machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence in which algorithms are used to find patterns in data to make predictions without explicit programming.

“What he has added is the capacity to bring in his technical skills that align closely with what he’s been studying at ��Ͽ�, specifically data science and machine learning,” Heimstead explained. “With that background, he’s been able to contribute to more technical work that would otherwise compete for my senior analyst’s time. So rather than replacing existing work, he’s actually been expanding what the team can realistically take on, especially in areas requiring stronger programming, modeling and data science skills.”

Students from three Universities of Wisconsin campuses use machine learning to solve problems for Royal Credit Union

Computer science students from ��Ͽ�, UWEC, UWRF exercise ‘exceptional’ AI acumen for leading financial institution

Expanding machine learning applications

Last summer, four undergraduates — including two from ��Ͽ� — took part in a machine learning internship at Royal. They focused on writing software to dive into Royal’s data and address two issues: The first was studying the factors that could lead members to leave the credit union, while the second aimed to determine a “next best product” that might interest an existing member. After the undergraduates’ internship ended last summer, George was asked to continue working with the machine learning-powered software models they built.

“It was not part of my job description, but since I was interested, they were happy to give me the opportunity to work on machine learning,” he said. As a result, George continues to hone his machine learning skills, while Royal continues to benefit from what the previous interns helped build.

Graduate student Justin George, at far right, in a ��Ͽ� Advanced Machine Learning class.

In fact, Heimstead said, George has enhanced and unified the multiple machine learning models into a single model for each issue. His work ensures the solution remains both usable and valuable. That continuity helps Royal keep the work ready to build on in the future.

George said the ��Ͽ� master’s program offers a sharp contrast to his bachelor’s degree experience. “Here I get the exposure of practical training and working on projects. There are so many internship opportunities, and they are directly aligned with my academics,” George said.

“I feel like the professors are very helpful,” he continued. “They are always making sure you are getting practical exposure. It’s not just theory. That’s something I like about Stout.”

Wojciechowski is impressed by George’s hard work and adaptability in the Royal internship. “He’s out there in the world solving problems,” Wojciechowski said.

Not only has George been able to tackle the tasks he was originally hired for, but he’s been able to grow his skill set, too. “He’s been able to adapt and evolve at Royal,” Wojciechowski said. “I think that speaks very well for him.”

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M.S. applied computer science student finds workplaces experience aligns with coursework RCU employee Lou Heimstead works with intern Justin George

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Hero Caption: M.S. applied computer science student Justin George interns at Royal Credit Union’s Corporate Center in Eau Claire.

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Students from three Universities of Wisconsin campuses use machine learning to solve problems for Royal Credit Union

giffeyt — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Students from three Universities of Wisconsin campuses use machine learning to solve problems for Royal Credit Uniongiffeyt January 26, 2026

Computer science students from ��Ͽ�, UWEC, UWRF exercise ‘exceptional’ AI acumen for leading financial institution

Tom Giffey

Three Universities of Wisconsin campuses partnered with Royal Credit Union to launch an innovative internship program using AI to support this Wisconsin-based financial institution. This story is one of four in a series showcasing the impact of this collaboration. Read more about the faculty who supported the internship, how the partnership supported the state's economic development and how the collaboration originated.

Computer science students from three Universities of Wisconsin campuses leveraged their knowledge of machine learning to address real-world questions for one of the state’s largest credit unions in a unique internship program.

Four students — two from ��Ͽ�, one from UW-Eau Claire and one from UW-River Falls — honed their professional skills through internships with Royal Credit Union’s AI Innovation Lab last summer. The internship was a pilot program to help Royal implement machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence in which algorithms are used to find patterns in data to make predictions without explicit programming.

Chris Meyer, Royal’s vice president of IT Innovation and Efficiency, said such partnerships with the Universities of Wisconsin provide “immeasurable” value for the credit union, which serves 330,000 members in western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.

“This particular program brought about an opportunity for us to try some new, innovative ideas without the risks of derailing existing strategic projects or core work that were going on with our existing teams,” Meyer said.

Royal Credit Union interns, left to right, Paige Keller of UW-Eau Claire, Mariah Waslie of UW-River Falls, Emmett Jaakkola of ��Ͽ� and Matthew Peplinski of ��Ͽ�. / Submitted photo

“The interns we worked with from ��Ͽ�, UW-River Falls and UW-Eau Claire absolutely exceeded our expectations,” he continued. “Not only did they bring exceptional skills immediately out of school into the workforce, but they brought a perspective that we don’t always see — a younger perspective in how to approach some of the projects we’re looking at.”

The student interns were Matthew Peplinski and Emmett Jaakkola of ��Ͽ�, Paige Keller of UW-Eau Claire, and Mariah Waslie of UW-River Falls.

“We got to fully make our own data set, run all these machine learning models, analyze the results, present them, double check our own processes, and lay out a foundation for the company. It’s amazing what we could do as interns,” said Peplinski, of Milwaukee, who graduated in December with a B.S. in applied mathematics and computer science.

“We were the catalyst to all machine learning that Royal was delving into,” explained Jaakkola, of St. Paul, who graduated in December with degrees in both computer science and applied math and computer science.

Matthew Peplinski works on his laptop in an Advanced Machine Learning course at ��Ͽ�.

Leveraging students’ talents

Interns were recruited from the computer science programs at the three universities, all of which are within Royal’s geographic footprint. Once the interns began working in June at the Royal Credit Union Corporate Center in Eau Claire, the students began brainstorming how they could apply their machine learning acumen to the financial institution.

Keller, a UW-Eau Claire senior from Crystal Lake, Illinois, majoring in computer science, was excited by the opportunity, which allowed the students to come up with their own use cases for machine learning. “It’s almost like we were in the driver’s seat as the interns, which was what I loved most about the experience,” Keller said.

For the first few weeks of the internship, the students delved into Royal’s databases, learning what data was available, creating queries to gather it, and determining how it could be used to make projections.

Working with interns from multiple universities enhanced the experience because of the students’ varied experiences and curriculums, Keller said. “We all helped each other. We all asked each other questions,” Keller said. “We ran into the same roadblocks a lot of times, and so we had to come together and brainstorm. Having that experience from different backgrounds was very useful in coming up with different ideas.”

For example, Waslie — a UW-River Falls senior from Maiden Rock pursing a double major in computer science and data science — was adept at creating models with the programming language R, which the other interns had less experience with. Meanwhile, Peplinski used SQL to combine data and Python to develop models, while also bringing business skills to the table thanks to his ��Ͽ� minors in business and economics.

Universities of Wisconsin interns pose with Royal Credit Union employees Tad Carlson, far left, and Linda Kampa, far right. / Submitted photo

With the help of their team leader — Linda Kampa, a senior data engineer at Royal — the interns built a giant table set of more than 100 customer attributes, combining pieces of data from multiple sources. Once all this data had been gathered, the team tried to use it to predict members’ future behavior.

“Building out our own data set was a pretty astounding part of the internship, something that is pretty unique,” Peplinski said. His ��Ͽ� classmate, Jaakkola, agreed: “Working with a large database like that, it would be hard to get that experience without actually doing it.”

Over the course of the summer, the interns focused on two main classification problems. The first was to determine which factors indicated a member was about to leave the credit union: For example, was it when their balances reached a certain amount, or perhaps when a loan had been paid off? The second aimed to determine a “next best product” that would interest an existing member, similar to how a streaming service algorithm might recommend a new TV series.

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Projects result in innovative way to search course bulletin, play digital Othello board game

Jaakkola said he was well-prepared by his ��Ͽ� machine learning coursework to tackle problems for Royal. “I think the foundation we had from our classes really made it possible,” he said. Nonetheless, he added, the tasks were more complex: For example, while the queries he wrote for class might have included roughly 10 lines of code, some he wrote for Royal were as long as 1,000 lines.

The interns worked with managers from many of the credit union’s departments, strengthening their communications skills in frequent meetings and presentations. Part of the project’s goal, Peplinski said, was to create confidence that machine learning could supplement these managers’ own business intuitions.

Peplinski said the experience also helped him hone his technical communication skills. “In the same way that when you’re building machine learning models you iterate and make it better every iteration, I felt we also got better over time communicating results,” he said.

Emmett Jaakkola, right, in an Advanced Machine Learning course at ��Ͽ�.

Learning workforce skills

Professor Keith Wojciechowski of ��Ͽ�’s Department of Math, Statistics and Computer Science, commended Royal Credit Union for putting trust in student interns to create algorithms for the financial institution. “This is like being part of a real research and development team,” Wojciechowski said.

Professor Keith Wojciechowski

During the course on the internship, Wojciechowski and faculty members from UW-River Falls and UW-Eau Claire met twice with the interns and the Royal Credit Union team, once in the middle of the summer and once at the end for a final showcase of their work.

“Not only are we impressed with their ability to solve the problems, but by their ability to present and work in a professional environment,” Wojciechowski said of the interns. “That’s also a very important skill that they eventually have to learn.”

Kampa, the senior data engineer who worked side by side with the students, said part of the goal of the internship was to determine if Royal is ready to build machine learning models in-house. The interns, she said, were well-positioned to pursue the project.

“They came in with fresh ideas,” Kampa said. “None of them had a lot of financial background, but it was nice to have that clean slate. There were no preconceived notions of how something should work. It really led to a lot of unique and fresh perspectives, unbiased solutions and the recommendations that they made.”

Kampa said the interns arrived with excellent technical skills and absorbed new abilities quickly. The team experienced numerous “lightbulb moments” throughout the summer, she said.

“Early on in the internship, we were meeting to discuss what type of data we would be including to feed into the models,” Kampa recalled. “The idea that we were working through was really a complex concept to understand right away. We met a few times, we worked through some examples and did some whiteboard drawings, and to see the look on their faces when it clicked was really a rewarding experience for both me and the interns.”

Both businesses and students benefit from these collaborations, Kampa added. “Having the interns participate was a win-win for both Royal and the interns, because we got things up and running more quickly with their expertise from all the classes they’ve taken, and it gave the interns a chance to see what it’s like to work in a business setting,” she said.

Having Universities of Wisconsin campuses nearby creates a talent pipeline for the credit union as well as other organizations in the region, added Meyer, Royal’s vice president of IT Innovation and Efficiency. “The opportunity to work with faculty, who are experts in their areas, and students who are learning from them is something unique that we would not be able to do if we didn’t have those universities in our backyard,” he said. “And the opportunity to do that means that we can provide new value to our members, growing our organization in a way that would have been impossible without the universities’ presence.”

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Breaking ground for polytechnic partnerships: ��Ͽ� top story highlights of 2025

giffeyt — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Breaking ground for polytechnic partnerships: ��Ͽ� top story highlights of 2025 giffeyt January 21, 2026

Heritage Hall renovation, AI innovations, industry-sponsored focus among year’s notable headlines

It was a year of big things at ��Ͽ�, from breaking ground for the biggest construction project in university history to posting some of the most notable enrollment growth in the Universities of Wisconsin to being chosen as the area’s Large Business of the Year.

In 2025, Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University also earned big accolades, such as being named one of America’s Best Colleges by Money Magazine for the second year in a row and made big waves by continuing to break down barriers and redefine higher education for the 21st century.

These milestones are just some of the university’s Stout Story highlights as it looks back at 2025.

Reinvigorating renovations

The university began its fall 2025 semester with a groundbreaking for the long-awaited $144.3 million Heritage Hall renovation project, which will transform the half-century-old building into a cutting-edge educational hub to help meet Wisconsin’s workforce needs. The project, which is expected to be finished in 2028, will be paid for with funding from the state as well as $13.5 million donated by university supporters, industry partners and alumni.

‘Power of Partnership’: ��Ͽ� celebrates groundbreaking for $144M Heritage Hall renovation

Chancellor, lawmakers, community and campus leaders join to highlight project that will boost Wisconsin workforce

“The renovation of Heritage Hall is a direct reflection of our mission as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University: to provide career-focused, applied learning and research, and industry collaboration that meets the evolving needs of the state’s workforce and communities,” Chancellor Katherine Frank said.

The campus also looked forward to another major project, a $31.7 million revitalization of the Recreation Complex. Funded through the 2025-27 state budget as well as a record-setting $5 million gift, the renovations are expected to begin this year. And in October, ��Ͽ� celebrated the opening of a $1 million Esports Arena, a new high-tech home for the championship-caliber esports team.

Advances in AI

Artificial intelligence isn’t a stand-alone subject at ��Ͽ� — it’s been integrated across all programs, a 360-degree approach to create tomorrow’s AI-ready workforce.

“Equipping students from every major with AI skills is not only important but necessary,” said engineering and technology Assistant Professor Yuan Xing, who is working with applied social science Professor Tina Lee on a cross-disciplinary program focused on an AI-enhanced farming robot.

AI, fully integrated: ��Ͽ�’s 360-degree approach to artificial intelligence embeds skills across all programs

‘Equipping students from every major with AI skills is not only important but necessary.’

The university’s AI Fellows and AI Innovation Committee, led by faculty and staff, ensure AI is embedded into learning, operations and innovation, while directing AI integration, governance, ethics and literacy. Among the many examples of faculty engagement with AI include employing machine learning in engineering and manufacturing processes as well as comparing human and AI-generated written communication.

Assistant Professor Cami Banger, program director of business information technology and digital marketing technology, created a business technology class with AI “baked in,” while Professor Betsy Pudliner used AI-driven prompts to transform hospitality industry experiences into interactive online course content.

Meanwhile, a $647,000 grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will allow ��Ͽ�’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence – CAM-AI – to provide advanced manufacturing and AI support to small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

Upgrading STEMM spaces

The completion of a two-year, $7.4 million renovation project ensured that labs in the Jarvis Hall Technology Wing provide the technology, accessibility and visibility necessary for students to succeed in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Management.

Some of the new equipment in labs in both Jarvis and Fryklund halls — including production-level 3D printers, a fully-integrated automated manufacturing system and more — was funded through a $3.1 million donation from the Ronald and Joyce Wanek Foundation. The gift was the result of an ongoing partnership between ��Ͽ� and the Wanek family and their business, Ashley Furniture Industries, based in Arcadia.

Ronald & Joyce Wanek Foundation donation transforms labs with advanced manufacturing equipment

Machinery for automated manufacturing, 3D printing and more will impact thousands of students’ polytechnic experiences

Such campus labs create space for innovation, such as work by Associate Professor Kevin MacDonald, director of the B.S. construction management program, and his students to create innovative low-carbon concrete using blast-furnace slag, which was tested in April in a campus project.

Labs also provide workspaces for students like mechanical engineering senior Heidi Benningfield, who received more than tuition and an internship through the U.S. military’s SMART Scholarship program. After graduation, she’s guaranteed a job with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Alabama.

Other students brought research on optimizing plant growth through the use of robotics to the national stage, while a faculty-student collaboration created software for making better 3D models of priceless objects in museums from Minneapolis to Amsterdam.

Degree and university programs honored

��Ͽ� and its programs continued to rake in top rankings in 2025. Princeton Review listed ��Ͽ�’s undergraduate game design programs, which include the B.F.A. game design and development and B.S. computer science – game design concentration, No. 5 in the Midwest and No. 24 worldwide.

��Ͽ�’s game design programs ranked among international best by Princeton Review

Side gigs at Roblox, Respawn strengthen students’ skills; Stout Game Expo on May 8

��Ͽ�’s Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity was named a Top 25 Best Value Cybersecurity Degree Bachelor’s Program in the U.S. by Programs.com, the only Wisconsin program on the list. And U.S. News and World Report said ��Ͽ� had some of the Best Online Programs in the nation, including the M.S. manufacturing engineering online (Top 20 in the Midwest), the M.S. education online (Top 45 in the Midwest), and the B.S. management and leadership online (Top 15 in the Midwest).

University programs also garnered state and national honors, with the Grow, Persist, Succeed on-campus job program earning an Academic Staff Excellence Award from the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents and the Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute receiving the annual W.F. Faulkes Award from the National Rehabilitation Association for its nearly 60 years of helping tens of thousands of Americans with disabilities.

High-ranking services for veterans

For veterans and active military students, ��Ͽ� was named to the 2025 Best for Vets Colleges list by Military Times for its commitment to serving veterans and their families, ranking first in Wisconsin among traditional and online universities.

Serving those who served: ��Ͽ� among top 25 in Midwest on annual Best for Vets list

University lauded by Military Times for services to veterans, their families

The university was also honored as a Military Friendly® School. Its silver designation marked the 16th consecutive year the university was named a Military Friendly® School for its efforts to offer service and support to meet the needs of military students. It was also named a 2025-26 Military Spouse Friendly School.

Army ROTC Northwoods Battalion students learn leadership theory, time management skills, basic soldier skills, map reading and other skills from experienced Army leaders. ��Ͽ� has a long-standing agreement with the Air Force ROTC program at University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul – a unique agreement among Wisconsin universities – that allows students to enroll in Air Force ROTC classes while completing their degrees.

Top design awards

While ��Ͽ�'s School of Art & Design celebrated its 60th anniversary, students from across degree programs celebrated top wins in state, national and international competitions.

Interior design senior Khendra Thompson rose to the challenge at the 12th Annual Steelcase NEXT Student Design Competition and won with her design of a 16,000-square-foot workplace spread across two floors in a Chicago office building, beating four other finalists from a field that began with 1,600 students from across the continent.

Interior design student tops international field to win Steelcase competition

Interior design majors who entered the 12th Annual Steelcase NEXT Student Design Competition faced a lofty challenge.

To address the concern of microplastics in food and water, Master of Fine Arts in design student Ashley Jandro created a social awareness campaign called “MicroWhat?,” for which she received a Student – Integrated Consumer Campaign Silver Pin at the Minnesota AdFed awards, sponsored by the Advertising Federation of Minnesota.

A team of four packaging students won first place among university teams from around the globe in the 2025 International Molded Fiber Association Student Competition. They created a sustainable packaging solution for a waffle iron, previously packaged in polystyrene, and replaced the components with molded fiber.

The claustrophobic, cooperative game Dread Not, in which players try to survive a sinking submarine, won the award for Best Student Entry at M+DEV, the largest game industry conference in the Midwest. Dread Not was developed by a team of 15 game design students.

With a design inspired by her adventures with her black lab, Max, studio art major Jaelyn Logterman won the 2026 Wisconsin State Park and Forest vehicle admission pass design contest, announced by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

Students lending a Helping Hand

Two interior design students are working to ensure their peers have a more efficient, comfortable and warm experience at Helping Hand Food+ Pantry, the university’s student pantry. Emma Walstra and Klaire Johnson, project co-leads, reimagined the pantry space to create an “atmosphere that reflects the care ��Ͽ� places in serving its students.”

Interior design program partners with Helping Hand pantry to highlight ‘essential campus resource’

Student design team reimagines pantry space to ensure peers have comfortable, warm experience

In a cross-disciplinary collaboration, four groups of students in a Light Construction Methods class built two raised garden beds, one raised tool bench and one raised tool holder for The Neighbors of Dunn County, a senior living home. The project was part of a service-learning activity and was launched last summer during a new STEAM camp for high school students.

A team of animation and digital media students collaborated with Dunn County Humane Society to develop a public service announcement as part of the Animation Production junior capstone class. Their 72-second 2D animated film, “Stray,” was created to help advocate for pet adoption. The informative short features Bow, a stray orange tabby cat rescued during Wisconsin’s bitter winter.

Industry-sponsored projects are standard practice

Arcadia-based Ashley Furniture sponsored multiple engineering student projects in 2025. A team of students, including Inspiring Graduates Luke Mertens and Zachary Morgan, designed an innovative nonstandard pallet stacker. Ashley Manufacturing Engineer Erik Kramer, the team’s project manager, said, “The ��Ͽ� team built a better system, a better product for us. Now, with the team’s documentation, our automation team can replicate their functional design to build six more stackers for our facilities.”

All stacked up: Ashley Furniture-sponsored project results in ‘better product’ developed by engineering seniors

Student team builds functional nonstandard pallet stacker to be implemented, replicated in company’s facilities

Students also developed toolless bed connections for Ashley and worked in eight cross-disciplinary groups to research market trends, ideate preliminary designs, test materials and build professional prototypes. The class traveled to Ashley for a tour of the facility and to present their prototypes to the R&D team.

Packaging faculty and student research is poised to help Madison-based Tricky Foods deliver its tasty but temperature-sensitive charcuterie boards coast to coast. Associate Professor Kate Liu of ��Ͽ�’s packaging program worked with Tricky Foods to test the insulating abilities of two eco-friendly packaging options – one made of cornstarch, the other of recycled paper.

Three industrial and product design students were awarded a cash prize by Room & Board in exchange for the rights to produce their designs if they choose. The senior’ project focused on storage solutions for media, dining, living, entry, bathroom and kitchen systems.

Blue Devil athletes excelling

The ��Ͽ� Blue Devil women’s basketball team’s Cinderella run to the Final Four last March marked the team’s best-ever performance in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. They completed their historic season with a 23-8 record, going 10-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. Senior Raegen Sorensen became ��Ͽ�'s all-time leading scorer with 1,754 career points.

Blue Devil women’s basketball makes history in Cinderella run to the Final Four

Records set in tenacious battle against undefeated, defending champions NYU

Gymnast Jamie Beatty delivered a historic performance at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association National Championships, capturing national titles in both the all-around and the uneven bars and being named WIAC Newcomer of the Year.

The inaugural women’s flag football team hoisted the Midwest College Women’s Flag Football League Championship trophy at the Minnesota Vikings’ TCO Performance Center in April. ��Ͽ� was a founding member of the collegiate league, which was kickstarted with support from the Vikings.

Women’s golf took the WIAC conference championship, where they triumphed by a near-record margin. Sophomore Julia Imai and junior Brin Neumann placed first and second individually.

Blue Devils football made history at Bank of Sun Prairie Stadium, earning the program’s first-ever postseason victory with a 31-23 win over Washington University in the Culver's Isthmus Bowl. ��Ͽ� finishes the season 6-5 for their second straight winning season.

Officer Harvey: University Police therapy-dog-in-training is already warming hearts

The newest police officer at the University of Wisconsin-Stout is also the department’s furriest.

BONUS: Introducing Officer Harvey

Officer Harvey, a therapy dog in training, joined ��Ͽ�'s University Police as its newest member in March. Once Harvey is fully trained, he will serve University Police by assisting people experiencing mental health crises as well as victims of crime and will help the department bridge the gap with members of the community, said University Police Chief Gregory Kalosis.

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Students, alums assist in Deming’s unique medical drama ‘Winter Hymns,’ filmed in Menomonie

Canon selects ��Ͽ� for exclusive Explorers of Light program with award-winning cinematographer

Shana Hagan, ASC, has worked on everything from Oscar-winning documentaries to hit sitcoms

John Deere will benefit from sustainable plastic research conducted by ��Ͽ� students, faculty

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Heritage Hall renovation, AI innovations, industry-sponsored focus among year’s notable headlines Dignitaries with shovels at Heritage Hall groundbreaking

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Ashley, Cadrex, Apogee among companies benefiting from engineering students’ prototypes

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Canon selects ���Ͽ� for exclusive Explorers of Light program with award-winning cinematographer

Cinematographer shares professional skills

Canon builds strong relationship with ���Ͽ�

B.S. Video Production

John Deere will benefit from sustainable plastic research conducted by ���Ͽ� students, faculty

Students create, test samples

Sabbatical recap: Wei Zheng, Plastics Engineering, 2024-25

Sustainability key to professor’s research

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Room & Board furniture design competition carries ���Ͽ� students’ work from classroom to catalog

Competition bookends winning student’s experience

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Business & Industry Partners Sought

FUSE will fill training gap

Programs will launch by end of 2026

Educational Pathways & Outreach

Royal Credit Union internship gives ���Ͽ� grad student opportunity to apply skills in data science, machine learning

Student’s work makes business data visual

Students from three Universities of Wisconsin campuses use machine learning to solve problems for Royal Credit Union

Expanding machine learning applications

M.S. Applied Computer Science

Students from three Universities of Wisconsin campuses use machine learning to solve problems for Royal Credit Union

Leveraging students’ talents

AI reshaping industry: Advanced Machine Learning students develop impactful, competitive models

Learning workforce skills

Breaking ground for polytechnic partnerships: ���Ͽ� top story highlights of 2025

Reinvigorating renovations

‘Power of Partnership’: ���Ͽ� celebrates groundbreaking for $144M Heritage Hall renovation

Advances in AI

AI, fully integrated: ���Ͽ�’s 360-degree approach to artificial intelligence embeds skills across all programs

Upgrading STEMM spaces

Ronald & Joyce Wanek Foundation donation transforms labs with advanced manufacturing equipment

Degree and university programs honored

���Ͽ�’s game design programs ranked among international best by Princeton Review

High-ranking services for veterans

Serving those who served: ���Ͽ� among top 25 in Midwest on annual Best for Vets list

Top design awards

Interior design student tops international field to win Steelcase competition

Students lending a Helping Hand

Interior design program partners with Helping Hand pantry to highlight ‘essential campus resource’

Industry-sponsored projects are standard practice

All stacked up: Ashley Furniture-sponsored project results in ‘better product’ developed by engineering seniors

Blue Devil athletes excelling

Blue Devil women’s basketball makes history in Cinderella run to the Final Four

Officer Harvey: University Police therapy-dog-in-training is already warming hearts

BONUS: Introducing Officer Harvey

Our Polytechnic Advantage

Inspiring Graduates Share Their ���Ͽ� Polytechnic Experiences

Oshkosh Corporation will host Design Wisconsin, ��Ͽ�’s annual event exploring innovative design

Canon selects ��Ͽ� for exclusive Explorers of Light program with award-winning cinematographer

Canon builds strong relationship with ��Ͽ�

John Deere will benefit from sustainable plastic research conducted by ��Ͽ� students, faculty

Room & Board furniture design competition carries ��Ͽ� students’ work from classroom to catalog

With $2 million federal grant, ��Ͽ� seeks business partners to help fill region’s high-demand jobs

Royal Credit Union internship gives ��Ͽ� grad student opportunity to apply skills in data science, machine learning

Breaking ground for polytechnic partnerships: ��Ͽ� top story highlights of 2025

‘Power of Partnership’: ��Ͽ� celebrates groundbreaking for $144M Heritage Hall renovation

AI, fully integrated: ��Ͽ�’s 360-degree approach to artificial intelligence embeds skills across all programs

��Ͽ�’s game design programs ranked among international best by Princeton Review

Serving those who served: ��Ͽ� among top 25 in Midwest on annual Best for Vets list

Inspiring Graduates Share Their ��Ͽ� Polytechnic Experiences