Arrow Electronics Joins EPIC Advisory Board
Arrow Electronics has joined the Engineering Product Innovation Center’s (EPIC) Corporate Advisory Board, providing EPIC with generous financial support, donations of materials and services, and an advisory program for students and the members of the BU community engaged in innovation.
The partnership will give EPIC’s students, faculty, and staff increased access to important Arrow parts and services utilized by innovators across campus. Also included in the partnership are The Arrow subsidiaries, including ArrowPlus, SiliconExpert, and AspenCore.
Arrow Electronics guides innovation forward for over 175,000 of the world’s leading manufacturers of technology used in homes, business and daily life. A global provider of products, services, and solutions, Arrow aggregates electronic components and enterprise computing solutions for customers and suppliers in industrial and commercial markets. The company maintains a network of more than 336 locations worldwide.
At EPIC, one of the first and largest of makerspaces housed at an engineering school in the US, all members of the BU community can learn the skills necessary to design and build their own creations, and gain invaluable hands-on experience in design, prototyping, and small-scale manufacturing. For all College of Engineering undergraduates, EPIC is an integral part of a strong overall engineering education.
EPIC is aligned with the mission of the College of Engineering to create Societal Engineers who are prepared to step up to the ever-growing need in the US and abroad for industry leaders who understand how to develop and manufacture innovative new products in a global environment. With cutting-edge facilities and equipment, a special curriculum, and access to seasoned practitioners, EPIC goes beyond the basic manufacturing research orientation of most university centers. The center is open to all BU students, regardless of major, to provide valuable training on the entire range of skill sets vital to product innovation—design, prototyping, manufacturing, and life-cycle management.
The BU College of Engineering has transformed its curriculum so students learn the entire innovation process—from concept to design to production to deployment. EPIC, a 15,000-square-foot makerspace equipped with the latest industry technology, is the centerpiece of this transformation. While other engineering schools have taken steps to prepare their students for advanced manufacturing, ENG is unique in how it has transformed the entire engineering curriculum, enabled by modern technology and software infrastructure, and through a partnership with regional industries.
While EPIC boasts a CAD studio, demonstration areas, fabrication facilities, materials testing, project management software, 3-D printers, robotics and laser processing, it is not built to remain static. EPIC has been designed so equipment can be continually updated and reconfigured within the center.
EPIC is funded through the University, ENG alumni and friends, and regional industry. Representatives from each principal industry sponsor—Arrow, GE Aviation, P&G, PTC, Schlumberger, and Rolls Royce—sit on EPIC’s Advisory Board, which offers suggestions on how the ENG undergraduate curriculum can best prepare students for employment in the years ahead. Other corporations provide direct financial support, including Ametek, Buehler, Garlock, Stanley Black , Teledyne Dalsa, and Peterbilt.