UNC Asheville’s growing Mechatronics Engineering Program will pass a milestone at the December 2014 Commencement when Jennifer Cory becomes the program’s 100th graduate.

Cory has already accepted a position with NexGear, a division of PowerSecure in Raleigh, which builds advanced electric power management systems. Graduates in mechatronics engineering, which involves precision computer control over mechanical and electrical systems, are typically hired immediately upon graduation with starting annual salaries above $65,000.

The mechatronics concentration is a part of the joint UNC Asheville and NC State University Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, with lab and shop work based on the UNC Asheville campus, and some courses simulcast. The program, which began 12 years ago, has grown in recent years and has 215 active students this semester. The number of graduates is expected to grow from 13 last May, to 16 in May 2015, and 26 in May 2016.

Cory is being honored by the Mechatronics Engineering Program with its second annual Hallie Sheaffer Award, a recognition for scholarship, leadership and service. Her status as the program’s 100th graduate also symbolizes the growing presence of women in what has traditionally been an almost exclusively male field of study and work. While only 10 percent of the program’s first 100 graduates are women, women represent 17 percent of this semester’s introductory mechatronics students. And female faculty, including Professor and Associate Director Rebecca Bruce, have key roles in UNC Asheville’s program.

Cory, a mother of two who entered the program after working for many years in finance, says she became fascinated by technology after buying and moving into an eco-home that heats and cools affordably. “Humans are smart enough to solve the problems of sustainability,” Cory says. “This technology should be available to everybody.

“The Mechatronics Engineering Program is incredibly valuable because everything is systems-oriented,” she says. “Your electronic components have to deal with the mechanical components. I’ve had a taste of MATLAB and I know CAD design, both of which I’ll use in my new job. Plus, I know I can learn any programming language. But more than anything, the program has taught me how to work – what you need to do and what kind of patience you need to have to understand something.”

Cory also is grateful for the two internships she held as part of the program, including one with LORD Corporation through the North Carolina Space Grant. “A lot of times an engineer will be an intern, and you just get to watch. But they allowed me to be an engineer. They trusted me. They let me build prototypes.”

While Cory was hired by a Raleigh-based employer, mechatronics engineering graduates also serve the needs of Asheville’s growing high tech engineering sector. “Today and even more so in the future, mechanical machinery and products will be controlled using all types of electronic sensors and a microprocessor computer,” says Jim Oliver, CEO of AvL Technologies. “The UNC Asheville Mechatronics Program does a great job of educating students and preparing them for this future. At AvL Technologies, our satellite antennas require positioning within 0.02 degrees accuracy and must track moving satellites within 0.1 degrees accuracy.”

Stephen Walsh, director of UNC Asheville’s joint engineering programs with NC State University, hopes to grow the Mechatronics Engineering Program dramatically, to meet the demand for high tech skills. “We do have space constraints, but ultimately, I’d like to see the number of our program’s students double,” says Walsh. “I travel regularly to meet employers from all over the country and make sure our students are gaining the skills that are needed in emerging sectors of the economy. And we now have an Industrial Advisory Board, with leaders from AvL Technologies, TMEIC of Virginia, Eaton Corporation, Arvato Bertelsmann, LORD Corporation, BorgWarner and others. I’m excited about their guidance and support.”