Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
carmen.chandler@csun.edu,
(818) 677-2130

Boeing Donates $24,500 to CSUN's Engineering Program

University officials said the gift was welcomed and a sign of the company's continue support of the college's programs. Boeing recently took over Rockwell International's Rocketdyne Division. The company has a long history of cooperation with the college.

"Our college is grateful to Boeing, not only for this donation, but also for their continued support over the years," said Larry Caretto, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. "Boeing's support allows us to develop educational programs in our laboratories and student support programs that we could not do with the state funds we receive."

About $10,000 of the Boeing gift will go toward the college's MESA Engineering Program which provides support, including orientation, advisement and counseling, to disadvantaged and under-represented students.

Another $8,000 is going toward the continued support of the Automation Engineering Lab, which was initially funded in 1992 by a $300,000 grant from Rockwell International on behalf of Rocketdyne. Rocketdyne became part of Boeing in 1996.

The lab provides undergraduate and graduate students a state-of-the-art facility in which to study the theory and application of computer-aided design and engineering, computer-integrated manufacturing, factory automation and manufacturing cell layout. The lab contains a gantry robot, an automatic storage and retrieval system and six-axis robotics capability, along with 24 workstations running SDRC-Ideas software.

The remainder of the Boeing gift will go toward student scholarships, a student research project, a student internship program and the college's Industrial Associates, a program designed to foster corporate involvement in the college.

California State University, Northridge has more than 27,000 full- and part-time students and offers 48 bachelor's and 39 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley.