NIU has received $10,000 worth of funds from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).

Since 1979, the SME Foundation has awarded nearly $5 million in cash and over $8.5 million in equipment and software grants to 283 different schools to promote manufacturing engineering programs in colleges and universities like NIU.

The SME Foundation cash grants are made in five areas: capital equipment, student development, faculty development, curriculum development and research initiation.

The $10,000 grant was approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors for research initiation at NIU.

Professor Muralidharan Krishnamurthi, assistant professor at NIU’s industrial engineering department, will use the funding for his proposed research, “An Activity-Based Costing Interface to Manufacturing Simulation” for the industrial engineering program.

Frank J. Riley, president of the Manufacturing Engineering Education Foundation said, “For the 1992 funding period, 132 proposals were received from institutions requesting cash grants totaling $2,787,934 and 88 of these grant proposals were selected for funding.”

Riley also said that in addition to the $428,760 in cash grants, another $3,682,549 in-kind equipment and software grants are awarded.

The SME grants are awarded each year to support new developments in manufacturing technology and productivity and to enhance manufacturing engineering as an educational discipline.

Riley said, “Colleges and universities with manufacturing engineering programs are encouraged to apply to the SME Foundation.”

The deadline for submitting proposals for the next round of funding is February 1, 1993.