2 engineers to be 1st of their kind
L.A. Daily News 5/7/07
Gaudi and Hecker will be the first to earn their bachelor's degrees from the Lancaster University Center, a collaborative effort among academia, municipal government, the Air Force and NASA to allow students to complete their engineering course work in the Antelope Valley.
Gaudi will earn a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, while Hecker will receive a degree in electrical engineering.
Gaudi, who is wrapping up one major class project and a few minor ones before graduating this month, has already landed a job with Northrop Grumman. She will be working on the F-35 fighter fuselage program in Palmdale.
"That's the whole idea of the program - grow your own engineers," Gaudi said. "The idea is getting engineers who are used to the environment here and who don't get freaked out when they come here and don't see any trees."
The degrees will be awarded to Gaudi and Hecker by Fresno State University. Although the two did not have access to the same resources as their counterparts at the main campus, the curriculum was was the same.
"It is a full-fledged engineering curriculum," Hecker said. "It's not some watered-down version."
The Lancaster University Center is the product of more than seven years of effort to address the region's need for engineers. In addition to Fresno State, the partners in the effort are Lancaster city government, the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate, Antelope Valley College, California State University, Bakersfield, and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.
The program is structured so students can take their freshman and sophomore courses at Antelope Valley College and then complete their upper-division work at the center, located at the former Antelope Valley Fairgrounds on Division Street north of AvenueI. The courses are offered in a mix of classes with a teacher in the classroom and computer-based classes from a distance.
"We've worked hard to make sure the program is academically the same as at the main campus," said Jeigh Shelley, a rocket lab researcher who is teaching at the center. "Having the program here is very important. There's an incredible demand for engineers in the valley."
The center celebrated a major milestone last month when it opened its own mechanical-engineering lab.
"We now have all the equipment to run all the laboratories," Shelley said. "Commuting out of the area is no longer necessary."
For Gaudi, a single mom with two young children, having the center meant she was able to stay with her own mom while getting her education.
"I could take care of her, and she could support me," Gaudi said. "I took all my classes here. I did go to Fresno a handful of times - once to tour a facility for a design project."
For Hecker, there was one semester that required about a dozen trips to Fresno for lab work. Another class required a daylong lab session at Fresno to finish an assignment that couldn't be done locally at the time.
Hecker will take one last trip to Fresno to make a project presentation before graduating this spring.
In addition to her Fresno trips, Gaudi also had to do some work one semester at the rocket lab because the center didn't have the mechanical lab at the time.
There are some drawbacks to distance learning. On campus, students have ready access to resources, such as counseling and support groups.
"At a remote location, you are on your own," Hecker said.
There were also some lonely classes for both Gaudi and Hecker.
"When I started the program, 90 percent of the time I was the only student taking the class," Hecker said. "I was taking classes with no one around."
Gaudi said in the majority of her classes she was either alone or with one other student. The biggest class had five students. The center currently has 13 students.
"I'm happy the opportunity was here for me, and I hope it's here for generations of engineers to come," Hecker said.