EAST LANSING, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tenneco (NYSE:TEN), a global supplier of Clean Air and Ride Performance technologies, is partnering with Michigan State University College of Engineering’s CoRe Experience program, designed to engage first-year engineering students in experiential learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony and dedication took place on October 14 at MSU’s Wilson Hall, where Tenneco sponsored the renovation of the 5th floor lobby as a workspace for students to gather and collaborate on projects, activities and networking. MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon, Tenneco’s chief operating officer Brian Kesseler, College of Engineering Dean Leo Kempel, and other College of Engineering and Tenneco team members gathered to dedicate the new 5th floor lobby.
“We are pleased to support MSU’s CoRe Experience program. Our support of this initiative is driven by Tenneco’s commitment to engage and develop future talent and prepare them for cross-disciplinary functions within an organization like ours,” said Brian Kesseler, chief operating officer, Tenneco. “We look forward to growing our partnership with MSU to ensure that students have the resources and opportunities that will give them a strong foundation for an engineering career.”
Leo Kempel, Dean of the College of Engineering, thanked Tenneco for the nearly $300,000 gift and the support it will provide CoRe students.
“As a global leader in automotive technology, Tenneco’s interest in and support of our students will help them become the professionals we need to tackle the world’s transportation challenges. Tenneco and MSU are a good match to guide future Spartan Engineers into creative solutions that reflect their passion for performance and efficiency,” said Kempel.
Tenneco’s support of MSU’s College of Engineering encompasses several key areas. In the past year, the company has sponsored first-year design courses and led four senior capstone mechanical engineering projects. Additionally, Tenneco is collaborating with the University and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) on an advanced combustion research program for undergraduate and graduate engineering students from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designed to seek solutions to reduce fuel consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria pollutant emissions.
CoRe Experience
The MSU College of Engineering CoRe Program integrates first-year engineering academics with an engineering living-learning community to support the academic, professional, and personal growth of first-year engineering students. Tenneco’s nearly $300,000 contribution will support CoRe as it engages more than 1,700 students in hands-on design projects to discover how to function in a collaborative, team-based, diverse setting and show the importance of engineering as well as the positive impact engineers have on a society.
Tenneco is an $8.2 billion global manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 30,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of clean air and ride performance products and systems for automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment markets and the aftermarket. Tenneco’s principal brand names are Monroe®, Walker®, XNOx® and Clevite®Elastomer.
The Michigan State University College of Engineering has nine academic programs serving more than 5,400 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. The college’s research focus is on innovation in automotive, composite materials, energy, health care technologies, pavement preservation, and security. The college is the home of two new academic departments -- the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering and a partner in MSU’s new Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering. A new $60 million Bio Engineering Facility will open in autumn 2016 for interdisciplinary basic and applied research at the interface of life and physical sciences, engineering, information science, and math.
