Jeff Foote, an assistant professor of practice in integrated engineering design, hit the ground running in his first few months on the job in the Min H. and Yu Fan Kao Innovation & Collaboration Studio (KICS). 

Foote has been developing new computer aided manufacturing (CAM) classes that will be offered in the fall and spring of the 2024-25 school year to engineering students going into senior design. The hands-on, one-credit courses will be taught in eight-week sessions. They will take a deeper dive into computer numerically controlled (CNC) programming and milling.  

The CAM1 (EF 306) course serves as an introduction to general machining practices, CAM programming, and safe operation of a CNC milling machine. Students will start making parts on day one and will learn new capabilities each week. CAM2 (EF 406) will build upon the foundational course to address designing parts from scratch, programming CNC mills, verifying the programs, and machining the parts on the KICS Haas TM-1P mill. 

“Engineers that know how to build things typically do very, very well in the world,” Foote said. “We want to kind of foster that mentality wherever we can. These courses are a good opportunity to do some of that.” 

KICS is a student-managed makerspace supported by the Tickle College of Engineering that is located on the ground floor of the Zeanah Engineering Complex. Students that come to work on their own projects are taught how to operate the equipment safely, but the new courses will provide a more comprehensive overview.  

“When you’re making a part yourself and at least have some understanding of how to make it, you tend to design more thoughtfully and towards the actual processes that you’re working with,” Foote said. “A lot of students haven’t really thought through that process. They haven’t really looked at what tools are available and applied that.” 

Opening More Doors into KICS  

Foote obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University and worked in industry for many years. He taught machining classes at his alma mater and had been an adjunct professor at UT before joining the faculty full time in May. 

Giving students more knowledge and experience to build their own parts is extremely rewarding for Foote. He’s seen how much value students gain from working on a concept on a computer to seeing the actual part come to reality. 

“It forces a little bit of thought into cost and time,” Foote said. “If you come up with a part that looks great, but it’s going to take two weeks to make in the shop is that really a prototype that’s practical? That starts to put some interesting parameters and boundaries on design that you don’t really get unless you do the entire process yourself.”  

Although the CAM classes Foote designed are only open to engineering students initially, he hopes to allow all students at UT to enroll in the future.  

“Given the equipment, the space, and the personnel to do it, we’d love to be able to offer it more broadly to get more people into the shop,” Foote said. “The ICS is available to everyone and is such a valuable resource at UT. Our goal is to welcome as many students as we can to help them in any way we can.” 

Contact

Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, rpotkey@utk.edu)