New equipment for the Electrics Workshop course

Jyri Hämäläinen, dean of the School of Electrical Engineering, receives the donation from Tauno Voipio.

Aalto University alumni Tauno Voipio, who completed his studies in the School of Electrical Engineering, has donated €23 000 to the Electrics Workshop course. Thanks to this donation, students will have access to new equipment and materials.

'I myself would have wanted a course like this during my studies in the 1960s. I believe that the basics of mathematics and physics are more interesting when learnt through practical activities. Students that already have a background in construction and assembly notice that they also need theory in order to deepen their understanding, and likewise the course also encourages students to get building and assembling', Mr Voipio explained.

The Electrics Workshop course runs during the autumn and spring term and culminates each year in a final seminar in which the students present in groups the student projects they have carried out. In addition to first year electrical engineering students, other students from any and all of the Aalto University Schools also take part in the course. Based on answers from surveys carried out by the guilds, the Electrics Workshop and its teaching staff were awarded the teaching prize for the Bachelor's Programme in Electrical Engineering already in the course's first year in 2013–2014.

The donation will be used to purchase two 3D printers, a laser cutter and tools for handling surface-mounted devices.

'Now students will no longer need to queue for 3D printers, which have in recent times been in use both day and night', course teacher and university lecturer Kimmo Silvonen reported with satisfaction.

As a thank you for the donation, the students had 3D-printed a Fairchild 328 model aeroplane for Mr Voipio, who has had a career in aviation. This particular aeroplane was chosen because the multi-talented entrepreneur Sherman Fairchild sponsored in his time the beginnings of Silicon Valley and monolithic microcircuits, which led to inventions such as the microprocessor.

Read more:

News item from 30 December 2015: Students presented amazing pieces of work in the closing seminar of the Electrical Engineering Workshop

Made in Aalto: Learn by doing – Electricity Workshop at Aalto University