Job Summary

The Instructional Support Engineer works in the Technical Services Group at Purdue Indianapolis and serves as a consultant, providing direct support to faculty, staff, and students in the school’s formal instructional labs for all undergraduate courses in Mechanical Engineering. 

Day-to-day responsibilities include providing safety supervision for high hazard lab environments including the use of manual machine tools, CNC machine tools, woodworking equipment and sheet metal equipment. This position will also provide maintenance and repair of instructional lab equipment and ensuring the instructional facilities are ready for each lab session. Equipment consists of custom-designed instrumentation that is not commercially available; as such, this position develops documentation related to specification, design, fabrication, testing, and repair of equipment and develops and trains on these elements. Repair and maintenance involve root cause analysis and complex decision-making related to problems that do not have clear solutions and require new, engineered solutions. Through these responsibilities, the Instructional Support Engineer ensures that labs are running at optimal functionality to enable the successful completion of course projects, objectives, assignments, and outcomes for faculty, staff, and students.

This position will also provide strategic guidance in the development of new laboratory experiments and apparatus to further modernize the school’s undergraduate program. Additionally, this position may also hire and supervise undergraduate students working to support the school’s instructional and computer labs.

This position offers a chance to make a meaningful impact at a prestigious institution known for innovation and research excellence. Join our community of lifelong learners and contribute your skills to this critical program. At Purdue, you'll find unrivaled pride and unlimited potential as we persistently pursue the next giant leap together. Take the next step in your career journey - apply now to help build a better world at Purdue University.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Serves as the first point of contact in the ME formal instructional laboratories for course instructors and teaching assistants.
• Provide ‘onsite’ troubleshooting to ensure the proper functionality of instructional lab apparatus and equipment. 
• Provide safety supervision for lab courses uses the manual machine shop, CNC lab, wood shop and sheet metal facilities.
• This involves training teaching assistants and student employees in the safe use of the equipment.
• Provide subject matter expertise in the safe use of the Instron Universal Test Machines. 
• Provide coordination with course instructors and the College of Engineering in the manufacturing of 3D printed test samples for the course.
• Serve as the point contact for non-course use of the Universal Testing Machines.
• Provide repair and reconditioning of instructional apparatus as required to ensure all students can successfully complete lab assignments during the scheduled lab periods.
• Keep records of failures and conduct root cause failure analysis to identify patterns of failure.
• From this analysis and in collaboration with staff in West Lafayette, develop recommendations to modify apparatus to increase reliability while maintaining the functionality needed for achieving desired educational outcomes.
• Prepare proposals for updating infrastructure in the instructional facilities as required.
• Serve as Point of Contact for installation of custom network infrastructure/configurations to support formal ME courses.
• Foster a culture of safety and learning to ensure all users have a positive learning experience while in the instructional labs. 
• Provide informal consultation services in electrical, mechanical, electronics, and measurement systems to students to support course projects in the formal instructional labs.
• Design, develop, and implement safety policies and procedures to ensure the safe operation of each of the formal instructional lab areas.
• Provide training on these procedures for course instructors, teaching assistants, student employees, and students as needed. 
• Work with Faculty on the design and development of effective lab activities given the constraints of student count, time, and equipment.
• Work with faculty area groups on the redevelopment of instructional lab spaces, including the development of new apparatus.
• Provide expertise in the design of apparatus to ensure safety and supportability in the instructional lab.
• Work with the Undergraduate office to strategically schedule courses into available instructional lab areas.
• Ensure any ‘non-core’ classes needing to use instructional lab space can be scheduled to minimize impacts to core users. 
• Special projects/assignments allocated by the Head of Mechanical Engineering.

About Us:

The School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University has a mission to change the world for the better, one student at a time. We began in 1882 as experts in locomotives (thus the name "Boilermakers!") and now in the 21st century, we continue to move the world forward by combining the latest technologies with the strongest of fundamentals.

About 2,600 undergraduate students are part of the Purdue ME family in West Lafayette, Indiana.  As one of the broadest engineering disciplines, our students and faculty have the widest variety of interests and expertise. We maintain high standards, whether in the classroom, the laboratory, or the workplace.  Purdue ME is one of the top ten schools in the country, as ranked by US News & World Report.

For more information about our department, please visit: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME

What We're Looking For:

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM 
• Three (3) years of experience
• A background in electronics design, fabrication, and troubleshooting is desired
• Experience in maker spaces and mechanical assembly is desired

Skills needed:

• Competency in metalworking with manual mills, lathes
• Knowledge of CNC machines
• MODERATE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: Lift and carry 25 to 50 lbs. frequently, and up to 60 lbs. occasionally
• Exposure to heavy machinery, fumes/vapors, and dust

Who We Are:

Purdue is a community built on collaboration, with global perspectives, Boilermaker pride and endless opportunity to live, learn and grow. Join us and contribute to our culture.

Additional Information:

• Purdue’s benefits summary https://www.purdue.edu/hr/Benefits/
• Purdue will not sponsor employment authorization for this position  
• A background check will be required for employment in this position
• FLSA: Exempt (Not Eligible For Overtime)
• Retirement Eligibility:  Defined Contribution Waiting Period

Career Stream

Compensation Information:
Professional 3
Pay Band S075
Job Code#20003172
 
Link to Purdue University's Compensation Guidelines: https://www.purdue.edu/hr/mngcareer/compguidelines/index.php

EOE

Purdue University is an EO/EA University