Industry Supports Rocket Science
AutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 53, 2024Notebook IssueStudent SpotlightStudent Spotlight

Industry Supports Rocket Science

Industrial-grade products provide a path for this student organization to develop a space-capable rocket. Byline: Oleg Khalimonov, Space Concordia Many are familiar with the phrase “it isn’t rocket science.” But today more than ever, sometimes it is rocket science. SpaceX and other organizations have made rocket launches and space exploration commercially viable and almost commonplace,…
2025 Digital Animation Award
Education/DIYStudent SpotlightStudent Spotlight

2025 Digital Animation Award

This FIRST award, sponsored by AutomationDirect, celebrates the art of digital animation and its close relationship to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics).  NEW FOR 2025: Separate competitions for FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge teams. The 2025 Digital Animation Awards are offered to help encourage students to cultivate skills in design and creation of animation…
FIRST Robotics Competition 2024 Digital Animation Award Winner
AutomationDirect SpotlightStudent Spotlight

FIRST Robotics Competition 2024 Digital Animation Award Winner

This award, sponsored by AutomationDirect, celebrates the art of digital animation and its close relationship to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics). The 2023 Digital Animation Award is offered to help encourage students to cultivate skills in design and creation of animation including, but not limited to, storytelling, creativity, use of computer software, and…
Harnessing the Power of Play: Engaging PLC Students with a Vehicle Simulator
AutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 52, 2024Student SpotlightStudent Spotlight

Harnessing the Power of Play: Engaging PLC Students with a Vehicle Simulator

Students in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, have found a way to combine their passion for video games with the industrial controls coursework they are studying at the Centennial Secondary School. The team  of 11th  and 12th year students was guided by their instructor; John Harpell, an electronics and automation controls veteran with thirty years of experience….
Student Spotlight: OSU Students Save Dying Fish
AutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 48 -2022Notebook IssueStudent SpotlightStudent Spotlight

Student Spotlight: OSU Students Save Dying Fish

A team of engineering students from Oklahoma State emailed Automation Direct last year with a disturbing problem: Fish were dying! These engineering students had been contacted, in turn, by students in the nearby Culinary Arts program who run an aquaponics farm.  Aquaponics combines aquaculture (raising fish and other marine life in tanks) with hydroponics (growing…
EMMA wins Design Competition at Georgia Tech
Issue 47 -2022Student SpotlightStudent Spotlight

EMMA wins Design Competition at Georgia Tech

By Michael Probst, BSEE ’22 The Georgia Institute of Technology Engineering Department requires two semesters of design experience, with a course known as “senior design”. Students divide themselves into teams of 4-6 students, often comprised of members from within a single department, or students can form interdisciplinary teams. The projects themselves come from three sources:…
Student Brings Joy to Kids During COVID-19 with Automated Halloween Display
Application StoriesAutomationDirect SpotlightCommunicationsHMIPLCProductProgrammable ControlStudent Spotlight

Student Brings Joy to Kids During COVID-19 with Automated Halloween Display

In a typical year, children excitedly count down the days in October to Halloween. However, Halloween 2020 was different due to COVID-19, and many kids felt it was going to be a disappointing nightmare. That wasn’t the case in one town in Utah, thanks to the efforts of Shaun Oaks, father of two young children…
AutomationDirect Employees Enjoy Helping Students in Internship Program
AutomationDirect SpotlightCompany TopicsIssue 43 - 2020NewsStudent Spotlight

AutomationDirect Employees Enjoy Helping Students in Internship Program

A key AutomationDirect value is to be a responsible, involved citizen of the communities where team members live and work. That’s one of the reasons the company has served for the past two years as an employer for Internship Forsyth which gives students the opportunity to learn real-world skills by working at local companies. The…