Inspiration from U of M: Autonomous Vehicles, Robots and Engineering Students

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) career opportunities are on the rise, while the qualified workforce is projected to decline. Last week a team visited the University of Michigan to explore the different options to partner with the elite university and tap into the talent of the next generation of workers.

Gary Verplank, CEO, Jeff Piper, VP of strategy and innovation, Tom Johnson, director of engineering, Danielle Smith, HR director, Joe Matecki, APD product manager, Jeff McHenry, advanced product engineer, Kannan Ramamoorthy, CAE engineer IV, Helen Weykamp, APD product manager, and Danni Schertzing, APD commercial manager were all in attendance.

The team learned more about Michigan’s Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP), where companies, like Shape, partner with groups of engineering students to work on a project for that company. They were also taken on a tour of the robotics lab and participated in a deep discussion on Autonomous Vehicles, including Michigan’s research behind them.

Shape associates had the opportunity to tour Mcity, the world’s first full-scale simulated urban environment designed exclusively for testing the performance and safety of autonomous vehicles in realistic road conditions.

This is just one opportunity that we are looking into to connect with the next workforce and recruit the next generation of engineers. We are continuously engaging local high schools, tech centers and colleges to increase interest in working at Shape.