As a student at Carolina in the 1990s, Jim Mahaney ’97 was the first undergraduate student to work in the machine shop in Sitterson Hall. He now teaches students like junior Lilly Gann (right) and senior Sofia Morais (left) in COMP 290 in the same spot. (Jeyhoun Allebaugh/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Jim Mahaney ’97 grew up solving problems with his hands. Rather than turning to a mechanic or plumber to solve a household problem, he learned to fix it himself.
That same mentality inspired Mahaney, director of research and engineering in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ computer science department, to launch COMP 290: Introduction to Applied Engineering.
The course takes place at the Experimental Engineering Lab in Sitterson Hall and provides students with basic metalworking and fabrication skills. With Mahaney’s guidance, they learn how to operate metal lathes, milling machines and welding equipment among other tools. The metal parts they create are then used for research projects across campus. Mahaney teaches six sections of the course with two students in each class.
This semester, students are collaborating with the College’s Earth, marine and environmental sciences department to understand how icebergs melt. EMES researchers plan to place a 300-pound block of ice in a wave tank to simulate an iceberg in the ocean and have turned to the EEL to help build the parts.
Junior Lilly Gann, a Chancellor’s Science Scholar majoring in applied sciences, is assisting on the project. As a part of the EEL, she’s worked on developing a remote-operated vehicle that can collect data on icebergs. Through Mahaney’s course, she’s helping build the data collection material herself.
“Right now, we’re building the parts that will hold the ice,” when it’s lowered into the tank, said Gann. “I learned how to solder and make a circuit, which we attached probes to. Those will eventually be in the ice recording temperature.”
Junior Lilly Gann is a part of the first applied sciences major graduating class. The major launched in 2024 with tracks in materials engineering and environmental engineering. (Jeyhoun Allebaugh/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Other departments that collaborate with the EEL include applied mathematics; physical therapy; exercise and sport science; and religious studies.
Although housed within the computer science department, the course draws on the strengths of several disciplines. This semester, students represent 13 different majors.
Senior Sofia Morais, a biomedical engineering major, has been a part of the EEL since her sophomore year and is taking COMP 290 this semester. As a junior, she participated in machine shop tutorials Mahaney hosted on Fridays, learning how to use the milling machine and lathe. Demonstrating an understanding of both tools has proven useful. Last summer, Morais interned as a product engineer at REVIAN, a company that creates red-light hair therapy caps.
“We’d get a hundred samples from our manufacturer, and I’d have to make sure they were built correctly,” said Morais. “I’d like to continue working with medical devices on the manufacturing operation side, which this class is really handy for, because it’s all about fabrication and common tools that are used in a manufacturing site.”
Sofia Morais practices welding during class. Welding, Morais said, has the steepest learning curve out of the tools in the shop. Students like herself have spent time welding lines on a sheet of metal, building up to more advanced projects over time. (Jeyhoun Allebaugh/UNC-Chapel Hill)
In addition to teaching students basic shop skills, Mahaney hopes he’s encouraging students to look at research problems from a new perspective.
“Being involved in research engineering really helps students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills,” said Mahaney. “We’re building things that have never existed before to help researchers explore new ideas. That takes a different kind of thinking than writing a paper about something discussed in class.”
Like their professor, Mahaney’s students find joy in the hand-crafted work itself.
“Even if I don’t weld in my job, it’s an awesome skill to have, and it’s kind of fun,” said Gann. “I like working hands-on with materials and learning new things.”
Jim Mahaney has transformed Carolina’s Experimental Engineering Lab into a hub for undergraduate research and hands-on engineering, thanks to private funds that have supported these new opportunities. Gifts to the EEL made COMP 290: Introduction to Applied Engineering possible and continue to help students access the equipment and materials they need to pursue their own ideas and contribute to research across campus.