Its not every day college kids get to work for Bill Gates. But for students in the J.D. Edwards Honors Program's Design Studio class, it's a fairly regular occurrence.
In Design Studio, students create software and technology for actual companies, including Microsoft.
The class started six years ago as a software engineering course. To help fund the class and make it more exciting for students, local companies were invited to propose projects.
"We decided to do real projects instead of fake ones," said David Keck, director of the J.D. Edwards Honors Program.
Students are split into teams based on which project they want to work on and given the school year to complete it. Students are required to have 10 hours of team meeting time each week, but projects often require additional time.
"This type of class is top notch for learning leadership and teamwork skills," said Benjamin Fluehr, a senior electrical engineering major now in the class.
While the original focus of the class catered to computer science majors, Keck said, the concept has expanded to include other majors, such as business. Keck said he hopes the class will continue to expand and include other students.
"The more majors we have, the better," Keck said.
The class has taken on a variety of projects, including creating structural design software and a mad cow-tracking program. This year, one team worked on a playbook program for Agile Sports Technologies, a Lincoln company developing technology to aid sports teams in training and practice.
"The students' work had a very significant impact, otherwise the product wouldn't be where it's at," said Brian Kaiser, CEO for Agile Sports Technologies.
Since its creation, Keck said, the design studio class has become fairly well known in the business world. Larger companies, including Mutual of Omaha and Microsoft, have given the class several projects in recent years.
"A lot of companies are fairly proactive in contacting us," Keck said.
While national projects help increase the class's recognition, Keck said most of the work comes from Lincoln-based businesses.
"We want to serve the state of Nebraska," Keck said.
Several students from past Design Studio classes have been hired by some of the participating companies, and Keck said giving students the chance to make connections in the business community is a major benefit of the class.
"It definitely leads to internships and placements after graduation," Keck said.
While the chance to get the university and J.D. Edwards Honors Program more exposure are major benefits of the course, Keck said working with high profile companies always takes a back seat to teaching students.
"The primary objective has to be the education of the students," Keck said.
