2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper presents insights from a successful industry-academic collaboration between Farmingdale State College's Mechanical Engineering Technology program and Koehler Instrument Company, Inc., a leading manufacturer of precision laboratory testing equipment. Initiated in Spring 2022 and ongoing through Fall 2024, this partnership has engaged students in addressing an industry challenge concerning grease contamination. Specifically, students have worked to design and prototype a portable instrument utilizing the contact angle method—a novel technique for assessing the water resistance of grease by measuring the contact angle of a water droplet on a grease sample. The original patent is held by Louisiana State University who developed the first prototype. This innovative instrument provides a quantitative evaluation of grease degradation, and its development is now poised to transition into production by the end of this year.
Through a rigorous, evidence-based approach, students collaborated with industry professionals at every phase, for a full redesign ( the goal was to make it 75 % smaller ) that included all steps from a conceptual design to a functional prototype. The project underscores the transformative potential of capstone projects that bridge academic learning with real-world applications. The paper will detail the pedagogical and technical advantages of such collaborations, emphasizing how they foster student engagement, enhance industry problem-solving capabilities, and strengthen ties between academia and industry. This case study serves as a model for how industry-academic partnerships can drive innovation while equipping students with essential hands-on experience and industry-relevant skills.