"We've very satisfied," explained Richard Davis, an engineer with the Torrance, Calif., company. "They did an excellent job." The demonstrator, which can be operated by a salesperson, is something "we probably wouldn't have done ourselves," Davis added.
The cooperative effort was a product of the Claremont Mathematics Clinic, created in 1973 by Harvey Mudd and The Claremont Graduate School to strengthen their applied math curricula and to help solve some of the problems facing area companies and organizations. Since then the clinic has worked with 30 clients, many of them more than once, and has generated $1.5 million in revenues.
The $27,000 contribution from each client finances a team that consists typically of six undergraduate students, a graduate-student team leader, a faculty supervisor and a liaison from the company.
"The greatest direct benefit of collaboration, of course, is that problems are solved," said Dale Larson, a scientist with Chevron Oil ...
