At a glance
Under Merry’s guidance, and thanks to the hands-on training he received in his program, Jury, a welding technology student from New Windsor, fabricated a collapsible, three-burner brew stand for D’Arcy for his senior project.
As an avid home brewer, Alfred State faculty member Mark D’Arcy has long dreamed of having his own brew stand.
The cost of purchasing one, however, was more than the assistant professor of Mathematics and Physics cared to pay. One day, he was conversing about senior welding projects with George Merry, an assistant professor of Computerized Design and Manufacturing, who helped him to realize that his dream wasn’t as far off as he had thought.
“George told me he had a student, Tyler Jury, who was talented and needed a senior project,” D’Arcy said.
Under Merry’s guidance, and thanks to the hands-on training he received in his program, Jury, a welding technology student from New Windsor, fabricated a collapsible, three-burner brew stand for D’Arcy for his senior project. Jury’s friend and fellow welding technology student David Cortes, of Newburgh, assisted in the process.
D’Arcy provided funding for the materials that Jury needed at a fraction of what it would cost to simply purchase the brew stand. This also helped alleviate any concern Jury may have had regarding the expense of materials.
As for the details of the stand, the legs on the outside are removed and the outside burners fold underneath the center burner when the stand is not in use. According to D’Arcy, the stand will initially be used to brew 5-10 gallon batches of beer, but is designed for batches of up to 20 gallons.
Upon seeing the finished product for the first time, D’Arcy was “smiling from ear to ear,” according to Jeffrey Stevens, dean of the School of Applied Technology.
“Later that day, I heard Tyler talking about it with three of his classmates and he was so very proud that his customer was so happy,” Stevens said. “This was a great collaboration between our two campuses. I thank Tyler, Mark, and George for their successful efforts of incorporating project-based learning into the classroom.”
D’Arcy agreed that the collaboration between the two campuses was terrific. He added that he was very impressed with the quality and craftsmanship of the finished product.
“This was a dream come true,” he said. “I ended up with a custom-made brew stand at a fraction of the price of similar commercially available models. Also, I was able to help fund a student’s senior project and that feels pretty good.”
