Jun 28, 2007 - Claremont, Calif. - It’s not every day that college students get to see their classroom lessons on science, engineering and mathematics put into practice.

It’s rare when they can go behind the scenes at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), visiting the Mars rover test beds and learning first-hand from the scientists how space missions are planned.

It’s just as unusual when a student can see how waste products are removed and recycled from crude oil at a Chevron refinery.

At Harvey Mudd College, however, these are common opportunities offered to students conducting summer research alongside their faculty.

“It is a wonderful opportunity to see how the subjects we study in class are actually applied in the field,” said Christina Snyder '09, a joint biology and chemistry major who visited the Chevron refinery in El Segundo with more than 40 other students in June. “We were fortunate to have former Mudders as tour guides and learned how they use their Mudd experience in their work.”

This summer, research students and faculty members have the chance to go on a number of tours: the Chevron Refinery; JPL in Pasadena; Rand Corporation, the think-tank in Santa Monica helping to improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis; and Amgen, the leading human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry, based in Thousand Oaks.

The response has been overwhelming.

“The numbers are way up this year,” said HMC’s Gerald Van Hecke ’61, associate dean for administration who attributed the increase to word-of-mouth among students, earlier on-campus promotion through e-mails and posted fliers, earlier contact with host companies and faculty encouragement. “These are great opportunities for students to start networking early.”

The tours are also a great way to get students out of their bubble, said Van Hecke, who initiated the tours in 2006.

“We often talk about the Mudd bubble—HMC students not getting out there to the other Claremont Colleges,” he explained. “But there’s also another kind of bubble, and that’s not getting out of one’s discipline.”

“We hope students on these tours will go with an open mind and look beyond their own discipline,” said Van Hecke. “Here is a great way to learn how others attack problems in the lab and get a flavor for what it’s like to work in a particular field. I hope to see many more majors participating in the future.”

Last year, students went on site visits to various engineering and technology firms, including Raytheon, Qualcomm, ViaSat, Beckman-Coulter and MedTronics.

“These tours are a good way to see what industry is really like,” said undeclared major Tanya Lewis ’10, who went on this summer’s JPL tour and plans to visit Amgen. “They also give you a good general knowledge of some critical technologies you might not have otherwise considered.”