By Tim Leeds
A crowd gathered outside of the electronics building at Montana State University-Northern to enjoy a barbecue in the unseasonably warm weather.
The members of MSU-Northern's Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering organization held the barbecue to celebrate the grand opening of their new center of excellence.
The center has been funded by a grant from the National IEEE. Lloyd Stallkamp, professor of electronics engineering technology at MSU-Northern, said the center has been set up as a place where student members of the organization can work on projects and to house satellite technology and other equipment the department has become involved in.
Stallkamp said they applied for the IEEE grant last year, but they didn't receive word of its approval until last fall. He said most of the work on the center happened in November and over Christmas.
Stallkamp said the grant was for $1,500. He said the IEEE gave them the grant mainly to set up the equipment in the center.
"They said they'd give us this much and see what we do with it," he said. "Now we're applying for next year."
