Make a Difference Engineering (MADE at TU)

Since the 1970s, TU mechanical engineering students have focused their talents on projects that address the special needs of local residents with physical and developmental disabilities. As word of their efforts spread, the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences started receiving donations in support of this initiative.

Then-Dean Steve Bellovich took a keen interest in these projects and offered students funds from his budget. The venture became known as the Make a Difference Engineering (MADE at TU) initiative, a program that has fundamentally improved the lives of many disabled children in northeast Oklahoma through the design and development of mobility aids and other adaptive devices.

The social service aspect of MADE at TU is tremendously valuable to TU students and faculty: The technical challenges are comprehensive, and the client interactions are ideal exercises in developing design requirements.

Bellovich passed away suddenly in February 2012 and was unable to see this latest project completed. However, in April, TU President Steadman Upham announced the establishment of the Make A Difference Engineering endowment in Bellovich’s honor. The university founded the endowment with a $250,000 investment, and the earnings of the fund continue to provide support for the MADE at TU program in perpetuity. Today, the endowment helps pay for materials and other expenses associated with projects identified as part of the MADE at TU program. Students from all departments in the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences are invited to participate.

For more information about MADE at TU, please contact:
John Henshaw
Department Chair and Harry H. Rogers Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering
918-631-3002
john-henshaw@utulsa.edu