The Iowa State chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers was named the most outstanding student chapter by the international SME organization.

The Overall Excellence Award was presented at the regional conference in Milwaukee, Wis., in early October.

ISU’s chapter president, Eric Jacobs, said, “It was a personal goal to win the International Award. I’m very proud of all the cabinet members for making us the best chapter in the entire world.”

This is the first time since the 1980s the ISU chapter has won the Overall Excellence Award. It is also the third time in a row the chapter has won the SME regional student club award.

SME is an international professional society dedicated to advancing professionalism, knowledge and learning in the manufacturing industry, according to a press release. Founded in 1932, SME has nearly 70,000 members in 70 countries. The society sponsors 275 professional chapters, districts and regions, as well as 240 student chapters worldwide.

Joseph Chen, an assistant professor of industrial technology at ISU and the chapter’s faculty adviser, said, “The Overall Excellence Award demonstrates the chapter’s membership, programming and promotes communication and manufacturing with companies.”

To win the International Award, Jacobs said chapters are judged on their annual report, community service work, financial stability and a scrapbook of their activities.

“Judges also look at technological meetings and plant tours,” he said.

A few of the ISU chapter’s community projects include volunteering for United Way’s food drive, sodding houses with Habitat for Humanity and creating Veishea plaques out of scrap aluminum to be sold during Veishea.

“The community involvement is to give students a chance to work in their field and learn about real-world manufacturing. It also prepares students for the next level of engineering,” Chen said.

Chen also said the ISU chapter is involved in preparing students for the manufacturing technologies certification test, an optional test ISU offers twice a year.

The certification test covers students’ knowledge of the fundamentals of manufacturing, including computer applications, engineer design, mathematics and applied sciences.

“Not many colleges offer to help students with this exam. In fact, we tested 70 students this past year, which is an international record for student chapters in SME,” Jacobs said.

In addition to the Overall Excellence Award and the regional award, the ISU chapter won a first place ribbon for certification and also a first place ribbon in display. The display highlighted all of the chapter’s activities during the past year.

The ISU chapter was also one of the first student chapters to create a SME Web site.

The chapter also held a fluid power competition, created an email directory and formed a scrapbook which will soon be available on CD-ROM.

“It was a group effort and I’m very proud of our many accomplishments and hard work,” Jacobs said.