Undergraduate Summer Scholar embraces hands-on learning opportunities to improve manufacturing efficiency
Smart Manufacturing Engineering major Chris Tsai said "Miami's helped me prepare for the future in a lot of ways"
Undergraduate Summer Scholar embraces hands-on learning opportunities to improve manufacturing efficiency
Smart Manufacturing Engineering major Chris Tsai said "Miami's helped me prepare for the future in a lot of ways"
Videography by Zach Burnett and Cameron Johnson
It’s always amazing to meet someone who just knew at a young age what they wanted to do for a future career. And Chris Tsai ’27, a Smart Manufacturing Engineering major at Miami University, is one of those people. Growing up in Canton, Ohio, he loved putting things together — Legos, Tinkertoys, you name it — to create elaborate structures and improve efficiencies.
With a passion for engineering, it’s no surprise that Tsai would be drawn to hands-on learning opportunities — and that’s the precise reason he chose Miami University. While he started as a Mechanical Engineering major, he quickly learned that he preferred the shop environment and switched to Smart Manufacturing Engineering. “I get to learn how the manufacturing processes actually work, and it just seemed like the most fun as far as a college experience goes,” he said. One area that hands-on learning takes place for Tsai is in the high bay engineering lab at Garland Hall – his favorite spot on campus. In addition to taking courses there, he gets the opportunity to build fun things, operate machines, meet and work with a lot of new people, and help professors with their research — all things he really enjoys.
Reaching out for research opportunities
This summer, Tsai has been diving into his own research by participating in the Undergraduate Summer Scholars program — a 10-week program offering research experiences for undergraduate students at Miami — along with his faculty mentor, Clayton Cooper, assistant professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Praising him as a “great research advisor,” Tsai is thankful to Cooper for showing him all things shop related.
Meeting in one of Cooper’s courses during Tsai’s sophomore year, Tsai later joined one of Cooper’s Smart Manufacturing information sessions, which ultimately led to him joining Cooper’s lab. And since then, the two have worked together nearly every day. “He's been the biggest help as far as learning what I've been trying to focus on in my research,” Tsai mentioned.
Tsai’s summer research focuses on a machine learning module to detect, classify, and localize cutting tools in manufacturing environments — all in real time — and concentrates on the entirety of a shop to create a safer and simpler working environment. “That large shop model will identify things like machines, people, equipment just all over the shop and track their placement, movement, and usage. My model is a machine learning model for specifically tool tracking. I'm interested in this because it's a great way to just simplify and identify and prevent errors from happening. A lot of things happen when people assemble tools wrong, when people can't figure out their geometries, can't figure out how they work exactly,” he said.
Leading through the race team
In addition to his research and efforts to improve the shop environment, Tsai is also involved in RedHawk Racing, Miami’s student-led team that designs, builds, and races vehicles and competes in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The team has two divisions: the Baja off-road team and the Formula team.
Tsai serves as the lead computer numerical control (CNC) engineer for the race team. He said, “I am the one who takes their three-dimensional parts that are CAD (computer-aided design) modeled for me. We use a 3D modeling software called NX — great software, very powerful, great for most applications. I take their models; I make tools for them; and I turn those physical models into real-life parts.”
Most recently, he’s been working on an upright for the Baja car, which will hold the front axles in place to better control the car, and Tsai handles letting the business team know the tools and stock he needs. “The business team will procure my stock, procure my tools if I need custom tooling; and then I will take those nice resources and turn them into physical parts to put on the car,” he said.
Documenting these races is important, and Tsai originally joined the race team in fall 2025 to serve as their first-person view (FPV) drone photographer. “I've been learning how to, like, follow the car, do fun aerodynamic backflips and whatnot,” he said. Within three months of joining the race team, Tsai was promoted to CNC lead because of his proficiency with the machines. He was then promoted to fabrication lead, calling it “a nice step up.” He mentioned, “So I get to manage how things are manufactured, what materials we use, what tools we use, how things get done, when things get done, and stuff like that.”
Considering future plans
After graduating from Miami, Tsai is considering two paths. The first path is going into the manufacturing industry since he loves all kinds of manufacturing. The second path is teaching at Miami, specifically helping Cooper teach some of his more advanced courses.
Tsai never imagined all of the things he would learn here — and how it will help him in the future. “Miami's helped me prepare for the future in a lot of ways. It's taught me great time skills for, like, project management and like how to actually make sure my parts and my materials get delivered to me on time, my expected outcomes, how to do quality control — stuff like my surface finishes, my tolerancing for, like, tight bearing fits, for example,” he said. “It's given me a lot of opportunities to learn how the nitty gritty things worked all the way up to, like, the desk work and the proper, like, engineering/faculty stuff like that. It's been a great resource for just everything engineering related that I could have ever imagined.
