HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY
Since its inception in the year 2000, the Collaboratory has woven together the passion and dedication of faculty members and students through innovation and collaboration. Founded by Don Pratt and David Vader, this primarily engineering (though interdisciplinary at times) initiative has left a mark on students, faculty, volunteers, and global community partners. As we anticipate the 25th anniversary of the Collaboratory, we wanted to pause and look back at a few highlights.
The Collaboratory’s largest project: The Collaboratory’s largest feat was the construction of a 90-foot aluminum truss bridge in Panama, showcasing not only the skill of its members but also their commitment to tangible, real-world solutions.
Students passing through the curriculum: Over the years, the Collaboratory has engaged between 3,000 and 4,000 students in various projects and leadership opportunities. Through it all, students have been the heart of the Collaboratory, providing energy and passion for their projects.
The advisors behind the projects: Throughout the history of the Collaboratory, over 30 advisors have guided the different projects. Currently there are 11 faculty project managers, whose leadership and expertise have been instrumental in driving the Collaboratory towards unique engineering solutions and a meaningful impact on their partners. Their mentorship has empowered countless students to make meaningful contributions to society by developing leaders and cultivating the minds of the next generation towards a passion for stewardship and service.
Prominent partners of the Collaboratory: Central to the Collaboratory’s mission is its spirit of partnership and collaboration. Through partnerships with organizations such as Forward Edge International, Macha Research Trust, CURE International, Centre for the Advancement of the Handicapped, Center for Hope, and Rays of Peace Ministries, the Collaboratory has had the opportunity to serve people across the globe.
Site team travel over the years: The Collaboratory has largely emphasized the importance of experiential learning through site team travel. Since the start of the Collaboratory, 90 site team trips have been successfully launched to a total of 24 countries. These trips unite the organization’s learning initiative of students developing cultural understanding, instilling a heart of stewardship, and gaining interactive work experience.
As The Collaboratory continues to change, it remains steadfast in its commitment to developing Christ-like student leaders, collaboration with global partners, and serving those on the margins. With each project undertaken and each partnership forged, it reaffirms its position as a driving force for change in the world.
Partner Highlight: rays of Peace
The Compassion of Christ in Pastor Mark Jayakumar’s Life
Melody Pha ’25
Since last fall, the Collaboratory has partnered with Rays of Peace, an orphanage and ministry in India founded by Pastor Mark Jayakumar and his wife in 1988. Rays of Peace’s hope is to share the love of Jesus with orphans, abandoned children, and eventually, India as a whole. The Collaboratory is working to support their mission by providing a water purification system, a land development plan, and a solar PV system. These projects will be delivered and implemented this summer by a site team traveling to their orphanage.
The inspiration for the ministry was incited by Pastor Mark’s life testimony, which attests to the mission that God gave him in 1987. Pastor Mark grew up in an orphanage started by Canadian missionaries in the 1900s. One day, when he failed in a subject in tenth grade he broke down, feeling confused and overwhelmed about his future, the missionaries came to him and told him about his history. They opened a file and informed him that he was born to a prostitute and that his mother had left him when he was only three months old. They told Pastor Mark that the Lord had sent them to take him from the hospital as a baby. The doctors wanted to get rid of him, but through the Lord’s intervention, they were able to save his life. The missionaries said, “That time we took you because of the love of Jesus. You are not man’s choice, but you are God’s choice.” After Pastor Mark learned the truth, he knew what he wanted to do. Previously unsure of his future, he had gained clarity and found his purpose. His future was decided: God put it in his heart to help children going through similar situations. Just as the Lord helped him, Pastor Mark wants to help as many children as possible. Up to now, Rays of Peace has raised over 800 children and wants to care for 100 more within the next five years.
At the moment, Rays of Peace has four goals they want to reach within the next five years: The first is to plant at least fifteen churches in unreached areas and villages in India. To do this, they hope to build the infrastructure of a missionary training center. Their second goal is to reach 100 more needy children by building a new orphanage home. Next, within Rays of Peace, they have a women empowerment program called Hope of Sharon, and through this program, they want to rescue trafficked girls and help them find their identities in Christ. Lastly, many villages in India don’t have proper medical assistance. To meet this need, Rays of Peace wants to conduct more medical camps so citizens can get the medication they need. Rays of Peace asks for prayer in the following areas:
- Protection and bold faith of people persecuted for Christ.
- Provision of a compound wall to protect the orphanage from cobras, which come out in the warmer months.
- That the Lord will raise more people to be involved in Rays of Peace ministries, whether financially or through short-term mission trips.
Voices of Experience
Testimonies From Our Volunteers
Jolie Lloyd ’25
While the Collaboratory consists primarily of Messiah students and staff, there are also some more experienced volunteers who bring their wealth of knowledge to the teams. Two of these volunteers, Dan Elliot, who has been working with the Collaboratory for 25 years, and Bob Hentz, who has been working with the Collaboratory since 2011, shared their thoughts and insights about volunteering.
Q: What is your background in engineering, and how is it helpful for your role with the Collaboratory?
Elliot: I have a bachelor’s degree in commerce and engineering. I spent most of my time as an engineer selling instrumentation to industries, so I have a background in seeing how industry works and understanding how different processes are done. I also worked as a machinist technician, which gave me a machine shop background. Everything we do in Collab is about how to make things and work with tools, so my background is very important.
Hentz: I got a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and master’s degree in technology management. I was in the business for over 40 years, mostly as a systems engineer. It gives me a broad perspective in lots of areas like computer programming and implementing solutions for various companies.
Q: In what ways have you observed the students grow and develop through their participation?
Elliot: The students usually have no experience in industrial processes and manufacturing, which is something they pick up by working in Collab. They’re turned loose to create a project.
Hentz: I have watched the shyest members of Collab teams grow into leadership roles. A lot of it is due to experiences in Collab, having the opportunity to get up and present in front of people. I think this helps them as engineers going forward, leading their own projects as professionals.
Q: What has been your favorite part of working with students in the Collaboratory?
Elliot: The questions they come up with and thinking outside the box. In other words, their creative processes. What I like is solving problems I have never considered before.
Hentz: I always have a lot of fun with the students. Their enthusiasm and inquisitiveness is great. I challenge them, and they challenge me. I love the interactions with the students and watching them do things that are beneficial to society.
Q: How would you describe the environment of the Collaboratory?
Elliot: It’s giving them free reign in a project where they learn all kinds of things by being thrown into it with little to no experience. They’re forced to study and figure things out. You need that all the way through life. There’s only so much you can get from book learning. The freedom to create hands-on and think for yourself is such an important part of everything.
Hentz: As the name says, it is collaborative. It’s a good environment for students to learn and get an opportunity to experience what they’ll come up against in real life.
Dereck Plante, Collaboratory Engineering Projects Manager, has been working with Elliot and Hentz for many years. “They are both clever engineers with an amazing ability to help students break down a problem into its fundamental parts to then develop the appropriate solution,” said Plante.
The Collaboratory is true to its name; it gives students an opportunity to grow in collaboration with each other as well as with experienced professionals. Elliot and Hentz bring different perspectives and lives full of experience to the table, and in turn, they have the privilege of watching students grow.
Prayer requests for site team trips
Jenna O’Connell ’24
This summer, the Collaboratory is sending its largest traveling class on site team trips since the Covid-19 pandemic. With great appreciation we ask you to lift up these prayer requests for each of our traveling teams:
Zambia - Better Pumps team and Intelligent Water Project team: “Please pray that technical issues critical to the success of both projects are resolved in time for the site trip. We also ask for prayer that the team would come away from the trip with an expanded view of God’s work in other countries.” — Dr. Randy Fish
India - CAWS team, Land Development team, and Solar PV team: “We are a very large traveling team consisting of 3 implementation teams with 20 people total. Pray that we are united in our work such that we give our client integrated solutions that complement one another. This includes prayer in communication before and during the trip, unity in goals, and understanding of each team having their own needs. We ask for prayer that as a large team we will not be a burden on our client, but rather a source of energy and inspiration. Finally, please pray for safety and health as well.” — Professor Michelle Lockwood
England - Functional Electrical Stimulation team and Stance Control Orthosis team: “We would appreciate prayers that the time with Physiofunction in England would be informative to our ongoing design process and would build empathy for the mobility-disabled populations we are aiming to serve. Also, please pray that God will reveal new opportunities for the future to apply our engineering efforts to serve unmet needs of people with physical impairment.” — Dr. Ryan Farris
Guatemala - Coffee Decaffeination team: “You can pray for us that our final design will come together and that our partner in Guatemala, Chica Bean, will be able to find a supplier for the materials we need.” — Dr. Thomas Soerens
Peru - Streamlining Wind Turbines team: “We ask for prayer that our team completes a working system in time for delivery and that our team develops a positive relationship with Wind Aid, showing Christ to them through their visit, as they are not a Christian organization.” — Dr. Tim Burdett
word from the student director
Engineering classes teach you to view the world around you very differently. Sometimes they force us to see trusses and moment arms everywhere and think about life’s decisions as outputs of a state machine. Over time, we begin to see things in our lives not producing the best fruit and our conclusion from years of problem-solving tells us to change the process, leading to continuous improvement.
It was my hope as Student Director this year to come in and instantly make improvements. I wanted to list every less-than-perfect outcome, track it to its source, and change the process. My hope has been for constant improvement in every area, but I found it could not be accomplished without a team behind me, propelling the Collaboratory forward and myself with it. The Lord has blessed this organization with excellent leaders from whom I’ve felt deep support. I have attempted to put practices into place that will affect the Collaboratory years down the road. While many of these practices serve to polish how leadership interacts and supports each other, the main goal has been to fully utilize the skills and servant-heartedness of my fellow peers. A good leader creates healthy followers, but an empowering leader creates empowered followers. My goal is that every student leader has the agency to form their own initiatives and improve everything within their circle of influence.
The Collaboratory has given me much. I have learned invaluable engineering skills in all four years at Messiah, built lasting relationships, helped people on the other side of the world, and traveled on the most impactful trip of my life. I am very fond of the Collaboratory and I hope my time as student director has effects that last much longer than the year I am here!
Meet a new team!
Matthew Eason ’27
The Collaboratory’s Streamlining Wind Turbines team, led by Project Manager Dr. Tim Burdett, is working alongside a new partner, Wind Aid; a non-profit organization that creates wind turbines for areas struggling to obtain renewable energy sources. Wind Aid has helped bring wind power to six different regions and has taught over three hundred students about the importance of clean renewable energy across 40 different countries. Dr. Burdett, who has a passion for studying wind energy, was impressed with the Collaboratory’s devotion to service projects, and proposed making these wind turbines more energy efficient and easier to install. Currently, they are in the planning phase to measure wind speed and the power output of Wind Aid’s turbines. These turbines are designed around the height of a two-story building and will provide individual households with more energy. The team will give Wind Aid the ability to replicate the design and effectively reproduce the product.
Dr. Burdett and his team plan to visit Peru in June to install a device that will help track and monitor the efficiency of the current wind turbine system. He would love to see the project expand and be implemented in other locations than just Peru in the future. If you would like to learn more about Wind Aid, please check out their website at www.windaid.org
Student voices
Compiled by Erin Timmins ’25
What do you enjoy most about being involved with the Collaboratory?
Elizabeth Anthony ’27
“One of the things I love about being involved with the Collaboratory is that I get to use what I’m learning to serve others in a tangible way. It’s a real world engineering problem with results that can positively impact others.”
Gibby Armstrong ’26
“There are few blessings more beautiful than using the skills God granted you for the benefit of others. Being able to contribute to an organization that transforms lives both physically and spiritually is truly an honor that I will cherish forever.”
Bethany Sauder ’25
“The Collaboratory is a creative, efficient, productive, and beautiful way to connect our academics to our personal passions and spiritual desires to serve God’s people around the world.”
Kyle Green ’24
“What I enjoy most about being involved with the Collaboratory would be having a good community of students to interact with. Between both projects that I have worked on, everyone has been enjoyable to be around, fun to joke with, and great to work with overall. For me, it is a big reason as to why the Collaboratory feels so welcoming.”
Giving
The Collaboratory could not continue to increase hope and transform lives without a broad team of sponsors. Visit messiah.edu/collabgiving to give online or see our other giving options. The Collaboratory Fund is the area of greatest need.
Connect
There are many ways to be involved with the Collaboratory. Visit messiah.edu/collabconnect more information.
about the collaboratory
Mission: The Collaboratory is a center at Messiah University for applied research and project-based learning, in partnership with client nonprofit organizations, businesses, governments and communities in our region and around the world. Areas of engagement include engineering, science, health and information technology.
Our two-fold mission is:
- To foster justice, empower the poor, promote peace and care for the earth through applications of our academic and professional disciplines.
- To increase the academic and professional abilities of participants, their vocational vision for lifelong servant-leadership and their courage to act on convictions.
Vision: Increasing hope and transforming lives through education, collaboration, innovation and service.
Identity: The Collaboratory is an organization of students, educators and professionals affiliated with Messiah University. We are Christians who aspire to obey the instructions of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to love neighbors as ourselves and to share his Gospel. As God enables us to serve others today, we seek to grow as disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to serve as God’s stewards over the resources of our academic disciplines and to bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Student staff:
Student director: Brandon Koehnke
Assistant student director: Regan Meals
Student administrative assistant: Paige Campbell
Marketing team student leader: Jenna O'Connell
Professional staff:
Director: Jeremy Freimark
Program manager: Bryce Watkins
Sector leaders: Dereck Plante, Andy Erikson, Jeremy Freimark, Bryce Watkins
Marketing team advisor: Alison Johnson
stay connected
Web: messiah.edu/collaboratory
Email: collaboratory@messiah.edu