Wayne Engineering Research Institute Records

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The Wayne Engineering Research Institute was founded as a non-profit, self-governing research lab in 1945, with Dean Arthur R. Carr as its first president. WERI was not a direct affiliate of Wayne University, although the two institutions were closely intertwined, as most of the staff of WERI were also faculty at Wayne University. Additionally, at the founding of WERI, Wayne University agreed to rent facilities to them, as well as grant leave-of-absence leniency to the faculty that were involved both with Wayne University and with Wayne Engineering Research Institute. Furthermore, the by-laws of WERI indicated that the Board of Trustees was required to have at least seven members representative of the engineering industry, six members from Wayne State, including the President and Executive Vice President, and the superintendent of Detroit Public Schools. This portion of the by-laws strengthened the tie between Wayne Engineering Research Institute and the greater community of Detroit.

The purpose of the Institute was to advance engineering knowledge through research and development projects. WERI also provided research and project services to outside businesses. Between 1945 and 1957, the WERI fulfilled contracts totaling as high as $150,000 annually. WERI worked with a multitude of businesses, ranging from small local business to branches of the United States military. As Wayne State University became more flexible in its research procedures and its scope of research broadened, however, WERI decided that it would be best to fold back into the university and incorporate its research within the confines of the university system. WERI stopped accepting new contracts in January 1956, and formally dissolved in 1957.

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