Drew Price Named Outstanding Staff Member

Drew Price, machine shop manager, was named an Outstanding Staff Member at Harvey Mudd College’s ninth annual Leadership Awards.

The award recognizes employees’ positive contributions to the campus, their leadership and willingness to make a difference in students’ lives.

“Drew has gone above and beyond supporting the Mudd and 5C drive for creation and innovation,” one of Price’s nominators wrote. “Price has supported interdisciplinary development in the machine shop to an unprecedented amount. He keeps things light and fun, and he has a lot of energy and a positive attitude. He works really hard to make sure that students are getting as close to the hands-on experience as possible with a remote semester. The changes he has made to the dynamics of the machine shop training have been surprising to all proctors as it is more engaging than they expected. He’s a member of the community I look to for leadership.”

Price, who joined the HMC staff in fall 2019, instructs students on design techniques, oversees projects and ensures that students and faculty members learn the correct techniques to safely use equipment in the machine shop, now located adjacent to the new makerspace in the Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center.

Price is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.S., mechanical engineering). He managed a car repair shop then worked for the Pilot Group, a company that did contract design work building custom equipment. This exposed him to new methods of manufacturing and machinery, and he was able to work on a variety of projects, from aerospace hardware to farm equipment.