SUNY Canton Associate Professor Inspires Student Invention

Christopher M. Mayville started his career at SUNY Canton while he was enrolled in the college’s Automotive Technology program.

“When I was a student, I had a work study position in the Southworth Library in my freshman year and the Automotive Lab in my senior year,” the faculty member said.

Mayville recently earned the title of assistant professor within the Canino School of Engineering Technology. In his Automotive and Mechanical Engineering Technology courses, he aims to help students pursue their own ideas in a style similar to the way he learned.

“I always enjoy seeing the passion students have for the subject and putting in the time to complete difficult projects with a high level of achievement,” he said. “That is when I know they are learning and building strong skills and knowledge to succeed.”

As no stranger to new technology, Mayville is currently authoring an open educational resource on marine jet propulsion systems and hopes to publish the work in the near future. Previously, he’s created instructional videos for the repair industry. “I have also put together a low-cost tool that could allow individuals to recharge their own nitrogen charged shocks,” he said.

He is one of several SUNY Canton faculty members to adopt 3D printing technology and presented at the New York State Cyber Security and Technology Association during the fall about his process to invent an electrical plug used in snowplow applications.

“As a student, I enjoyed spending time in the lab on the weekends with one of the instructors and classmates working on class projects and enjoying pizza and wings from Sergi’s,” he said. “As an instructor I enjoyed spending evenings in the school’s machining lab, with a machinist friend, preparing lessons and materials to teach a laboratory section for a course in machining and material processing.”

Mayville graduated with his associate degree from SUNY Canton in 1999. He went on to earn his bachelor’s from SUNY Oswego in 2002. More recently, he earned his master’s degree from SUNY Potsdam in 2019.

He has also worked as an autobody technician, automotive technician, factory technical trainer for Polaris Industries, a heavy equipment mechanic in the army, and an engineering technician for a heavy equipment manufacturer. He is an Automotive Service Excellence certified master technician. “I enjoy learning how the things I fix work and how I can do my job better,” he said.

Mayville is originally from Bombay and now lives in Moira with his wife, Layla, and their daughter, Julia.