Topic: Seeding the Future Advanced Manufacturing Workforce

The inner city: The Pipeline from Elementary School to Advanced Manufacturing Career Employment. Advanced manufacturing technology companies across the Northeast need to fill thousands of career positions over the next ten years. The Pipeline Program provides elementary through high school students the ability to transition to long-term careers in advanced manufacturing technology.

PHASE ONE: Starting in grades 2, 3, or 4 through grade 10, students participate weekly in AM coursework at their schools. The modules include robotics, SolidWorks, 3D Printing, electronics, and machining. The early technology education provides students with ability to make choices in high school about Phase Two. ACC communicates with parents and educators to ensure their support and involvement.

PHASE TWO: Beginning in the 11th grade, students enroll in academic and advanced manufacturing technology courses at their high school and at Asnuntuck and earn 30 college credits over the 2 years.

PHASE THREE: Following high school graduation, students enroll in the AMTC and earn both an MT Certificate and an Associate Degree in 3 semesters. SUMMARY: A collaborative initiative involving higher education, inner city children, families, and educators, the private sector with potential to impact across the continuum from elementary school to career employment.

Biography

I am responsible for the development and ongoing operation of the advanced manufacturing technology center at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, CT. The program provides the impetus for certificate, associate degree, and baccalaureate level competencies. In addition to providing full-time students with transferable technology skills for private sector employment, the college has established significant numbers of academic and manufacturing-related coursework for thousands of incumbent workers. Certificate and degree options complement existing programming and include clusters in machining, welding and fabrication, and electronics and electro-mechanical maintenance & repair processes. We are working currently to implement new certificate and degree programs in alternative energy, quality assurance, and additive manufacturing.

Our most exhaustive effort presently is with middle school students. The primary objective is the seeding of the future workforce in critical industry clusters like optics and measurement; aerospace and defense; medical devices and biotechnology; precision machining; semiconductors and complex electronics; and alternative energy systems.

I have also performed the following roles within the economic development system and environment in Western Massachusetts: founder and executive director of a major educational and technology program which served more than 40,000 youth and adults and was featured in the Washington Post and with documentation in the Library of Congress: regional administrator for employment and training in Hampden County; and liaison for economic development and special assistant to the mayor of Springfield and the Greater Springfield Chambers of Commerce.