In accordance with the attainment of a $2.99 million grant, the North Central State College President Dr. Dorey Diab was pleased to announce that improvements in not only the school, but also in the economy are on the horizon.
Diab explained, “This grant will bring robotics and automation, what you would call, ‘mechatronics’ to the different engineering disciplines, which will ultimately provide the industry with well-trained and skilled students.”
As part of the grant, NCSC will purchase mechatronics training equipment and expand its capabilities to provide training to trade adjustment assistance (TAA)-eligible workers in north central Ohio. The grant provides for the purchase of Motoman Robotics STEM carts, FANUC Robotics Mobile Learning Labs, Electrical Skills Test Devices, Standard Timing Devices for Industrial Readiness, and other assorted equipment. Funds are also allocated for instructors and career coaches for those who will receive training.
Diab further stated that the grant can assist the unemployed in building upon their foundational skills and can help them understand the latest tools used in the workforce. “With the training in the mechatronics, students can capitalize on their skills related to robotics programming and achieve an education that will help them find better jobs.”
“With the better jobs they obtain,” he continued, “That means that the employment rate will improve, less people will partake in things they shouldn’t, there will be less dependency on the government and more expenditure in the community, ultimately making a better community for all of us.”
NC State applied for the grant as a part of a multi-state consortium of community colleges led by Mount Wachusett Community College in Massachusetts and joined by Southwest Tennessee Community College and Bossier Parish Community College in Louisiana. The consortium was awarded a total of $15,875,432.
Working as a consortium, the four leading community colleges form the Advanced Manufacturing, Mechatronics, and Quality Consortium (AMMQC) will transform educational delivery methods and accelerate credential attainment in the advanced manufacturing fields of Mechatronics and Quality career pathways.
Together, the AMMQC will serve more than 1,720 TAA-eligible workers, veterans and other individuals in Ohio, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Each college brings to the consortium a unique expertise in the mechatronics and quality fields that will be leveraged to create and implement stacked and latticed credentials that will be shared across all four colleges.
Diab stated, “[NCSC] is the consortium representative of Ohio, and the goal is to train more than 1,700 people; therefore, we will be doing our part in Ohio to ensure that happens, whether by helping people get certificates or associate degrees, or establishing new programs in mechatronics, so that we can help provide the industry with skilled employees.”
