Manufacturing a Workforce
National Science Foundation Project recruits students for advanced manufacturing careers
By Chad Moore, Graduate Assistant, California University of Pennsylvania; Sarah Agnew, Graduate Assistant, Millersville University;
Dr. Stanley Komacek, NSF PI, California University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Barry David, NSF co-PI, Millersville University; and Dr. Carol
Adukaitis, NSF co-PI, PA State System of Higher Education
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) received a three-year
$810,000 grant in June 2006 from the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological
Education (NSF ATE) program to address the critical workforce shortages in advanced
manufacturing technology fields by educating, mentoring, and encouraging middle
school and high school students about careers in advanced manufacturing. This effort
will be taking place in Allegheny, Washington and Lancaster counties. The southwestern
PA education partners include California University, Community College of Allegheny
County, Steel Center CTC, and five school districts: Brentwood, Elizabeth Forward,
South Park, West Jefferson Hills, and West Mifflin. The south-central PA education
partners include Millersville University, Harrisburg Area Community College, Lancaster
County CTC, and five school districts: Conestoga Valley, Donegal, Elizabethtown,
Penn Manor, and Lampeter-Strausburg.
Workforce Shortages
Pennsylvania has been experiencing a shortage of advanced manufacturing workers
over the last decade. This alarming skilled-worker shortage presents a threat not
only to Pennsylvania, but also to the nation’s manufacturing base. One of the reasons
that companies are struggling to find employees is the rapid change in the field
over recent years from traditional to advanced manufacturing. Today’s employees
need to be educated in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). While the
field of manufacturing has been evolving, students’ and parents’ perceptions of
the field have not. The majority of our youth perceive manufacturing jobs as dirty,
dangerous assembly lines, requiring low skill and offering poor pay. Changing the
perception of advanced manufacturing careers begins with changing the misconceptions
about Pennsylvania’s advanced manufacturing industries. In addition to changing
perceptions, many of the most highly skilled people in the manufacturing workforce
will be retiring in the next five to 10 years. This presents a huge labor problem
to manufacturing.
The NSF ATE project will focus on the middle school and expand into the high school
and post-secondary institutions creating a pipeline to a career in advanced manufacturing.
The project’s education partners are implementing new programs designed to challenge
and spark interest in the young adults toward manufacturing careers. Today manufacturing
jobs require advanced knowledge and technical skills. The goal is to fill that labor
shortage gap by recruiting students to advanced manufacturing careers.
Middle School Focus
NSF ATE funding provided eight schools with CNC microrouters to compete in the F1
in Schools challenge, which engages student teams in design engineering, parametric
modeling, rapid prototyping and computer simulation testing of model F1 race cars.
Summer Camps
In January, the NSF ATE project received a $46,000 award from the Society of Manufacturing
Engineers (SME) Education Foundation to offer four summer STEPS Academies (camps),
two boysonly and two girls-only in the southwestern Pennsylvania region during Summer
2007. STEPS (Science, Technology and Engineering Preview Summer) Academies engage
middle school students, primarily female and minority, in hands-on learning activities
that involve engineering design and manufacturing.
Other camp offerings this July include a week-long residential TECH Camp for high
school girls at California University and a two-week Manufacturing Career Camp run
by the Private Industry Council (PIC) at the Steel Career Center.
Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) is offering two Kids’ College Camps in
June for students in grades 3 through 8. The half-day camps will focus on STEM activities.
Making Money
Southwestern Pennsylvania struck it rich. During February, the Making Money presentation,
hosted by Aimee LeFevers, Carmen Grosse and Chad Moore, allowed five school districts
to learn the importance of advanced manufacturing careers. More than 800 students
experienced the handson skills related to injection molding a coin. The five middle
schools that were involved include: Brentwood, South Park, Elizabeth Forward, West
Jefferson Hills, and West Mifflin.
Adventures in Technology teams were organized through Justin Driscoll, Managing
Director, Education Network at the Pittsburgh Technology Council/Catalyst Connection.
In this activity, high school students are given a real problem from a partner company.
In 10 weeks, the students collaborate with the industry partner to design and build
a solution to the problem, which could be a new or re-engineered product, process
or system. NSF project schools and their industry partners include Bethel Park and
IMPAQT, West Jefferson Hills and Kurt J. Lesker, CCAC with Panasas and Maglev. (See
related article on page 20 for more details.)
Battlebots Competition
Southwestern Pennsylvania held its second annual BattleBots IQ competition in March
at the Century III Mall in Pittsburgh. In Battlebots IQ, high school student teams
design, build and test robots to defeat opponents’ bots in a wrestling-type competition.
Each school team is sponsored and mentored by a local manufacturer. The 2007 winning
team was Plum Senior High School. The double elimination tournament included 205
students from Butler CTC, Central Westmoreland CTC, Derry Area, Eastern Westmoreland
CTC, Fayette County CTC, Forbes Road CTC, Fox Chapel Area, Hampton, Latrobe, Lenape
CTC, Mars Area, Northern CTC, Rochester Area, Serra Catholic, Steel Center CTC,
Western Area CTC, and the Western PA School for the Deaf. Plans are already underway
to organize for the 2008 competition!
Professional Development
The NSF ATE project received $50,000 in funding through the SME Educational Foundation
for two schools to implement the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Gateway to Technology
(GTT) program, a nationally recognized engineering curriculum. This funding will
provide a two-week training for two technology teachers at the PSU/Berks-Lehigh
Campus this summer. The funding will also allow for each school to purchase computers,
licensing, software, and consumables to implement the GTT curriculum. The two Allegheny
County schools that applied for the training were South Park and West Mifflin. The
PLTW program will update teachers’ knowledge and skills in advanced manufacturing,
provide critical instructional resource, and revise the advanced manufacturing education
curriculum and instructional program for students in these districts.
Future Plans
During the next two years, the NSF ATE project will continue to implement F1, Battlebots
IQ, Making Money, Adventures in Technology, and Project Lead the Way while offering
summer camps for middle and high school students. A Web site and brochures devoted
to explaining the educational pathways that lead to careers in advanced manufacturing
are in development. The project is also collaborating with the Pennsylvania Department
of Education on statewide distribution of a K-12 Engineering by Design curriculum
created by the Center to Advance the Teaching of Technology and Science (CATTS).
Finally, the project is seeking companies, professional organizations, and individuals
who work in advanced manufacturing to serve as champions and informal mentors to
the students and teams involved in project activities.
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