Additive Manufacturing: Expanding Futures in Appalachia

农村大学面临的挑战是如何为当地产业打开通往先进技术、新颖应用和创新的大门。萨默塞特社区学院(SCC)的这个项目旨在刺激添加剂制造(AM)(通常被称为3D打印)的技术增长，以及肯塔基州中南部高贫困农村地区高薪农村地区技术员毕业生的就业能力。这个项目不仅仅着眼于新技术和技能；它的目的是创造一种全新的心态，一种创造性思维和赋权的心态。农村企业家将能够以以前不可能的方式创造和制造产品。该项目有四个方面，同时将吸引SCC和肯塔基州社区与技术学院系统(KCTCS)的学生、SCC教职员工，以及包括商业、行业、当地K-12学区学生/教师和其他利益相关者在内的社区。该项目将作为肯塔基州和全国其他社区大学提供认可的AM证书的典范。它涉及长期外展和可持续性，项目传播遍及肯塔基州社区和技术学院系统(KCTCS)和K-12肯塔基州教育部(KDE)的16所大学。这些社区参与努力有助于利用现有的KCTCS在线网络进行扩展。让K-12的教职员工和学生参与现有的合作伙伴计划，项目将引领方向，KDE将促进AM学生的招聘。有几项活动旨在吸引和招募退伍军人。由于AM技术的适应性，该项目将为身体有限的退伍军人重新进入劳动力大军提供教育和就业机会。评价活动将侧重于向项目和所有利益攸关方通报成功的做法，同时提供关于改进活动以产生最大影响的指导。最初的活动将创建一个主要的地区性AM创新实验室，并通过互动演示、实践研讨会和演示来提高AM的意识。最近批准的一项证书计划将为学生提供就业途径。准备成为技术人员的学生将在大学主办的研讨会和会议上与业界建立联系。项目人员将参加与AM和教育者相关的会议，以促进AM的认识和传播项目成果，并为未来的扩展建立网络机会。学生和地区行业将在几个小时内以相对较小的材料成本创造新产品、零部件和医疗辅助设备。该项目是基于美国国家科学基金会资助的国家材料技术教育和研究资源中心在埃德蒙兹社区学院(0903112,1400619)建立的工作，以及该学院目前使用3D打印、扫描和先进建模技术的工作。该项目将增加对生物医学应用的关注，以支持阿巴拉契亚农村地区技术人员和现有产业的进步，该学院为这些地区提供服务。此外，该项目还将有针对性地招募退伍军人。医生和外科医生将有更好的工具和诊断方法来工作。退伍军人将有一种新的方式来有效地养活自己和他们的战友。

Rural colleges are challenged with ways to open doors to advanced technology, novel applications, and innovations for local industries. This project at Somerset Community College (SCC) is designed to stimulate both technological growth in additive manufacturing (AM), known popularly as 3D printing, and employability of technician graduates in high-wage positions in high-poverty rural regions of southeast central Kentucky. This project is geared toward more than just new technologies and skills; its purpose is to create a whole new mindset, a mindset of creative thought and empowerment. Rural entrepreneurs will be able to create and manufacture products in ways that previously would not have been possible. The project has a four pronged approach that simultaneously will engage SCC and Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) students; SCC faculty and staff; and the community including business, industry, local K-12 school district students/teachers, and other stakeholders. The project will serve as a model for other community colleges in Kentucky and across the nation to offer an accredited AM certificate. It involves long-term outreach and sustainability with program dissemination throughout the sixteen colleges of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and the K-12 Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). These community engagement efforts facilitate expansion using the existing KCTCS online network. Engagement of K-12 faculty and students in existing partner programs with Project Lead the Way and KDE will foster AM student recruitment. Several activities are designed to engage and recruit veterans. Due to the adaptability of AM technology, this project will offer education and employment opportunities to physically limited veterans re-entering the workforce. Evaluation activities will focus on informing the project and all stakeholders about successful practices while providing guidance about improving activities for maximum impact. Initial activities will create a premier regional AM Innovation Laboratory and build awareness of AM with interactive demonstrations, hands-on workshops and presentations. A recently approved certificate program will provide pathways for students to employment. Students preparing to be technicians will connect with industry at college hosted workshops and conferences. Project personnel will attend AM and educator related conferences to facilitate awareness of AM and disseminate project results, as well as establish networking opportunities for future expansion. Students and regional industries will create new products, parts, and medical assisting devices in a few hours for comparatively small material costs. The project is based on work established by the NSF-funded National Resource Center for Material Technology Education and Research at Edmonds Community College, (0903112, 1400619) and current work of the college with 3D printing, scanning, and advanced modeling technologies. The project will provide an added focus on biomedical applications that support the advancement of technicians and existing industries in the rural Appalachian region served by the college. In addition, the project will make a targeted effort to recruit veterans. Medical practitioners and surgeons will have better tools and diagnostics with which to work. Veterans will have a new way to productively support themselves and their fellow soldiers.