Establishing Veteran Career Training for Advanced Manufacturing Careers

肯塔基州伊丽莎白镇-诺克斯堡地区拥有强大的先进制造业，越来越多地使用自动化和机器人技术。这个行业现在每年有超过400个制造工程师的职位空缺，平均需要40天才能找到合适的人选。该项目旨在增加这些职位和相关职位的合格候选人。为此，伊丽莎白镇社区和技术学院将与美国陆军驻诺克斯堡部队合作，为过渡到平民生活的士兵提供先进制造方面的教育机会。这些机会将包括自动化、机器人、工业维护和电气技术等高需求领域。该学院将采用灵活的课程选择来满足转型士兵的需求，这样他们就可以在退役后的时间里获得行业认可的、可堆叠的证书，包括学术证书和副学士学位。预计其结果将是一条新的职业道路，将先进制造业教育扩展到更多的学生。此外，通过重新设计他们的先进制造课程，使其与该地区高需求行业所需的技能紧密结合，该项目可以使重返平民生活的士兵受益。伊丽莎白镇社区和技术学院的这个项目将侧重于为过渡军人提供服务，并将更好地了解退伍军人文化和促进学生成功所需的必要服务。学生服务将与先进制造业高需求领域的便携、相关、负担得起的教育相结合。该学院打算通过灵活的课程选择来缩短获得证书的时间，包括在线、混合和面对面的教学，同时增加对军事成绩单经验学分的接受程度。该项目的目标是，每批学生中至少有90%的学生将被安置在工业部门或保留到毕业时获得副学士学位。该项目开发的学术和服务模式将在肯塔基社区和技术学院系统的16所学院之间共享。该项目还将在全国范围内传播他们的模式和研究结果，以帮助其他希望为不断增长的退伍军人提供服务的大学，这些大学将从类似的学术和职业支持中受益。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, Kentucky region has a robust advanced manufacturing industry that is increasingly using automation and robotics. This industry now has more than 400 annual openings for Manufacturing Engineers, and it takes an average of 40 days to fill these positions with a qualified candidate. This project intends to increase the pool of qualified candidates for these and related positions. To do so, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College will partner with the U.S. Army Garrison - Fort Knox to provide educational opportunities in Advanced Manufacturing to soldiers transitioning to civilian life. These opportunities will include the high-demand areas of Automation, Robotics, Industrial Maintenance, and Electrical Technology. The college will use flexible course options to meet the needs of transitioning soldiers so that they can use their post-service time to obtain industry-recognized, stackable credentials, including academic certificates and associate degrees. The result is expected to be a new career pathway that will expand advanced manufacturing education to more students. In addition, by redesigning their Advanced Manufacturing courses to closely align with the skills needed in high-demand industries in the region, the project can benefit soldiers reentering civilian life.This project at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College will focus on serving transitioning military personnel and will gain a better understanding of veteran culture and the necessary services needed to promote student success. Student services will be combined with portable, relevant, affordable education in high-demand areas in Advanced Manufacturing. The college intends to shorten the time to a credential through flexible course options that include online, hybrid, and face to face instruction, combined with increased acceptance of experiential credit from military transcripts. The goal of the project is that at least 90% of the students in each cohort will be placed in industry or retained for graduation with an Associate degree. The academic and service model developed by the project will be shared among the 16 colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The program will also disseminate their model and findings nationally, to assist other colleges that want to serve growing veteran populations that would benefit from similar academic and career support. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.