Arconic Foundation Awards $600,000 for Advanced-Manufacturing Education

A staff technician at the Arconic Technology Center prepares parts for chemical surface treatment. (Photo: Business Wire)

Arconic Foundation, the independently endowed philanthropic arm of Arconic Inc., awarded six $100,000 grants as part of its Advanced Manufacturing Education Grant Program to improve advanced-manufacturing education. The program was launched to elevate innovative education programs focusing on emerging transformative technologies for the manufacturing industry. Academic and training institutions in the U.S., Germany, Hungary and the U.K. aim to educate 375 students through these grant programs in the next two years.

The Advanced Manufacturing Education Grant Program addresses the rapid shift taking place in manufacturing – in cutting-edge technologies like automation, robotics and additive manufacturing – to help solve the skills shortage faced by manufacturers. Here are the six grant recipients:

Ivy Tech Community College (Lafayette, Ind.) will integrate hands-on additive-manufacturing coursework into existing programs and support the addition of a dedicated additive-manufacturing course and related equipment.
Muskegon Community College (Muskegon, Mich.) will create a dedicated mechatronics course, supporting equipment and the incorporation of concepts into existing Manufacturing Engineering programs.
Pellissippi State Community College (Knoxville, Tenn.) will purchase advanced industry-grade robotics and expand its Engineering Technology programs.
University of Sheffield (Sheffield, U.K.) will refresh final year projects for Aerospace Engineering and Material Science students. The projects will include learning experiences through partnerships with local employers and will be supported by updated equipment and modeling software.
Cologne Institute for Economic Research in cooperation with the students’ network D.E.M.I.N.G. at the University of Applied Science Fresenius (Düsseldorf, Germany) will provide an in-depth experiential learning experience for students on Manufacturing 4.0/the digitization of manufacturing.
Obuda University (Szekesfehervar, Hungary) will update its manufacturing automation labs to create a comprehensive Smart manufacturing industrial process.