Everett Community College joins Boeing’s AerosPACE program
Press Release
Release Date: June 25, 2015
Contact: John Bonner, Vice President of Corporate and Workforce Training, 425-267-9520; jbonner@everettcc.edu
Everett Community College joins Boeing’s AerosPACE program
EVERETT, Wash. – Everett Community College is the first community college in the nation to join five universities in a Boeing-led collaboration to close the skills gap in aerospace engineering.
EvCC is the newest partner in AerosPACE (Aerospace Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering) along with Purdue, Georgia Institute of Technology, Tuskegee, BrighamYoung and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Universities.
Boeing created the program in 2013 to help the next generation of aerospace employees learn through real-life collaboration on a project.
“The opportunity for Everett Community College to partner with Boeing on the AerosPACE program, along with a number of distinguished universities, is a testament to the caliber of the school,” said Boeing Senior Manager Duard King. “Providing students from EvCC the chance to collaborate with students from other schools trains them for what they will see in the workplace with the dynamic global environment. AerosPACE prepares students and helps to build a pipeline of future Boeing employees.”
Through AerosPACE, a small group of second-year EvCC advanced manufacturing students will participate in a year-long project that virtually teams them with students from the participating schools to design, build and test fly an unmanned aerial vehicle (also known as a drone).
EvCC’s advanced manufacturing program was asked to participate because the college’s Advanced Manufacturing Education & Training Center (AMTEC) is already designing, building and flying unmanned aerial vehicles. With EvCC joining AerosPACE, the team of students will be able to manufacture what they design.
“As a leader in hands-on aerospace and advanced manufacturing education, Everett Community College is excited to join this national collaborative effort,” EvCC President David Beyer said. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime for students who will work with Boeing mentors to apply what they’re learning in their classrooms and labs.”
Students who are selected for the project will earn EvCC credit through an engineering technology special assignment class. Two EvCC advanced manufacturing faculty members will also participate.
The program helps prepare EvCC students for working in a global workplace, gives them the opportunity to learn from industry mentors and strengthens skills future employers are looking for, said Sheila Dunn, EvCC Associate Dean of Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing Careers.
Industry partners in the AerosPACE program include Siemens, edX, Stratasys, CD-adapco and NASA.
For more information about EvCC’s advanced manufacturing programs, visit EverettCC.edu/AMTEC.