The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has received an $810,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund a three-year effort to encourage more students to consider careers in advanced manufacturing technology.

The project, which will be coordinated by California and Millersville Universities of Pennsylvania, will help address the shortage of advanced manufacturing technology workers in the Commonwealth by increasing efforts to recruit students into related fields of study; providing the students with mentors; and updating the middle school, high school and college technology curriculum.

The Universities will work with the Community College of Allegheny County and Harrisburg Area Community College, with middle and high schools that feed the Steel Center Career/Technology High School and Lancaster Career/Technology High School and with a variety of other industry and government partners.

The multi-year effort will seek to provide a “full” pipeline of students studying advanced manufacturing technologies. Project participants also will attempt to change the perception of careers in manufacturing among both students and their parents. Today’s manufacturing jobs are high-tech/high-pay and require advanced knowledge and technology skills.

Recruitment efforts will focus on students beginning in middle school, a critical time in the career decision-making process. A special focus will be placed on recruiting both female and minority students into advanced manufacturing technology programs.

Among the other goals of the program will be to provide hands-on experiential learning experiences for students in advanced manufacturing education; to establish mentoring networking opportunities for under-represented students in manufacturing education programs; and to promote and market dual enrollment, advanced standing and articulation agreements for manufacturing education. The project will provide professional development opportunities for teachers, as well as instructional resources to support course changes that will be developed.

The updated courses will be offered at numerous middle and high schools, as well as at the participating community colleges and two universities. Programs implemented in the participating middle and high schools will be able to be replicated in the other high schools and secondary career and technology schools across the Commonwealth and nation.

Among the other project partners will be the Advanced Manufacturing Career Collaborative, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Catalyst Connection, Hamill Manufacturing Company, MANTEC, the Susquehanna Valley Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, Team PA, Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

With more than 107,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 405,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.