The US Department of Energy is sponsoring an education and training program to create a new workforce proficient in the use and application of advanced manufacturing techniques, including additive manufacturing.
The Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Development Program is a one-year training and certification program being administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. ORISE is part of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities consortium and is one of the countries largest scientific education organisations focused on the research and development of advanced technology.
Here is a brief video explaining the AMWD Program in detail:
Most ORAU research and development is done under contract for the Department of Energy, however they also work closely with technology companies and often conduct research for the US military. The consortium has over a hundred schools as sponsoring members, including Georgetown University, Duke University, Rutgers University and John Hopkins University.
The program is available to all sponsoring school undergraduate students, recent graduates, US First Robotics participants, and active or former US service men and women and the courses will qualify for GI Bill benefits.
“We’ve seen that there is a very strong need in the workforce development area in the additive manufacturing community and we felt that this was a great opportunity to match up the capabilities of the manufacturing demonstration facility, the needs of their industrial partners and the transitioning servicemembers and veterans and their great background skillset.” explained Rob Ivester the Deputy Director Advanced Manufacturing Office for the DOE-EERE “Bring it all together and put some well-trained individuals into the hands of the industrial practitioners.”
Classes are scheduled to begin next week on August 25th on the campus of Pellissippi State Community College. The program requires that participants attend accelerated classes two to three days a week from 5:30 – 9:30 pm. The required courses include Engineering Technology Technical Communication, Fundamentals of Mechanical Drawing, Geometrics and Coordinate Measuring, Parametric Modeling, Composite Materials and Structures, Engineering Technology Capstone and of course 3D Additive Manufacturing.
Additionally students are required to work 25 hours a week in a hands-on manufacturing internship at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory located in Tennessee. You can find out more about the Oak Ridge Associated Universities on their website and find out if you qualify for this exciting additive manufacturing training program.
