The Black River Technical College (BRTC) Foundation has received a $12,500 education grant from the Gene HAAS Foundation that will go to the Machine Tool Technology program.
The grant money will go toward student tuition, NIMS testing and student memberships in SkillsUSA, said Machine Tool Technology Instructor Rick Barker.
According to ghaasfoundation.org, the foundation recognized a growing need for skilled manufacturing employee’s industry wide, so the foundation expanded its mission to include support for manufacturing training programs throughout North America and beyond. By providing scholarship grants, sponsoring individual and team CNC competitions, and partnering with the very best CNC training programs in the world, the Foundation helps expand the availability of high-quality manufacturing technology training worldwide. The Gene Haas Foundation has donated $120 million to schools and communities since its inception in 1999.
NIMS stands for National Incident Management System and is a comprehensive, national approach to incident management that is applicable at all jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines. It is intended to be applicable across a full spectrum of potential incidents, hazards, and impacts regardless of size, location or complexity, according to fema.gov.
SkillsUSA memberships are important, because they help students develop personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics. It creates pathways for students to go directly from school to the workforce and helps them get certifications and licenses needed, according to skillsusa.org.
The Machine Tool Technology program consists of a wide variety of machining. Machinists and Toolmakers design and create prototypes, fixtures, jigs, and tooling/dies from which most metal and other manufactured items are made, which includes large heavy machinery to small hand tools. Working in a modern, fully-equipped machine shop, students in the machine tool technology program gain the knowledge and skills needed to cut, machine, mill/turn, metals and 3d print polymers/carbon/onyx when regarding NIMS assigned projects.
This high-precision trade requires development of high demand skills in the use of hand tools, precision measuring instruments, testing equipment, and basic, automatic, and computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) machine tools and programming. The program also covers heat treating tool steel and alloying material, as well as accident prevention, leadership, and quality control.
For more information on BRTC”s Machine Tool Technology program contact Rick Barker at (870)248-4139 or email him at rick.barker@blackrivertech.edu.