NSF Award
1902428
Missouri State University - West Plains will develop new advanced manufacturing curricula to address the workforce shortage in middle-skill industrial maintenance technicians. With a focus on advanced industrial maintenance, manufacturing, and alternative energy, the curriculum redesign will use stackable courses and a combination of project-based learning, hands-on computer simulations, and real laboratory environments to model the industrial workplace. Internships and registered apprenticeship opportunities with industry partners will build students' workforce readiness. The project will incorporate portions of the Greater Ozarks Center for Advanced Technology Fab Lab, the educational outreach component of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology's Center for Bits and Atoms, to engage a diverse group of students and interface with the community. Collectively, these activities will fill the gap for middle-skilled workers in the Industry 4.0 environment, which encompasses the computerization of manufacturing. The project will meet the regional need for qualified middle-skill advanced industrial maintenance and manufacturing technicians, and increase the enrollment in the technology certificates and associate of applied science in technology degree. <br/><br/>The intellectual merit of Worker 4.0 includes adapting and adopting the Festo Industry 4.0 Certification Program (FI4.0CP), an industry recognized credential, into current technology courses, developing a new Advanced Industrial Maintenance Option in the A.A.S. in Technology degree, and developing a certificate that focuses on Advanced Industrial Maintenance. This includes creating three new courses: Introduction to Industry 4.0, Industrial Controls and Troubleshooting, and Programmable Logic Controllers and Sensors. Upon completion of the Advanced Industrial Maintenance Option in the A.A.S. in Technology degree or the Certification in Advanced Industrial Maintenance, the students will be prepared to complete the FI4.0CP Level 1: Fundamentals certification exam. Additionally, certified students will be able to continue their education with stackable FI4.0CP Level 2 and Level 3 courses and certifications. The broader impacts of Worker 4.0 include the dissemination of the curricular materials specifically developed for middle-skilled technicians in the next wave of an industrial transformation.<br/><br/>This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
