Planning Grant for Tampa Bay Regional Center for Manufacturing

Hillsborough Community College, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

This is a proposal to prepare a planning grant for Tampa Bay regional center for manufacturing. This Center involves educational material development, adaptation and implementation from existing centers, and professional development for educators. A new manufacturing program at Hillsborough Community College (HCC), an emerging manufacturing technology program at St Petersburg College (SPC), and an active industry focused Engineering College at the University of South Florida (USF) form a strong academic foundation for the creation of this regional center. Furthermore, the manufacturing companies also recognize the urgent need to refocus manufacturing education in the region. Hence, the planning grant time and funds are going to be directed to conducting job and skill analysis, DACUMs, and fine tuning of results of the state-wide effort that are currently underway to assure maximum coupling among these schools and the manufacturing companies in the region. Planning grant funds are also going to be used to shape the proposed center's activities. Besides providing the needed synergy for academic and industrial partners focused on manufacturing issues, the Center is also going to build a bridge between the Associate of Science Degree at HCC in Manufacturing Technology and the B.S. Engineering degree (manufacturing emphasis) offered at the Industrial Engineering Department within USF's College of Engineering. In addition, the ATE Center is going to serve as a greater Tampa Bay regional umbrella for SPC's and HCC's Manufacturing Technology programs. The center is going to support all the regional high schools and community colleges that have courses or programs in manufacturing or related technology fields that should be revitalized.