Lorain County Community College (LCCC), Team NEO and regional partners from the Smart Devices and System cluster celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Training Recruitment Acceleration Innovation Network (TRAIN) of Ohio program on May 23, joined by Brynt Parmeter, Workforce Development Director for NextFlex, America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics Innovation Institute.
TRAIN Ohio connects students and local industry partners who provide internships for students who are earning an associate degree in mechatronics technology. The first year pilot of TRAIN Ohio focuses on micro electrical mechanical systems (MEMS), leveraging the unique clean lab educational environment offered by LCCC in partnership with the SMART Center for Microsystems Commercialization.
The TRAIN Ohio program prepares students for high demand careers in growing industries like microelectronics by integrating paid work experience as a critical component of their Associate Degree. The program has been supported by Ohio TechNet, a consortium of 11 Ohio community colleges led by Lorain County Community College focused on meeting the talent needs of Ohio’s advanced manufacturing sector, and NextFlex, which made a two-year investment to support the project’s development and expansion. Team NEO is a partner on the project team. Across Northeast Ohio, 29 companies are engaged with TRAIN Ohio. Other companies are welcome to get involved. The vision for TRAIN Ohio is to expand regionally by working with community colleges across NE Ohio that offer educational programming aligned to our region’s vibrant innovation economy.
Jim Tennant, president of RBB in Wooster, a manufacturer of small batch electronic assemblies like circuit boards, box builds and control panels, said they needed a workforce with specialized skills. “This organization (LCCC) recognized our industry need, and stepped up to quickly help us fill our needs through this program,” Tennant said.
For more information on how employers can participate in the TRAIN Ohio program, call (440) 366-4217 or (440) 366-4206.
TRAIN SUCCESS CASE STUDY – Student Jared Dumont
Student Jared Dumont, an Army veteran and soon-to-be graduate of Lorain County Community College’s mechatronics technology – micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) associate degree program, didn’t think he was college material – until he met Johnny Vanderford, LCCC’s MEMS instructor.
“This program changed my thinking in that I not only can be successful in a college setting, but I needed it to find my true calling,” Dumont said. “I never felt like I could make a difference in the world, but now I know I can be integral in solving some of the world’s problems.”
Dumont found his way into the MEMS program almost by accident he said. “But as soon as I took my first class with Professor Johnny Vanderford I knew I chose the correct discipline,” he added.
Dumont has done so well that he recently won a travel sponsorship to attend the 16th annual FLEX Conference for flexible and printed electronics. The Lockheed Martin sponsorship awards funds for the winning student to present his capstone project at NextFlex’s Student Poster Award Competition June 19-22 in Monterey, California.
At the conference, he will explain how students will adapt the capstone project to flexible technology. His project addresses hybrid thick film microelectronic manufacturing and transferability to flexible technology. The group designed a circuit consisting of a MEMS accelerometer prototype. Essentially, the project prepares students to develop an idea from initial simulation to proof of concept to final product with just a few constraints.
“I began this program under the auspices I wasn’t made for college, but I am capable of great things if given the opportunity,” Dumont said.
The 37-year-old Avon Lake resident also recently accepted a new position at Core Technology in Avon.