Owensboro Community and Technical College

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AMTEC Offering AI3 Professional Development Sessions

For Secondary and Post-Secondary Educators

by Bernie Hale

Owensboro, KY (03/25/2025) — AMTEC, a national collaborative of educational and industry partners committed to preparing highly skilled industrial maintenance and mechatronic technicians, was recently awarded a $642,949 National Science Foundation grant through the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. This new project, AMTEC Institute for Industry 4.0 Innovation (NSF Award No. 2350012), will further AMTEC's efforts to fill the skilled labor gap in advanced manufacturing by providing in-depth and ongoing professional development for 100 educators across the country.

Since 2018, AMTEC has been housed at Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC), a recipient of multiple National Science Foundation ATE grants designed to strengthen student pipelines, improve student success, and support staff development in manufacturing fields. These multiple projects have focused largely on diversifying student populations within manufacturing programs, offering competency-based educational opportunities, and fortifying partnerships with both industry and educational professionals to ensure continued relevance and transference from the classroom to the workplace. Through these projects, AMTEC has emerged as a leader in innovative training methods within manufacturing arenas, culminating last summer with the newly awarded AMTEC Institute for Industry 4.0 Innovation (AI3) project (NSF Award No. 2350012).

Given the ongoing need for training opportunities and OCTC's unique experience and collaborative relationships in manufacturing training, AMTEC's AI3 project seeks to expand exposure of the latest Industry 4.0 technologies to secondary and post-secondary instructors, teaching manufacturing related courses in career and technical education, in order to further the integration of these technologies into the classroom.

To these ends, AMTEC is collaborating with partners zSpace and Multi-Skill Training Services (MST) to provide ten separate intensive hands-on training sessions (two days for each session) on Industry 4.0 technologies over the grant's life. The 2025 session dates have been scheduled for May 20-21, 2025; June 10-11, 2025; July 10-11, 2025; and October 7-8, 2025.

zSpace, a world leader in virtual reality technology, will provide training focused on virtual and augmented reality tools. MST, a leader with over 30 years of direct industrial training services, will provide customized equipment and related training.

Upon completion of this professional development training, participating secondary and post-secondary instructors will be invited to receive ongoing guidance and assistance through both a private Facebook group as well as virtual monthly community-of-practice sessions to address obstacles that can prevent faculty and institutions from incorporating Industry 4.0 fundamentals into the curriculum. Stipends will be provided to faculty who complete program requirements, and travel assistance will be available depending on the location of the instructor.

"As AMTEC continues to build pathways for Industry 4.0 education, we're eager to connect with educators who share our vision of a prepared, adaptable workforce ready to meet the demands of modern manufacturing," said Jason Simon, Director of AMTEC and Principal Investigator of the AI3 grant project. "We invite any institution or instructor interested in joining this transformative initiative to reach out."

For more information or to register for a training session, call 270-686-4410 or email cadie.underwood@kctcs.edu. Learn more by visiting their website at: https://amtecworkforce.org/amtec-institute-for-industry-4-0-innovation-ai3/

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Owensboro Community & Technical College is one of the sixteen community and technical colleges that make up the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. OCTC serves the KY counties of Daviess, Hancock, Ohio and McLean. OCTC has three campuses in Daviess County and a Center and Annex in Hancock County. OCTC strives to serve the communities in the service area by providing associate degree education for transfer, state of the art technical education for students focusing on entering the workforce, customized business and industry solutions through the Workforce Solutions division, and adult education and business and industry testing through the SkillTrain unit.

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The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is the Commonwealth's largest postsecondary institution with 16 colleges and more than 70 campuses. We also are Kentucky's largest provider of workforce training and online education. Through partnerships with business and industry, we align our programs to meet the needs of local employers. We help students fulfill their dreams of creating a better life through programs that lead directly to jobs or help them transfer to one of our four-year partners.

Connect with OCTC: Owensboro.kctcs | Facebook.com/owensboroctc | Twitter@OCTC_Tweets | Instagram OwensboroCTC

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