Through Prism, YSU Seeks to Help Manufacturers
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Youngstown State University and the Manufacturing & Growth Network -- Magnet -- have signed an agreement intended to make it easier for small- and mid-sized manufacturers in the Mahoning Valley and elsewhere across northeastern Ohio to have easier access to the resources they need for growth and to create jobs.
The president of YSU, Cynthia Anderson, and the president and CEO of Cleveland-based Magnet, Dan Berry, met with reporters at YSU Wednesday morning to explain the significance of the agreement and a new program, Prism, the acronym for Partnership for Regional Innovation Services to Manufacturers.
Prism, Berry explains, is designed to help manufacturers take fuller advantage of the assets and resources in the region, including those at YSU, the University of Akron, Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University and Lorain County Community College. “We believe that by working together through Prism, the Mahoning Valley and northeastern Ohio can become an internationally recognized leader in manufacturing education and innovation,” Berry said.
YSU brings academic and technical expertise to Magnet and Prism, Anderson said, through its Center for Excellence in International Business, Center for Excellence in Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Transportation and Materials Engineering, Center for Applied Chemical Biology, Institute for Applied Topology and its Natural Gas and Water Resources Institute.
In brief, Prism creates a network through which manufacturers from Lorain to Columbiana counties can cut through the red tape and more easily avail themselves of the strengths of the five universities and the NASA Glenn Center. They can take advantage of the research conducted by faculty and students and hire students with the qualifications sought as interns.
They can also benefit from YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration regarding fundraising and marketing, Berry said.
In various capacities, the universities and community college will offer their faculties as consultants, sources of ideas and growth coaching, he added.
Sixteen companies are taking advantage of Prism so far, none in the Mahoning Valley. They have come up with 15 new products, the president of Magnet said, and created 470 jobs. “Our goal is to have 50 members by the end of 2014 and to create more well-paying jobs,’ Berry said.
Vadxx Energy is building a plant near Akron that converts plastic wastes to synthetic crude oil, Berry reported, with the help of Prism in designing the technology that plant employs. Vadxx also recycles polymer wastes that otherwise would be shipped to landfills.
“YSU has a state-of-the-art gas chromatography,” said Michael A. Hripko, director of YSU’s STEM research and technology-based economic development section, “and we’re working with another company on converting waste to fuel, not just crude oil.”
STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The interim dean of YSU’s school of graduate studies and research, Brian DePoy, sees YSU helping nearby manufacturers obtain state and federal grants and test their products in laboratories with the university’s STEM College. Students enrolled there “will learn by interacting with the companies as they engage in research, he said.
Earlier this year, the state Board of Regents appropriated $11 million from the state’s taxes on casinos for internships, noted Betty Jo Licata, dean of the Williamson College. YSU received $575,000, which it will use to subsidize internships at the companies that hire YSU students in that capacity. The casino money will subsidize 20% of the stipends employers pay students, she said.
The companies who seek help from Magnet and the universities in Prism pay for the services they use, Berry, Hripko and Licata said. Not being for-profit institutions, the universities don’t charge private-sector consulting rates. They seek grants from both the public and private sectors to reduce the sums they charge businesses that seek their expertise.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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