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Penn State Erie Joins Manufacturing Education Partnership
"ERIE, Pa. -- Penn State Erie has been invited to participate in the Partnership for Regional Innovation in Manufacturing Education, a coalition of colleges and universities providing an industry-driven, academic system delivering manufacturing education and career development in southwestern Pennsylvania, according to Robert Simoneau, director of Penn State Erie's School of Engineering and Engineering Technology. PRIME was launched more than five years ago with funding from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation and the Heinz Endowments."Participating in this partnership is a win-win situation for Penn State Erie and for PRIME," he said. "Our involvement will further increase manufacturing competitiveness in western Pennsylvania and help us continue to build a program of outstanding education in engineering and engineering technology."The organization's outreach efforts are funded in part by the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education initiative. PRIME has completed one three-year ATE grant and is working on a grant renewal in which Penn State Erie will collaborate. The proposed new grant will be directed by Pearley Cunningham, department head for engineering technology at the Community College of Allegheny County.The expanded coalition extends the entire Interstate 79 corridor in Pennsylvania and brings together Robert Morris University, the Community College of Allegheny County, Butler County Community College, Westmoreland County Community College, California University of Pennsylvania and Penn State Erie, along with dozens of manufacturing partners. Winston F. Erevelles, associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of engineering at Robert Morris University, currently serves as project director of PRIME."PRIME is in the planning stages of an NSF-funded regional center for excellence in manufacturing," said Erevelles. "Inviting Penn State Erie to join extends the coalition's outreach to the northwest portion of the corridor and brings the resources and talents of Behrend College to bear on the proposed center."Simoneau and Ken Fisher, assistant director of the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, began attending PRIME meetings early in 2004. In addition to being impressed with organization's industry involvement along the I-79 corridor in western Pennsylvania, they found that PRIME has been active in developing accreditable manufacturing technology (two-year) and engineering (four-year) degree programs, certificate programs and options within degrees at all sites."Working within PRIME, Penn State Erie will collaborate in Internet-based learning and conferencing with the coalition's academic partners, address and close competency gaps identified by industrial partners located in the I-79 corridor, and assist in the development of curricular learning modules in the latest manufacturing technologies," said Fisher. "In addition, the college will engage in K-12 outreach programs conducted within the corridor."Dissemination of outcomes and identification of best practices occurs during a yearly conference held by PRIME."