Florida Plans for the Biggest Manufacturing DAY/Month Celebration in October

FLATE, the Florida-based, National Science Foundation Regional Center of Excellence in Manufacturing, and its statewide partners 

that include Regional Manufacturers Associations (RMAs), Florida TRADE, and the Manufacturers Association of Florida  are working together to plan for the biggest Manufacturing DAY/Manufacturing Month ever which will kick start on October 2. As part of the fourth, annual Manufacturing Day/Month celebrations, FLATE along with its network of statewide partners will launch a multi-faceted, statewide outreach campaign that is poised to once again position Florida as a national leader for hosting and organizing Manufacturing Day industry tours and events. As part of this effort, middle and high school students and educators across Florida will participate in Made in Florida industry tours that are designed to showcase, educate and heighten students’, educators’ and the community’s knowledge about educational opportunities and high-skill careers in high-tech manufacturing.

Majority of the Made in Florida industry tours for Manufacturing Day will take place across Florida on October 2 with additional industry tours planned throughout October. Additionally, FLATE will once again take the lead in surveying statewide industry hosts, educators and students who participate in the Made in Florida industry tours. Post event survey results will be tabulated by FLATE and shared with statewide partners and stakeholders. FLATE will also help connect regional groups together, and will design as well as distribute shirts, provide educator resources, write/publish/distribute and report on MFG Day/month related news, and compile all student, educator, host survey data.

There are several ways and opportunities for industry, RMAs, school districts, educators, students and the community to get involved/engaged in #MFGDay2015. Typically, school districts provide bus transportation; identify programs/classes to attend tours. Regional Manufacturers Associations (RMAs) recruit companies to host student tours on MFG DAY (Oct 2, 2015), or any day in October. Either the school district, or the RMAs, or both – assign schools to tour hosts; set bus schedules; align communications between schools, companies, buses. Local manufacturers host tours and/or provide lunch. Organizations, companies, community groups, individuals, friends of manufacturing etc. help sponsor student MFG DAY t-shirts. To purchase a 2015 Manufacturing Day T Shirt email Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org, or visit  https://foundation.hccfl.edu/Donate. 

Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE says Manufacturing Day 2015 is geared to stir interest and/or change perceptions 

about manufacturing on a national level, and also build in-roads and sustainable partnerships between manufacturers, RMAs, educators, and students. FLATE’s strategy has successfully and consistently placed Florida at the top spot for hosting/coordinating Manufacturing Day events in the nation. “The Center’s ongoing efforts have focused on leveraging the promotion of the national organization and its efforts through best practices implemented in Florida, and create a common platform that has encouraged a steady increase in statewide participation for Manufacturing Day” said Barger.  FLATE hopes the initiative will serve as a vehicle in educating students, educators and the community about high-tech manufacturing/STEM-related careers, and also boost the overall effectiveness of Manufacturing Day through “Made in Florida” industry tours.

Anyone interested in participating in MFG Day/Month activities can contact FLATE directly and/or the regional manufacturers association. For information on regionally coordinated Manufacturing Day 2015 news and events, visit the Made in Florida page at www.madeinflorida.org/manufacgturing-day and the Manufacturing Month page on the Manufacturers Association of Florida Center for Advanced Manufacturing Excellence website. For information on national manufacturing day events and tours visit www.mfgday.com. You can also email Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org  and Nina Stokes, FLATE project manager at stokes@fl-ate.org . For press related information/coverage contact Janice Mukhia, communications manager for FLATE at news@fl-ate.org and Amanda Bowen, director of communications for MAF at abowen@nstephens.com.

Statewide Industry Tours & Events Planned for 2015 Manufacturing Day/Month

Manufacturing Day is set to make a prominent mark in state and national headlines, with Florida once again poised to take the lead in

organizing and hosting Manufacturing Day/Month events in the country. Starting October 1, 2015, students, parents, teachers are set to tour high-tech industry sites across Florida as part of “Made in Florida” industry tours for 2015 Manufacturing Day/Month. Counties across the state are also set to issue proclamations marking October 1 & 2 as the official kick-off dates for 2015 Manufacturing Day/Month. Additionally, several colleges and manufacturers will be hosting open houses on site, with screening of the “Made in Florida” video and other statewide events planned to celebrate manufacturing across Florida. Indeed Manufacturing Day/Month is sure to impact Florida in a big way!

This year FLATE and its statewide partners, that include the Manufacturers Association of Florida, Florida TRADE and Regional Manufacturers Associations, are taking the lead in hosting Manufacturing Day/Month events. FLATE’s manufacturing day strategy and cohesive partnerships with regional organizations across the state have successfully helped build an effective model that has made a positive impact on a state/national level. It has enabled greater involvement and statewide participation, and has empowered regional manufacturers associations to take a leading role in implementing a customized, regional strategy for manufacturing day/month. It has also helped strengthen industry-education ties that are a critical component in enhancing workforce education on a statewide level.

2015 sets a new precedent for Florida in once again assuming a leading role in the sheer volume and statewide participation in hosting manufacturing day/month events. Outlined below is an in-depth list of industry tours that have been finalized so far, with many regions still in the process of setting up their “Made in Florida” tours for Manufacturing Day/Month. FLATE will be updating this list on the new Manufacturing Day website at www.mfgday-fl.com and on the Made in Florida site at http://madeinflorida.org/manufacturing-day. So stay tuned about news and updates on tours and events in your region!

Following up on the successful model that FLATE has established over the years, FLATE will once again take the lead in surveying statewide industry hosts, educators and students who participate in this year’s “Made in Florida” industry tours for 2015 Manufacturing Day/Month. Post event surveys will be tabulated by FLATE and shared with statewide partners and stakeholders. FLATE will also help connect regional groups together, and will design/distribute shirts, provide educator resources, write/publish/distribute and report on MFG Day/month related news, and compile all student, educator, host survey data. FLATE will also work with regional partners to help connect schools with companies, and has compiled a complete press kit that regional partners can use as part of their media relations/outreach strategy.

To support students’ and educators’ learning and engagement in manufacturing, FLATE has also developed an extensive array of

resources specifically designed for educators to use as part of the Manufacturing Day/Month curriculum. These comprehensive resources are lesson plans that provide a quick overview of “what is manufacturing?” and can be taught as one-day lesson plans, or as in-depth, multi-day lessons that merge manufacturing-related technical content with the language skills of common core. There is even a 2015 Manufacturing Day in Florida poster that teachers can use as a curriculum tool and/or to decorate their classroom. To access these resources, visit the FLATE’s Wiki at: http://flate.pbworks.com/w/page/10889505/FrontPage and 
http://mfgday-fl.com.

If you would like to be connected with a regional manufacturers’ association to discuss additional outreach activities for students in your community, contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org, or visit http://mfgday-fl.com. For information on tours for Hillsborough & Pinellas counties contact Nina Stokes, FLATE project manager at stokes@fl-ate.org. For tours in Sarasota and Manatee counties and “Made in Florida” lesson plans for manufacturing day contact Danielly Orozco, FLATE curriculum coordinator at orozco@fl-ate.org.

Robotics Camps Opens Pathways for Students Across Florida to Explore STEM and Robotics

Summer camp season may have concluded, but we still have some exciting highlights to report on from camps that were held across the state earlier this summer. This year as in the past few years a number of schools and organizations partnered with FLATE to once again offer invigorating robotics camps to middle and high school students across Florida.  Robotics camps were held at the: Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition located in Ocala; Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach, FLL, and Lake Sumter State College in Leesburg, FL. Each of these camps were modeled after FLATE’s robotics camps and served as a mechanism to reach out to a broader range of students across the state. The camps also proved to be a sustainable and effective mechanism to get middle and high school aged students from all socio-economic backgrounds interested in STEM and robotics education and related career pathways.

It was the first time Lake Sumter State College (LSSC) offered an engineering robotics camp for middle and high school students. A total

of 19 students (15 male, 4 female) from five schools attended the three week camp at LSSC. The students were in grades six to twelve, and were from Leesburg High School, Carver and Oak Park middle schools, Lake Preparatory Academy, including some who are homeschooled. Sara Corvill, STEM program manager at LSSC who took a leading role in hosting the camp said the overarching idea for the camps was to provide students “a space to cultivate a deeper interest in robotics and engineering for the youth in the community” and also to “provide an avenue for students to gain knowledge/confidence in designing, building and programming a robot.”

During the three week camp students were paired into groups of two and four, and received an overview of the design process of a VEX robot. “We wanted students to have an unforgettable experience—one that would open their eyes to possible careers they could pursue in future” said Corvill.  Each group received an Engineering Notebook where they documented the design process, and learned how to build and program the robot to solve challenges in the design competition. Corvill hopes this experience at the camp will inspire students to gain more knowledge about robotics, learn the value/importance of teamwork and how local colleges like LSSC can help students get started on their higher education pursuits.

In addition to the camp at LSSC, Withlacoochee Technical College (WTC) also partnered with FLATE to offer two introductory level robotics camp. This was the second year WTC offered the camps, one of which was an ‘All Girls’ camp. Laurie Newkirk, automation &

production technology instructor at WTC, who served as the director said the camps allowed students to build, program and operate robots, but more importantly gave them, especially the girls, “an opportunity to engage in hands-on STEM activities and projects led by women working in the STEM field.” Newkirk hopes the camps will expand and increase students’ interest in STEM and its applications in high-tech manufacturing. “There was a bit of fear and reluctance when we first started building & programming the robots,” but soon many were ready to start challenges and even went above and beyond the scope of the lesson plans and challenges, said Newkirk. 

As is the case with both onsite and offsite robotics camps, camp  challenges are deemed the most fun part of their overall experience by students’ as they got to work on hands-on projects, explore their creativity and apply their knowledge and skills in real-world settings. At WTC the most fun part of the camp was the bumper challenge whereby bumpers were placed on the front and rear of the robots, with students being challenged to knock down as many as bottles as possible. Both teachers and students brainstormed ideas on designing the track and placement of bottles/objects for the robot to knock down. “The participants enjoyed the activity” said Newkirk, as they also got to design and make their own cell phone accessory, create a marketing presentation, and present their ideas to fellow campers and their parents. They also enjoyed using the joystick to maneuver the robot through a course in an effort to deliver their product to the customer as quickly as possible.

All camp hosts hope to offer similar camps next year and perhaps even expand it. WTC hopes to offer more weeks of camp and an advanced camp in 2016 for students who attended this summer. Newkirk also hopes to expand the partnership with FLATE to include ideas for camp activities, assistance with media coverage and possible funding assistance.

For more information on these camps visit http://fl-ate.org/programs/summer-camps, or email Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-at.org.

Answer to sTEm–at-Work #50: Membrane Technology Decision

The Puzzle: http://flate-mif.blogspot.com/2015/08/stemat-work-puzzle-50-membrane_5.html

Analysis

A technician is involved with the purification step for a drug that uses a membrane to separate the drug from its reaction by-products. The tech understands that the separation is diffusion driven. Thus, after the tech installs the equipment and it begins to operate she knows there will be no drug in the pure liquid at the instant the equipment is turned on.  The process has a sensor in the pure liquid that only monitors the increase in the number of drug molecules as a function of time.  The tech observed the data shown (in the graph below) immediately after the equipment was turned on for the first time.

Usually, the puzzles have a clear yes, or no answer expectation. This is one puzzle that someone can have a Yes answer if the values on the time axis (puzzles usually do not have values on either axis to drive students into "bigger picture" thought processes) are in hours, then a yes argument can be made. However, if we assign a shorter time frame, then the concentration went up way too fast. (There was a hole, or holes in the membrane, or it was not installed properly are better explanations why the "Amount of drug in the pure liquid" is so high so quickly.)  Either way, this a good example of a class time closer where a quick discussion can set the stage to think both ways.                                             

Question: Did the Tech allow the equipment to keep running.  Yes or NO                                                                                                                                                 

Answer: NO