COLLABORATE SOUTHERN
WORKING CONNECTIONS WORKSHOP FOR MECHATRONICS
The
spring and summer of 2017 have been full of “mechatronics” activities for FLATE
and our partners not only in Florida, but also across the country. July was a highlight with a 5-day workshop
for high school teachers hosted by Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ)
which is one of the co-PIs of the CollaborATE, NSF ATE project awarded to the
College of Lake County, IL in 2016. This incredible grant project has developed
the first stage of a “low-cost” mechatronics trainer (under $1,000) intended
for high school manufacturing, mechatronics, automation programs. The three partner colleges (College of Lake
County (CLC), Ann Arundel Community College (AACC) and (FSCJ) are implementing
associate degree programs in mechatronics, by enhancing and updating existing
electrical, mechanical and/or electromechanical programs to include the now
ubiquitous communication systems that have become integral to all automated
systems.
In
addition to upgrading the degree programs at the three colleges, the project
PI’s are working with their local high schools to develop articulated pathways
and/or duel enrollment programs. To
support the high school programs involved (3-5 per college), the grant team
will complete the development of the high school mechatronic trainers in three
stages. Each summer during the grant, the partner high school teachers are
traveling to FSCJ for an the intensive 5-day workshop taught by Tim Callahan,
mechatronics instructor at AACC. This
summer the workshop focused on wiring and programing programmable logic
controllers (PLCs). The next two years
will have the same high school teacher return to continue the training adding
more complicated subsystems that include motors, mechanical, pneumatic and
hydraulic components.
The
11 high school attendees rated the “Southern Working Connections” as excellent
and could not wait to get access to the first stage of the trainer that they
worked with this summer. The trainers will be loaned to the teachers from grant
colleges so teachers can continue to work with them during the coming school
year and use them with their students. All of this year’s participants are
expected to return the next two summers to continue to learn more advanced
applications. Margie Porter, CLC
CollaborATE PI, was very excited about how very engaged the teachers were in
their work and how excited the teachers were to have focused time with hands-on
learning in mechatronics. She says “they are hungry to learn and eager to have
access to equipment. We are hopeful that
this intensive strategy will help build enrollment in both high school and
college programs.” FLATE participated in the workshop, mentoring the teachers
in their work and making lunchtime presentation on various resources,
recruiting females, and industry credentials. For more information about the
Mechatronics Community in Florida, contact Dr. Barger (barger@fl-ate.org).
MECHATRONICS /PLC
WORKSHOP at HI-TEC
The
week before the Mechatronics Southern (SWC) Working Connection in Jacksonville,
FLATE hosted half-day Mechatronics workshop at the HI-TEC Conference in Salt
Lake City. Partnering with Dan Horine from Virginia Western Community College
and the NSF ATE PACE-ME grant and Doug Laven from the South Central College
(MN) and the NSF ATE iMEC grant project to present the workshop. These two experienced mechatronics educators
led the eighteen attendees through wiring, troubleshooting, programing basic
commands to solve fundamental problems. Wiring the hardware allowed
participants to trace the communication flow through the system.
The
growing need for mechatronics and automation technicians across the country and
in an array of industry sectors including manufacturing, supply chain, energy,
utilities, aviation and aerospace, chemical processing, continues to attract
students into these high skill, high wage careers. This was the third year this
team presented a PLC focused mechatronics workshop at HI-TEC. With one, or two
persons per trainer, this workshop “turned theory into reality” said one
attendee.
MECHATRONICS
CREDENTIAL PANEL at HI-TEC
FLATE
also hosted a panel about Mechatronics Industry credentials. Over 80 attendees crowded into the breakout
session room to hear representatives from Siemens, PMMI and NIMS present the
basics of their mechatronics-related credentials, how each are administered, ,
how schools can get involved, curriculum and costs, and program alignment. The
presentations stimulated a large number of questions from the audience and a
lively discussion closed the session. Presentations from the speakers are
posted at: www.flate.pbwiki.com
(select FLATE presentations, 2017).
MECHATRONICS MOMENTS
Also
at the HI-TEC conference, FLATE hosted its 5th annual “Mechatronics
Moments” reception with about 40 mechatronics-minded attendees. The casual networking event provides
attendees an opportunity to share information about their program in an “open
mic” / “karaoke” style session. This
year’s theme was “student projects”. About 15 educators shared a project idea
and outcomes. The famous FLATE audience “applausometer” helped determine the
best project of the evening. The winner
walked away with a modest gift certificate.
MECHATRONICS
COMMUNITY EXCHANGE
FLATE,
the CollaborATE, PACE-ME and iMEC projects, Mechatronics program at Gateway
Technical College have partnered to support a monthly online gathering /call
for mechatronics educators called the Mechatronics Community Exchange”
(MCE). The group meets once a month
during the academic year on a Friday afternoon from 3-4 pm. Monthly session topics are identified by the
attendees and have included FabLab integration with mechatronics; student
recruitment; industry credentials, various mechatronics components/equipment;
laboratory “setup”; student projects, etc. The schedule for this fall is 3-4 pm
on Fridays: September 29th, October 27th, and December
8th. Contact Dr. Barger at barger@fl-ate.org if
you are interested in joining this conversation or visit the MCE Website.
MECHATRONICSEDUCATION.COM
FLATE recently partnered with Quanser (http://quanser.com/),
supplier of mechatronics and engineering education laboratory and research equipment,
to add 2-year mechatronics program information to their new online Mechatronics
Education Forum. Educators can join the forum to find and post mechatronics
events, programs of study, projects, and discussions about issues related to
mechatronics education. Special sections
for the 2-year programs will be available on the forum later this fall.
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