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Session 2563

Increasing Manufacturing Engineering Enrolment Through K-12 Outreach

Hugh Jack, Associate Professor Padnos School of Engineering Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids, MI email: jackh@gvsu.edu

1. Introduction

Of the top 20 employers in the Grand Rapids area, 19 are manufacturers. This heavy concentra- tion of manufacturing generates a constant demand for highly educated individuals able to support local industries. Moreover, these industries are trying to increase the technological level of their businesses to offset the loss of low skill level manufacturing work to foreign competition. As the manufacturing environment evolves, the level of education of the workforce will increase. To pre- pare for this change in the Grand Rapids area a new initiative was begun to increase the number of students pursuing manufacturing education.

The Articulation and Integration of Manufacturing Education (AIME) project [2] is focused on increasing the number of students pursuing manufacturing education by streamlining the educa- tional process. The first goal of the project is to expand the number of high school graduates choosing manufacturing careers. This begins in the middle schools when students are starting to form impressions about their career choices, and will soon be able to select their coursework. Multiple efforts are in place to encourage students to pursue manufacturing careers, including technology and engineering. Students are also given access to existing activities, such as FIRST [11] and STEPS [10] to help keep them engaged. Careful advising helps the students select the appropriate math and science courses to ensure that they can pursue technical studies at the col- lege level.

The second goal involves a launchpad course that will be offered for college credit at Grand Rap- ids Community College to help students in their transition from high school to college. The course is designed to address topics such as math, science, writing and laboratory skills. The course is designed to serve students in high school that do not offer laboratory courses, or to provide a tran- sition between high school graduation and the start of college.

The third goal focuses on streamlining the college experience. In particular the pathways to vari- ous degrees, and careers, are outlined. In many cases this involves transfer between institutions and programs. In those cases articulation agreements are in place to ensure that students can easily

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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Jack, H. (2004, June), Increasing Manufacturing Engineering Enrolment Through K 12 Outreach Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13573