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CREATING AN
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE IN NORTHWEST OHIO Winter 2021 Volume 9 Issue 1
INSIDE: > Owens CC: FAME Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing Training > Miami Regionals Work+ Program has First Graduate > John Carroll University Launches Student-Run Social Enterprise > D2H Advanced Technologies Relies on Ohio Supercomputer Center for Maximum Efficiency > WSCC’s Updated Accounting Program Attractive to Working Adults > LCCC Offers Fast-Track Certificates in 16 Weeks or Less
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A Message from Chancellor Randy Gardner It goes without saying that 2020 was not the year I expected entering my second year as Chancellor. But one thing this unique and challenging year has made clear is that Ohio’s colleges and universities, technical centers, and adult learning programs are more committed than ever to finding innovative and creative ways to prepare students for the next step in their education and career. You’ll find examples of that in this first ConnectED of 2021, including how Owens Community College is working with business leaders to prepare advanced manufacturing workers in Northwest Ohio; how Lorain County Community College’s tuition-free, short-term certificate programs offer a fast-track to employment; and how John Carroll University is using a social enterprise food truck to provide students with real world experience while helping communities in need. You’ll also meet the first graduate of the Miami University Regional Campuses’ Work+ program, who talks about her experience. We all hope a better year is on the horizon. But regardless of what lies ahead, you can be sure that our campuses will continue striving to help students succeed, and we’ll keep you ConnectED to how they’re doing so.
In this issue: Owens CC: FAME Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing Training A collaborative program in Hancock County is preparing workers for in-demand advanced manufacturing jobs.
Miami Regionals Work+ Program has First Graduate Anna Kiep became the first Miami Regionals graduate from the new Work+ program in December.
John Carroll University Launches Student-Run Social Enterprise Food truck provides JCU students real-world experience while working with communities in need.
D2H Advanced Technologies Relies on Ohio Supercomputer Center for Maximum Efficiency Simulations generate data that guides engineers as they improve the aerodynamic profiles of vehicles.
WSCC’s Updated Accounting Program Attractive to Working Adults The newly redesigned program is adding up to increased access for adult learners and working students.
LCCC Offers Fast-Track Certificates in 16 Weeks or Less Programs align with in-demand jobs including healthcare, business, IT, and manufacturing industries.
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OH! FAME PROGRAM FOCUSED ON ADVA
A collaborative program created in 2019 by seven Findlay-Hancock County companies, the local economic development organization, and Owens Community College is preparing workers for indemand advanced manufacturing jobs. OH! FAME (Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education) is part of a national network of employers and educational partners positively affecting the advanced manufacturing industry. The Manufacturing Institute projects by 2028 a shortage of 2.4 million manufacturing workers
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nationally. Ohio currently employs the third-most workers in this sector, trailing only California and Texas. Raise the Bar is the economic development nonprofit helping companies based in the Hancock County area acquire skilled employees to meet their growth, talent, and competitive goals. “The OH! Fame program is advancing education for young people and fueling economic development in Hancock County and the surrounding counties,” Julie Baker, Owens Findlay-area Campus Dean, said. “The local
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ANCED MANUFACTURING TRAINING companies understand the benefits of the program and how it will produce an educated and skilled workforce. It’s an effective partnership where everyone wins.” After 18 months of development, the program launched in 2019 with 10 students employed at seven companies and enrolled at Owens. This student cohort, on track to graduate in May 2021, is held to a high standard in all aspects of its work and education, including attendance, grades, initiative, interpersonal relationships, teamwork, communication, attitude, discipline, productivity, and more. The students are required to wear OH! FAME-branded polo shirts daily. The sponsoring companies agree to pay at least half of the students’ tuition and fees at Owens and employ students for a minimum of 24 hours per week at a competitive hourly wage. Students earn while they learn, on their way to graduating with an Associate of Technical Studies in Applied Engineering from Owens and certifications in FANUC Robotics and OSHA-30 Hour. Students attend Owens two days a week and
work three days at their sponsoring companies, where they apply the skills they acquire in the classroom and labs. “The program is unique in that it blends classroom instruction with onsite work experience at a sponsoring company’s manufacturing facility to fulfill FAME’s four-part mission of ‘Learn it, Do it, Apply it, and Tell it’ with an emphasis on safety at each phase,” said Owens’ Chair of Applied Engineering and Industrial Technologies, Tracy Campbell. The second cohort, assembled for fall semester 2020, has eight students employed at five companies. Applications for 14 students are being accepted in the third cohort that will begin in fall 2021. The current companies include Ball Corporation, Cooper Tire, D S Brown, FreudenbergNOK Sealing Technologies, GSW Manufacturing, Kalmbach Feeds, Inc., Molten North America Corporation, Nissin Brake Ohio, Rowmark, Simona-PMC, and ZF. More information is available at owens.edu/ academics/ohfame.
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Work+ Has First Graduate Program is Model for Statewide Implementation BY ROD NIMTZ [LINK] Anna Kiep of Hamilton became the first Miami Regionals graduate from the new Work+ program in December, continuing along a path of hard work and determination that is leading her to achieve her educational and career goals. While attending Badin High School, Kiep took advantage of Ohio’s College Credit Plus program. By the time she graduated in 2018, she had earned two years’ worth of Miami credits. She began at Miami Hamilton in the fall of 2018, initially intent on an education degree. Financing her own education, she was working 60 hours a week between a nanny position and working in retail while taking 18 credit hours. Learning of the Work+ program, she was attracted to the stability it offered as she worked to complete her degree, which had now switched to English Studies. Work+ enabled her to focus more on her studies by combining payment of her tuition with a paycheck earned working a flexible 24-hour-per-week work schedule with The Fischer Group. At The Fischer Group, her work has evolved and today she serves as an “issue supervisor,” handling ordering, packaging, shipping, and other issues for the two companies that The Fischer Group serves at its fulfillment center location in West Chester. In addition to her work with the client companies, she has worked with The Fischer Group to develop standardized operating procedures and to train employees.
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Anna Kiep is Miami Regionals' first Work+ program graduate.
Kiep joined Miami’s Vice President for ASPIRE, Randi Thomas, and Associate Provost and Regional Campus Dean Cathy Bishop-Clark for a statewide Regional Campus Day, speaking with senators in Columbus about Work+ and how it has helped her reach her educational goals. Those conversations were part of what led to a law recently signed by Governor Mike DeWine requiring the Ohio Department of Higher Education to create a template for implementing Work+ programs statewide. The experiences of Kiep and her student colleagues are an integral part of this project. Growing up in Lindenwald and Hamilton, Kiep is a first-generation college student, with many members of her family working in education. Her
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father is a member of the Hamilton police force and her mother is a teaching assistant for special needs students in the Hamilton schools. Kiep plans to head to Cleveland State University in the spring to begin working on her master’s degree in school counseling. “Anna’s experience with Work+ is precisely what Miami, working with Senator Bill Coley and area companies, envisioned. She gained work experience, earned a regular income from a scheduled position that worked around her class schedule, and is graduating debt free,” Thomas said. “It’s great to have our first program graduate, and equally great to see that she is continuing on to a higher degree to reach and serve students in our schools.” Kiep admits it is hard to put her overall experience with Work+ into words. “I feel very privileged and blessed to have had this opportunity,” she said. “Work+, combined with the affordability of Miami Regionals, is a combination that all students should explore.”
Kiep training how to package and ship orders at The Fischer Group.
Ohio Statehouse visit sharing her experience with the Work+ program.
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John Carroll University Launches Student-Run Social Enterprise Food truck provides JCU students real-world experience creating, managing, and evolving a local business while working with communities in need The Center for Service and Social Action (CSSA) at John Carroll University is launching a studentrun food truck business. By day, the truck will serve Cleveland’s full-pay lunch market. On select evenings and weekends, the proceeds from the daytime business will be used to provide low- or no-cost hot meals to customers who are homeless. JCU students will explore the social, political, and economic dimensions of running a local business while applying course knowledge, gaining real-world experience in entrepreneurship, and increasing their knowledge
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of the needs, strengths, and realities of diverse populations in the city. “With this project, we set out to take experiential education at John Carroll to the next level,” said Sister Katherine Feely, director of the CSSA and the innovator behind the food truck initiative. “Our students are applying classroom concepts to bring a student-designed, student-run business to market, and by using their profits to provide the same menu options to customers who are homeless, they’re learning how business success
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can have an even greater impact on our community.” The project moved forward last spring after the CSSA used a major donation from a John Carroll alum to purchase the truck. Feely then worked with Doan Winkel, director of the Muldoon Center for Entrepreneurship at John Carroll University, to integrate the "With this effort into JCU’s project, we set Boler College of Business. out to take
experiential “We didn’t come to the students education at with a plan,” John Carroll to Winkel said. “We wanted this to be the next level." their project from - Sr. Katherine Feely start to finish, giving them experience with every step of the process needed to bring a business idea to life.” Spring Social Entrepreneurship students conducted market research, interviewing potential corporate clients to better understand the Cleveland lunch market. They also met with social service organization leaders to identify the homeless population’s needs and movements. Last fall, the students worked to finalize the menu and pricing, create all point-of-sale marketing, and define the guest experience. "I’m having to visualize how to start a business from scratch – the operations, the marketing, and the financials,” said Jack Heller, a social entrepreneurship student at JCU. “Everything about being an entrepreneur is jam-packed into this food truck project.” The students will launch their business through a series of events in spring 2021, then use sales
data, marketing analytics, and customer feedback to further refine their menu and operations. Winkel and Feely anticipate expanding the initiative over time into a self-sustaining, studentrun venture, providing a long-term platform for students to innovate, and opportunities to leverage and strengthen CSSA’s relationships with non-profit organizations across Northeast Ohio. “We are currently exploring ways that this initiative can help other community partners advance their own efforts to serve the city of Cleveland, while extending the boundaries of the classroom in new and more dynamic ways,” Feely said. For more information on the food truck project, contact Sr. Katherine Feely, Ed.D. at kfeely@jcu. edu.
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D2H Advanced Technologies Relies on Ohio Su D2H’s computational fluid dynamics simulations generate data that guides engineers as they improve the aerodynamic profiles of vehicles such as the race cars pictured in these visualizations. Efficiency and accuracy are everything in motorsports. Finely tuned engineering workflows must operate on demanding timelines and reliably deliver aerodynamically optimized vehicles. Automotive and industrial company D2H Advanced Technologies relies on the Ohio Supercomputer Center’s (OSC) on-demand high performance computing (HPC) for maximum efficiency in both process and product. With offices both in the UK and the USA, D2H operates in motorsports including NASCAR, highperformance sports including cycling and skeleton bobsleigh, as well as industrial technology, and automotive and electric vehicles. Among the firm’s technical specialties is computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which is used to model how fluids behave when they are moving through and around objects. This modeling provides engineers with crucial data, such as how air flows around a vehicle. The accuracy and speed of solutions produced by D2H rival any engineering firm in the industry, according
to CEO Darren Davies. “Every millimeter cell around the car, we get the pressure, the velocity, vorticity, all of these parameters we need to tell what's going on so that we can then go and make changes to the car,” Davies said. “Our models are an order of magnitude larger and more refined – amongst the most complicated and most detailed CFD models that anybody runs, commercial or industrial.” These complex analyses reduce the need for expensive and time-consuming wind tunnel tests, as one skeptical manufacturer found out recently. “They had already tested a vehicle in the wind tunnel,” Davies said. “The planning and execution of the tests took months, and I would estimate that it cost them between $30,000 and $40,000. They gave us the same problem in CFD on OSC and we turned it around within a few days at a cost in the low singlefigure thousands of dollars, proving that CFD testing would have been much faster and better value, without detracting at all from the accuracy of the results.”
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upercomputer Center for Maximum Efficiency When preparations began in 2019 for a new D2H office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, newly hired engineer and University of Dayton post-graduate Seth Morris suggested checking out the Ohio Supercomputer Center. After looking at the resources provided by OSC, D2H decided to set them up as a backup provider, but the Center’s performance and reliability quickly changed the plan. “Over the last year, OSC has stretched ahead, and comfortably so,” Davies said. “The true on-demand service with low wait times is unique. We don't have that anywhere else. And that's what keeps OSC ahead of everyone else right now. The prices are great, the service is great, and OSC keeps it all up to date.”
Between the flexibility OSC gives us and our drive for workflow efficiency and speed, we're changing the map. The accuracy, speed, and value we deliver is changing the way that people think about CFD. – Darren Davies
Mark Jackson, operations manager for D2H, feels the same way. “We've been pushing to reduce all of our runtimes and make everything more efficient and then sometimes [with OSC’s competitors] we're waiting in the queue longer than the jobs are taking,” Jackson said. “We haven't been getting that with OSC.” The Center’s recent Pitzer cluster expansion, which added dozens of GPU nodes and nearly tripled the total number of cores, has unlocked even more value. D2H has reduced the number of cores it uses by 5% without any increase in runtimes, translating directly to lower costs. “It’s still good for us to have two providers,” Davies said. “But right now, OSC is the stronger proposition and is our ‘go to’ provider of HPC resources.” WINTER 2021
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WSCC’S UPDATED ACCOUNTING PROGRAM ATTRACTIVE TO WORK ING ADULTS [LINK] The newly redesigned Accounting Technology program at Washington State Community College is adding up to increased access for adult learners and working students. When accounting associate professor Christina Gater began working for the college in 2019, she repeatedly saw students who, due to work and family obligations, couldn’t finish their degree, and many others who had the desire but simply could not commit to the pursuit of a degree. “I recognized this struggle as an incredible opportunity for me because I knew I had the ability to improve the program and remove this barrier,” she said.
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Johnathon Carpenter is one of Gater’s students. As a salesperson at an automotive dealership in Caldwell, Ohio, Carpenter wanted to earn his degree, but needed to maintain his employment. He works throughout the week plus Saturdays, so flexibility was important. Gater’s program had several features that made it attractive to him as well as others in a similar situation. The most notable benefit for working adults like Carpenter is that the classes are offered in a blended format, which means both in-person and online. “The blended night courses allow students to get what they need in the classroom, while completing most of the work when it best fits their own schedules,” Gater said.
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With the support of his employer, Carpenter has been able to adjust his work schedule to make it possible for him to take the classes he needs and have time to study. “I’m able to stay full-time [in college] and work because of online classes and blended classes. That’s huge,” Carpenter said. As she developed the program’s adult-friendly format, Gater knew from student feedback that many students would not be comfortable with completely online courses and they would be more confident about their studies with at least some classroom time. She also acknowledged that access to reliable internet can be a barrier, however she believes she has been able to address both issues by providing the bulk of the instruction during the face-to-face weekly classes. The redesign also means that students need to carve out just one night a week for their face-to-face courses. The courses are condensed and delivered over eight weeks, which allows students to complete
more courses during the traditional 16-week semester and graduate more quickly. Carpenter, who is on target to graduate this spring, said this has been especially helpful because it allows him to maintain his full-time student status. Evening courses also allow students to create a schedule and stay on track to graduation without compromising their daytime work schedule. Moreover, many adult learners attend college at the request of their employer and Gater said it is “paramount that the college recognize the importance of that relationship in order to reduce the strain on students.” The results of the program redesign have been positive. Gater said the changes have increased enrollment and provided opportunities for students who were previously enrolled to return and complete their degrees. For more information on the accounting technology program, contact Gater at 740.885.5724.
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LCCC Offers Fast-Track Certificates in
16 Weeks or Less Lorain County Community College (LCCC) offers a fast track to employment with tuition-free, shortterm certificate programs that include a direct path to a new career. Most programs can be completed in 16 weeks or less. Programs align with in-demand jobs including healthcare, business, IT, and manufacturing industries. Upon completion of these shortterm certificates, students will earn an industry-
[LINK]
recognized credential, receive career and interview coaching, and be connected to local employers that are ready to hire. These fast-track programs can help students get trained quickly for a new, good-paying job, said LCCC President Marcia J. Ballinger, Ph.D. “Many people have been laid off or have experienced reduced work hours due to the coronavirus pandemic and may not be sure where to turn,” Ballinger said. “These fasttrack programs are designed to get people quickly trained for a new career, without taking on loan debt.” For those interested in furthering their education, the fasttrack certificates are part of academic pathways that allow students to continue seamlessly for associate degrees in their chosen fields. See available programs and register for an information session at lorainccc.edu/ fasttrack.
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Photo: University of Cincinnati Clermont College
A special thank you to all of those who contributed stories and articles: Owens CC: FAME Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing Training Jared Meade | Manager, Public and Media Relations, Owens Community College
Miami Regionals Work+ Program has First Graduate Ruth M. Orth | Interim Regional Director, Marketing & Communications, Miami University Regional Campuses
John Carroll University Launches Student-Run Social Enterprise Kristi Stolarski | Senior Account Manager, Falls Communications
D2H Advanced Technologies Relies on Ohio Supercomputer Center for Maximum Efficiency John Strawn | Communications Manager, Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH)
WSCC’s Updated Accounting Program Attractive to Working Adults Amanda K. Herb | VP Institutional Advancement, Washington State Community College
LCCC Offers Fast-Track Certificates in 16 Weeks or Less Steve Sefchik | Advertising/Media Relations Coordinator, Lorain County Community College
Thanks for reading ConnectED. If you have any story suggestions, links to articles of interest, or news releases to share, feel free to send them to Jeff Robinson at jrobinson@highered.ohio.gov.
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