2nd Manufacturing Education Forum
Second Manufacturing Education Leadership Forum: Moving Forward
13th to 15th of November 2008 at Farmingdale State College - SUNY 2350 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale, New York 11735-1021 Phone: (631) 420-2310
The initial Manufacturing Education Leadership Forum sponsored by the SME Manufacturing Education & Research Community was held on June 26-27, 2008 at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, PA. A diverse, invited group from academia, industry, and government met to assess needs for continuing development, upgrading, and updating of manufacturing education programs.
In light of numerous messages indicating the importance of Bio- and Nano- and Electronics- in the future of manufacturing, this second forum will engage industry and manufacturing educators to discuss how those technologies can be integrated within manufacturing education programs and continuing education offerings.
Industry professionals with significant experience in the implementation of these technologies in a manufacturing environment will describe the pertinent critical skills and knowledge needed by current, new, and future employees across the educational spectrum.
In addition, participants will hear an overview of the work product from the Forum in Pittsburgh related to updating the highly used documents Curricula 2000 and Curricula 2002 that were produced from earlier conferences. Working groups will propose updates with special attention to the inclusion of Bio-, Nano-, and Electronics- technologies in undergraduate programs.
Optional pre-forum workshops will be held on Thursday afternoon for those who choose to arrive early. One track will be on the fundamentals of nanotechnology and its application to a wide spectrum of manufacturing processes and products, including biotechnology and electronics. The second track will present the concepts and application of dental and biomedical manufacturing including a tour of a dental manufacturing facility.
Additional features of this forum are:
Leaders of manufacturing education programs will meet to discuss issues of common concern
Working group on novel forms of pedagogy, instructional methods, and program delivery
Working group on outreach to K-12 education, enhancing awareness of career opportunities in manufacturing, and recruiting qualified people for the profession.
Ample time for networking among participants.
Time for planning a larger, open-invitation conference to be held in 2009.