(PITTSBURGH, May 10, 2017) ― The SME Education Foundation received a $300,000 grant from Arconic Foundation, the independently endowed philanthropic arm of Arconic Inc., to expand its SME PRIME® (Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education) initiative. The SME Education Foundation established PRIME in 2011 to build a collaborative network of students, educators and industry professionals to inspire and prepare students for careers in manufacturing. As part of a growing partnership between the organizations, the investment will help expand two high school manufacturing education programs in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Students will gain practical experience and skills using state-of-the-art technology and equipment.
The Arconic Foundation has been a dedicated supporter of PRIME since the program’s inception. As a partner in several regions around the country — including southern California and Virginia — the Foundation is focused on growing the pipeline of advanced manufacturing talent in the communities around Arconic facilities. With this expansion, Arconic Foundation will fund the implementation of PRIME near Arconic plants in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and Whitehall, Michigan. Like the 12,000 students currently enrolled in the PRIME network, students at the new schools will gain practical experience and skills using state-of-the-art technology and equipment. Through PRIME, teachers at those locations will receive robust, industry-relevant professional development and classrooms will be outfitted with new equipment, ensuring that these students will be able to pursue career pathways to become engineers and skilled technologists.
“Arconic Foundation has been a key supporter through funding as well as employee engagement with PRIME students,” said Brian Glowiak, vice president, SME Education Foundation. “This new commitment is a testament to the success of the PRIME program in preparing high school students for rewarding careers in manufacturing.”
Arconic Foundation’s new investment was announced at the RAPID + TCT 2017 conference, which several teachers representing PRIME schools in Ohio are attending as part of their professional development experience.
About the SME Education Foundation
The SME Education Foundation is committed to inspiring, preparing and supporting the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists. Since its creation by SME in 1979, the SME Education Foundation has provided grants, scholarships and awards through its partnerships with corporations, organizations, foundations and individual donors. Each year, the Foundation awards several hundred scholarships to students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and technology disciplines closely related to manufacturing. The organization also administers scholarship awards on behalf of major corporations connected to manufacturing. Additionally, the Foundation’s PRIME initiative was created to provide high school students with a tailored advanced manufacturing /STEM education.
Visit the SME Education Foundation at smeeducationfoundation.org. Follow @mfgeducation on Twitter or facebook.com/SME.Education.Foundation.
About SME
SME connects all those who are passionate about making things that improve our world. As a nonprofit organization, SME has served practitioners, companies, educators, government and communities across the manufacturing spectrum for more than 80 years. Through its strategic areas of events, media, membership, training and development, and the SME Education Foundation, SME is uniquely dedicated to the advancement of manufacturing by addressing both knowledge and skills needed for the industry. Learn more at sme.org, follow @SME_MFG on Twitter or facebook.com/SMEmfg.
About Arconic Foundation
Arconic Foundation supports programs that help prepare the 21st century engineering and advanced manufacturing workforce. Arconic Foundation is an independently endowed foundation with assets of approximately $320 million and is the charitable arm of Arconic Inc. – which works in close partnership with customers to solve complex engineering challenges to transform the way we fly, drive, build and power. Through collaboration with our nonprofit partners, our initiatives make quality STEM education opportunities available to students; support engineering and technical skills training through community colleges, technical schools and universities around the world; and help to create access for underrepresented individuals to the STEM fields. The work of Arconic Foundation is further enhanced by the thousands of Arconic employee volunteers who share their talents and time to make a difference in their communities. Established in 2016, Arconic Foundation is active in 26 countries around the globe.
This new commitment builds on an investment of more than $1 million that the Arconic Foundation is contributing toward PRIME to train the next-generation advanced manufacturing workforce in local communities where Arconic operates. One example is its support of the Four Cities Compact, a career-tech planning consortium comprised of four east Ohio high schools — Barberton, Wadsworth, Copley and Norton — near the company’s operations in Barberton, Ohio. Over 1,000 students at these PRIME sites are benefitting from tailored training curriculum, state-of-the-art equipment, industry-recognized certifications and mentoring opportunities with Arconic employees.
“We are expanding our support of PRIME because of the success we are seeing with the advanced manufacturing programs in the Four Cities Compact,” said Ryan Kish, senior program manager, Arconic Foundation. “We are committed to working with partners, such as the SME Education Foundation, to give students a more complete view of the spectrum of STEM careers available and equip them with the training they need to pursue a rewarding manufacturing career.”