Industry 4.0 Skills Accelerator (i4SA) Program will:
- Provide valuable training and exposure activities to prepare potential and existing workforce participants to work in high-tech environments and with automated systems.
- Introduce Industry 4.0 concepts to the K-12 community, incumbent workers and organizations that continue to suffer hiring and skills training shortfalls caused by COVID-19.
- Provide an opportunity to gain the skills necessary for jobs within the advanced manufacturing industry sector.
- Focus on skills in critical thinking/problem solving, failure analysis and maintenance of i4.0 electro-mechanical systems.
The program includes four initiatives to:
- Establish an i4.0 CAVS-E Experiential Learning Factory - scaled down production line, cobots, autonomous mobile robot, sensoring for equipment monitoring, augmented reality / virtual reality (AR/VR), and data visualization systems (dashboards) to capture system status.
- Provide experiential training and coaching program* - deliver i4.0 Core Tools and i4.0 Bridge training programs by expanding current curriculums for problem solving, failure analysis, and advanced maintenance to include hands-on interactive learning, and integration of data analytics (i.e., how to make sense of the data and utilize it for decision making) and visual dashboards.
- Deliver i4.0 Core Tools workshops to the K-12 community (e.g., CTE instructors, engineering clubs, career coaches)* – deliver training to equip individuals with the knowledge needed to demonstrate the available pathways to the next generation of workers for advanced manufacturing jobs.
- Establish a K-12 outreach community campaign* - engage historically under-represented student populations and provide exposure activities on i4.0 related topics and career opportunities.
* More information regarding training opportunities for K-12 educators and outreach opportunities for both industry and K-12 schools can be found here
ARPA Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF) Administered by AccelerateMS
- Awarded by the U.S. Department of Treasury
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Tonya McCall, Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems – Extension
- Duration of 15 months (October 2022 – June 2023)*
- * at the completion of the grant period, training will continue through December 2023.
- Training available at no cost to participants through December 2023 (limited number of offerings).
For additional information contact Tonya McCall at tmccall@cavse.msstate.edu, (601) 407-2767
