Students on the cutting edge of innovation

Bringing together business, innovation and education, Lorain County Community College’s new bachelor’s degree of applied science in microelectronic manufacturing is setting Lorain County on a course toward harnessing a new and up and coming industry.

After gaining approval in 2018 from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the first class of applied bachelor’s degree students are relishing in the opportunity to take part in a cutting edge

industry behind the technology in devices people use every day.

From the parts in the newest cell phones, to devices used in the biomedical and automotive sectors, LCCC teamed up with a growing roster of local partners in designing a program that directly meets the needs of their industry.

Johnny Vanderford, an associate professor and director of LCCC’s Mechatronics Institute, called the opportunity one of the best values in the state of Ohio.

Speaking from the Desich SMART Center, which also serves as a business incubator, Vanderford recalled the process in developing a program that saw industry play a key role in developing the program to satisfy local demand.

“There’s about 20 or so companies within this building and they have focuses in microelectronics, biomedical instrumentation,” he said. “So, we talked to them and said, what do you want your workforce to know?

“And we talked to the other companies and said what can we do to give them classes that will get them skills to get jobs along the way?”

With an associate degree program debuting in 2013 with three students and eight industry partners, the bachelor’s degree program started with a class of 18 students and now has more than 50 partners and growing, providing direct on the job experience to students under the “earn-and-learn” model.

In the inaugural year of the program, LCCC’s applied bachelor’s degree students are relishing in the opportunity to be a part of history. Beyond expectations Jared Dumont, 39, of Avon Lake, is part of that class and works as an engineer at Raven Systems in Valley View.

“It’s been a fantastic experience so far,” Dumont said. “Apart from these types of things, it seems like just another class.

“It’s really difficult to appreciate the value of this program going through it. It’s a continuation of what we’ve already done. In that respect, it’s not what I expected a bachelor’s degree program to be.”

A veteran of the U.S. Army, Dumont said he discovered the program by a stroke of coincidence.

“I had a little bit of an idea of how these things happen, but no concept of how you get into the field,” he said. “I just so happened to see the degree program for this.

“It was just by happenstance. I was in the counselor’s office signing up for another class, and I saw this and said, ‘this is kind of interesting.’”

Dumont also recently had the opportunity to present at the 16th annual FLEX Conference for flexible and printed electronics. Relishing the opportunity Trevor Zitek, 20, of Amherst is relishing in the opportunity for creativity and taking part in an emerging local industry.

“My experience here has been entertaining,” Zitek said. “It’s pushed me to places I never thought I would go. It’s just an awesome program.”

He said he heard about the program from his father and got the opportunity to meet Vanderford at an information session and his enthusiasm and the potential of getting to work with electronics drove him to enroll.

“What fascinates me the most about this field is just the sheer creativity that can come out of it,” Zitek said. “You can create things that you never thought was possible.”

To graduate from the program, students are required to obtain a job or internship.

In the six years of its existence, the associate degree program in mechatronics technology - Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) continues to have a 100 percent employment rate.

“We have lots of companies that are all saying you have people who have a skill that we’re in short of,” Vanderford said. “They’re being hit by something that they call the silver tsunami.

“All the workforce that they have that has decades worth of experience is all retiring and the skills they learned is not being taught at the university level.”

Vanderford referred a 2016 article in Forbes Magazine touting northeast Ohio’s potential as the next Silicon Valley hotbed for technology startups.

Local partners including Synapse Biomedical in Oberlin, Lincoln Electric, RBB in Wooster along with SMART Microsystems and NanoBio Systems on LCCC’s campus are part of this tech wave.

“So, we looked at the workforce and we said there seems to be skills gap there and eight companies confirmed it,” Vanderford said. “And now over 50 companies confirm it, and we’re still growing every single week and we’re hearing from more companies about jobs and we’re only at the tip of the iceberg.”

What employers need In the transition to offering the bachelor’s degree

program, Vanderford recalled defending the degree which does not require a calculus class, by simply listening to what employers need.

“I’ve got to say, it’s been special because students get jobs,” he said. “We have kids who are just out of high school who have minimum college debt.

“We have parents who are becoming independent by getting college careers and getting jobs along the way.

“The biggest draw is that we as northeast Ohio grow together as a community. The companies are getting the workforce, students are getting the education and skills that the workforce is driving. Lorain County Community College is the bridge between industry and education.”

Tracy Green, LCCC’s vice president of Strategic and Institutional Development, underscored the impact as the first community college in the state of Ohio to offer an applied bachelor’s degree, joining 22 other states across the nation.

“It’s been a process, and 2018 will be a year that we look back to in terms of educational transformation, not only in Lorain County, but in the state of Ohio,” Green said. “And you can tell how specific this field is.

“And finally, Ohio has joined 22 other states to make this happen. We’re number one to do it and that’s what’s really exciting. It really does come with the change in the economy.”

Drawing on the history of LCCC, which dates back to 1963 as Ohio’s first community college, Green says once again, the institution is demonstrating it is ahead of the curve in responding to the economic needs of the community.

“I think that’s what’s so important about this,” she said. “It does relate back to the changes in our economy.

“Local industry has been at the table since the associate degree was developed. It was through their voice that we heard we need to take it to the next level with applied bachelor’s degrees.”

With an associate degree program debuting in 2013 with three students and eight industry partners, the bachelor’s degree program started with a class of 18 students and now has more than 50 partners and growing, providing direct on the job experience to students under the “earn-andlearn” model.