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technology economy is dependent on having a supply of qualified and skilled‘ digital workers’. This program will give students the skill set needed in today’ s high-tech manufacturing industry”
DIGITAL FAB LAB In the last decade, Century College has been collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology( MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms Global Fab Lab Network. In 2007, Century was the first college in the region to install and implement a Digital Fab Lab and incorporate this MIT initiative across its curriculum in science, technology, engineering and math( STEM) areas.
Digital fabrication’ s early beginnings began in the late 1950s, when MIT professors first connected a computer to a vertical milling machine. This was the beginning of the automated era in manufacturing, enabling machines to operate in what became widely known as a Computer Numerical Controlled
( CNC) environment. Until that time, workers had been operating machines such as lathes, mills and drilling / boring machines manually. During this era, there was a great expansion involving computers that were linked to machines that processed materials. Traditional tool and die workers also needed to keep up with changes in technology by developing advanced skill sets.
The Century College Engineering & Fab Lab houses numerous digital technology systems, including laser technologies, electronics, manufacturing cell and robotic systems. The new ADM program will emphasize the intersection between computing and machining, central to the Fab Lab vision pioneered by Dr. Neil Gershenfeld at MIT’ s Center for Bits and Atoms. The Century College ADM faculty are heavily involved with the global Fab Lab initiative. Currently, there are over 1,000 Fab Labs installed around the world – with approximately 250 labs located in the United States.
For more information or a tour of the Engineering and Digital Fabrication Laboratory facility, contact Scott Simenson at scott. simenson @ century. edu.
Century College 3300 Century Avenue North White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-779-3300; 800-228-1978 www. century. edu / programs
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38 Vadnais Heights Business Guide & Community Profile