Sinclair has banked the renovated 28,000-square-foot Building 13 on the downtown campus will draw more students and bolster a reputation as a leader in drone-related education and training.
“We are preparing students and the incumbent workforce with the skills they need as UAS begins to commercialize,” said Deborah Norris, the community college’s vice president of workforce development and corporate services. “Industry tends to follow where they can get those skilled workers.”
Sinclair is in early talks with a Florida-based UAS-related company over possibly bringing jobs to the Miami Valley, she added.
The renovated building will be unveiled Monday, the day of Sinclair’s first UAS academic summit expected to attract unmanned aerial system academic experts from North Dakota, Colorado, Florida and elsewhere across the country.
“We’re hoping that we have the academic summit each and every year,” she said.
Sinclair’s UAS and aviation programs will merge as part of the transition. Students will have access to a wind tunnel, 3-D advanced manufacturing, manned and unmanned flight simulators, and a sensors and avionics lab in the renovated building.
An indoor flying pavilion under construction next to Building 13 will open in November, she said. “We are building resources that we hope will enable the commercialization of UAS,” Norris said.
Commercial and government uses of UAS technology will be among the technological trends explored at the fourth annual Ohio UAS Conference at the Dayton Convention Center next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Attendees will travel from across the country and as far as Israel, an organizer said. Last year, the conference drew the biggest gathering since it started with more than 700 attendees and more than 70 exhibitors.
“I think it gives us great exposure,” said Richard E. Knoll, Dayton Development Coalition vice president of aerospace development and a conference organizer. “The area is rich in resources and by bringing the people here to the conference they have an opportunity to learn what we have to offer.”
University researchers and engineering and technology firms will meet at a “Collider” networking event Wednesday at the conference to learn about the potential to team up on Air Force projects, said Candace Dalmagne-Rouge, director of the Small Business Hub at the Wright Brothers Institute in Riverside.
The “Collider” will highlight two projects, she said.
- The Air Force Prize Competition, a $2 million contest to build a lightweight, fuel-efficient, small turbine engine for small planes and drones and as a power generator in the field.
- AFRL’s joint research with the state of Ohio to create a way to safely control small UAVs beyond line of sight with a ground-based radar sense and avoidance system. Organizers would like to hear from businesses about how future users would like to use the air space.
