Dutchess CC's $3M Mechatronics Lab Trains High-Tech Workforce

(TNS) — With a series of computer clicks and switch flips, Freddy Santiago fired up a robotic station that smoothly performed a series of functions to transport a cubic-inch box from one end of the table to the other. A robotic arm and conveyor belt grabbed, lifted, pushed and slid the box along an intimidating, eight-step course teeming with wires, flashing lights and buttons.

During the first few runs on Thursday, the box was knocked off kilter or flung off course. But Santiago, the programming coordinator at Dutchess Community College's new mechatronics lab, was able to isolate and troubleshoot the problem, and then try again — steps that are critical for the students who will use the equipment.

Santiago oversees the school's newly opened $3 million mechatronics lab, funded with support from SUNY, Dutchess County, Empire State Development and American Rescue Plan Act money. The lab provides students with high-tech training in electronics, robotics, mechanics, HVAC systems and automated manufacturing to earn certifications that can lead to jobs at local companies, big and small. Some larger, local industry partners include IBM, Onsemi and Imagine.

Its potential to train an up-and-coming student workforce as well as people who already work in the field or want a career change caught the attention of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the White House. First Lady Jill Biden personally visited the learning center last week on National Manufacturing Day to celebrate its grand opening.

"This new mechatronics lab will help students get the skills they need for the growing businesses here — preparing them for careers making everything from display screens to jet engines to semiconductors," Biden said, according to a news release from Hochul's office. "As a community college professor myself, I'm so excited to see how this work changes people's lives."

LABS THAT BUILD ON EACH OTHER

The learning center is made up of three conjoined labs on the second floor of the college's Fishkill campus, referred to as the Center of Excellence for Industry & Innovation. A lab situated in the center of the three is intentionally designed to teach the basics of electrical mechanical technology and automation. It's full of stations where students can learn how to build circuits and automated assembly concepts before moving on to more concentrated areas of study in the mechanical and HVAC labs.

All of the labs, which together are about 6,000 square feet, are equipped with modern technology that students are most likely to encounter in the working world. Stations in the HVAC labs include a mock house about the size of a doghouse hooked up to a heating and cooling system. Another station has a one-ton HVAC unit that students can use to practice troubleshooting.

The courses focus on technical training, not so much engineering — students learn the ins and outs of the equipment and how it works but not how to build it themselves. These courses require some basic algebra, Santiago noted, and some light physics.

Next month, Santiago said workers already in the field will be the first to start the new curriculum. As they move through the courses, instructors will learn about what works and what doesn't in order to hone the program before widening it to more students next year.

Right now, the lab is being used by students taking related technology courses. A full-fledged mechatronics program doesn't exist at Dutchess Community College — yet. Santiago said that the process of creating a new college program is long and somewhat arduous, but he hopes that it can eventually be expanded and stand on its own.

TRAINING A LOCAL WORKFORCE

Dan Barbuto, who has taught electrical technology at the school for decades, has said local industry partners reached out to him looking for people they could hire. Santiago, who was more recently hired at the school, said Barbuto played a major role in building out the lab by talking directly with local companies about what skills the workforce was lacking and what kinds of equipment were needed to train workers. DCC staff also gathered insight by traveling to colleges in other states to look at their mechatronics labs. All that planning and research led to the new labs the school has now.

"It's really been a collaborative effort to try and get this not just for Dutchess County, but the Hudson Valley, in general," said Paloma Krakower, director of workforce education and development at DCC.

Krakower said an important part of the programming's design is flexibility and accessibility to people with varying levels of skills and nontraditional students who may have to train after work or on weekends. One goal for the lab, Krakower said, is to allow students to build confidence in the field and counter the stigma that manufacturing jobs that don't require four-year degrees are lesser than others.

More than 400,000 people in New York work in the manufacturing field and earn an average annual salary of more than $87,000, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

"There is a big push in the region to make manufacturing an awesome job prospect because it has a lot of high-wage potential for students right out of community college where they could earn up to $60,000 to $70,000 with just an associate's degree," Krakower said.

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