Area high school students learn about advanced manufacturing career opportunities at Mill 19
Manufacturing is an exciting and lucrative career opportunity that can help address the massive skills gap that threatens to leave two million U.S. manufacturing jobs unfilled within the next decade. In Pittsburgh and around the country, many initiatives aim to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in manufacturing.
That's why students from 10 area high schools were at Mill 19 in Hazelwood Green on Oct. 6. Their visit was a part of the nationwide Manufacturing Day event, which is sponsored by the Manufacturing Institute — the workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Carnegie Mellon University's Manufacturing Futures Institute (MFI) joined forces with its partners, the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute (ARM) and Catalyst Connection, as well as the University of Pittsburgh, to give students a firsthand look at modern manufacturing.
"In addition to conducting advanced manufacturing research and educating manufacturing innovators and leaders, MFI's involvement in events like Manufacturing Day gives us an opportunity to work with our many community partners to promote manufacturing as a career to young people who may not be aware of the opportunities that exist in modern-day manufacturing," said Gary Fedder, the Howard M. Wilkoff Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the faculty director of the MFI.
The students were given a tour of Mill 19, the former location of the Pittsburgh region's most productive steel mills. The sprawling facility has been transformed into a discovery workspace where Carnegie Mellon researchers conduct some of the most advanced manufacturing research in the U.S. Its laboratories, workshops and workspaces, where students saw demonstrations of manufacturing robots and industrial 3D-printing equipment, resemble modern manufacturing facilities.
