MARTINSVILLE (WSLS 10) - The open house at the New College Institute Monday was basically an effort to reintroduce the community, especially businesses in Martinsville and Henry County, to the New College Institute's advanced manufacturing lab and all of the equipment in it.
The lab has 12 different machines and a metrology lab, but because of the current small number of programs offered through the advanced manufacturing lab not many people are aware of all 12 machines or the metrology lab.
Currently, the NCI only runs the lab's academic coater. It is run because of the NCI's partnership with Patrick Henry Community College.
Students take the classroom portion of the program at PHCC and then come to the NCI for the hands-on portion of the program and then they do an internship with Eastman Chemical Company.
"We didn't have a real plan, or program, for our CNC machine and our metrology lab," said NCI Advanced Manufacturing Coordinator Pamela Carter-Taylor. "We wanted to let everyone know that we have more than just the academic coater here."
Taylor says she believes Monday's effort to raise awareness about the machines and the metrology lab was successful, as several hundred people stopped by during the open house.
She says the lab is a critical part of both sustaining and growing the economy in Martinsville and Henry County in the future.
But, perhaps most importantly what came out of Monday was people starting to talk about the next step.
"We would like to do seminars, maybe lunch and learns, to introduce some of the training possibilities. We also would like to do some introductory courses; some not-for-credit courses," Taylor explained.
Ideally, the not-for-credit courses would act as a pathway fro students to transfer to accredited program at a larger institution.
For more information about advanced manufacturing at the NCI, contact Taylor at ptaylor@newcollegeinstitute.org or at (276) 403-5689.