What it does
The Center for Manufacturing Workforce Development is a center based in the Business & Industry Outreach. Its focus is upskilling incumbent workers and building the pipeline into technical careers.
Inside the center
The center delivers customized instruction, short courses, and industry certifications on campus, online, and at employer sites, and runs precollege programs and camps that introduce middle- and high-school students to technical fields.
Who works there
Its people are a program staff plus adjunct instructors drawn from industry and campus faculty. Undergraduates are involved as paid research assistants, for course credit, or on capstone and practicum teams — applied research experience is a core part of the mission, not a side effect.
Partners
Recent and ongoing partners include a manufacturing consortium, workforce boards, and technical high schools across the region. Organizations interested in a project usually start through the Discovery Center or by contacting the center directly; student teams are matched by fit and timeline.
Connected programs
Students most often reach the center through this department, and through the courses those departments teach. See Research for the university's other centers and the undergraduate research program.
Getting involved as a student
There are three common routes in. The first is a paid research-assistant position, posted through the department and on the campus job board, usually 8–12 hours a week during the term. The second is course credit — an independent-study or research-methods registration tied to a specific project and a faculty supervisor. The third is a capstone or practicum team assigned to a partner problem the center is hosting.
No route assumes you already have research experience; the center expects to train students in its methods and tools. The best time to ask is the term before you want to start, so a project and a supervisor can be lined up.
Common questions
Can a company or agency bring a project? Yes. Most partner work starts through the Discovery Center, which scopes the problem, matches it to the center or a course team, handles the agreement and intellectual-property terms, and manages the schedule. A typical engagement runs one to two terms.
Is the work paid or published? Both happen. Student RAs are paid; partner deliverables belong to the partner under the agreement; and results that can be shared are sometimes presented at the undergraduate research symposium or a regional conference.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. This center, its people, its partners, and its facilities are invented; nothing here describes a real research unit.