Linn-Benton Community College

There’s still time to register for free Summer Career Academies for high school students at Linn-Benton Community College. High school students age 15 and up can get hands-on experience in computer aided design and drafting, machine tool computer numerical control and design, mechatronics robotics and micro-controllers, and welding. Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) runs June 26-28 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Students learn 3D modeling and design using SolidWorks software. Machine Tool runs June 27-29 from 9 a.m. to Noon. Students learn to us computer numeric control technology to design and create a project. Mechatronics Technician runs June 27-29 from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Students learn to build an Arduino-controlled smart car. Students who attend all three days get to take their car home. Welding runs June 27-29, with two sessions offered: 9 a.m.-Noon or 12:30-3:30 p.m. each day. Students get a hands-on introduction to welding techniques. These free academies are held in the I...

The first "Think It! Make It!" camp was held at LBCC June 27-30, providing a hands-on learning experience for about 24 local middle school students who learned how to design and build a product from start to finish. Organized by the Pipeline to Jobs project and taught by LBCC instructors, the camp gave students a hands-on taste of LBCC industrial programs in computer aided design and drafting (CADD), welding , mechatronics and machine tool , where they learned the operation of various manufacturing machinery under the close supervision of college instructors and trainers. Students also toured local manufacturing facilities to learn about the different jobs, what skills and training are required, and how those businesses developed. The companies shared how the business started, applying basic entrepreneurship principles to understand how a single product idea becomes a business. The Pipeline project is a local education and business partnership with the Albany Ch...

The National Science Foundation awarded Linn-Benton Community College’s Mechatronics program with an Advanced Technological Education grant worth $790,000 over a three-year period. NSF awarded the grant to LBCC for its proposed project titled “The Technician of the Future: Mechatronics as a Statewide Transferable Skill Set Supporting Green Industry.” LBCC’s Technician of the Future project will focus on rapidly responding to industry needs for broadly trained technicians for emerging technologies, and will provide career pathways for secondary schools and two-year colleges. The NSF ATE grant will help LBCC expand its capacity to deliver an integrated curriculum that incorporates the principles of sustainable energy production with support in curriculum development and professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers, and support of career pathways to two-year colleges from secondary schools and from two-year colleges to four-year institutions and into the workf...