The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation, started in 1932, recently awarded Nicholls a $99,000 grant to create a new degree program, a bachelor of science in Manufacturing Technology “Our society, although the foundation is based up in Detroit, actually covers all of North America. Our purpose is to support all types of manufacturing industries throughout North America,” Randy Maires, Director of SME Education Foundation, said.

Maires said it does not matter if it is aerospace in California, or shipbuilding in the South.

“Manufacturing is what drives this country’s economy, and it drives the world’s economy, and it needs to be supported around the country including the area around Nicholls,” he said.

Based on the funds available for the grant program, SME bases the amount of the grants on that figure, Maires said.

“Every year that varies from a low of a million dollars up to a million five or a million six each year. Then the size of each grant is determined on what we feel their needs really are,” he said.

Maires said the grants range from a low of $50,000 or $60,000 up to as much as $500,000 for each grant.

“This particular year it worked out that we gave out five major grants including Nicholls,” he said.

Funding for the grants come from the SME endowment, as well as support from industry partners such as Ford Motor Company and General Motors.

“We have an endowment of about $22 million that we use to support these kind of grant programs. Part of our endowment comes from members of SME, and there are about 50,000 throughout the world, most of whom are in America, and they help contribute to the endowment as well,” Maires said.

SME has about 50,000 members throughout the world, and the main goal of the SME Foundation is to support manufacturing education throughout North America.

“We do that through scholarships, grants and special awards,” Maires said.

SME offers about $300,000 in scholarships each year.

Nicholls was chosen through a process that began with written evaluations of a proposal that Dr. George Watt, director of Manufacturing Technology, sent in on Dec 7, 2000.

“We receive those proposals every December, and then we spend January and February conducting written evaluations, a minimum of three evaluations per proposal. We then come up with a list of finalists, usually around 10 to 12 finalists, out of all the applications that come in,” Maires said.

“From there we conduct site visits. We take a team of one staff person and at least one volunteer, and they will go and visit with each school that is a finalist. [We] meet with their industry partners, talk to their faculty and talk to the leaders of the institution and try to determine who is the most prepared to meet the needs of local manufacturers. Nicholls was selected this year.”

Nicholls, prior to receiving the grant, already had the manufacturing and technology grant approved by the regents.

“It was approved in April of 2000 and officially the program began June 1, 2000. So, the program was already an approved program,” Watt said.

Watt said it was then the department’s responsibility to find the funds required to buy equipment for labs.

“We will teach our regular program that we have scheduled, with a few adaptations. We basically teach the students a body of knowledge which the industries in this area want students to learn in order for them to hire them in the manufacturing environment here,” Watt said.

With the SME grant, Nicholls has industry partners, and the way that SME views the grant is that they are helping industry to get the kinds of workers and managers that they need, Watt said.

“It helps us meet the needs of industry,” he said.

Currently, Nicholls uses the aid of local LA Technical Colleges to support the program by providing lab instructors for courses like machining and welding. These Technical Colleges have expert people. So, Nicholls uses those instructors and facilities to teach the lab portions of the courses, Watt said.

The grant will provide funding for many things in the manufacturing department.

“We are in the process of buying almost $100,000 worth of equipment for our labs,” Watt said.

The University has provided some instructional technology funds in order to put together the new computer lab for the department, he said.

“The University is also doing renovations in the area. So, we have received considerable support from the University,” Watt said.

The main purpose for the grant is to meet the needs of local industries, by providing graduates that can be placed into manufacturing positions, he said.

“Several of our industry partners are anxiously awaiting the first graduates,” Watt said.

Industry partners such as Bollinger Shipyards Inc., Cameco Industries, Inc. and Gulf Stream Fabricators are just among the few that will benefit from this grant by receiving graduates who will be well prepared for the work force.

The new degree plan will provide the students a road map to attain a job at a local industry, and the renovations should be done within the next year, Watt said.

“This places Nicholls in an ideal position relative to the local industry because we are interacting with the local industry. We are providing the kinds of graduates that they want, and as the program grows there is potential for considerable publicity that can come to Nicholls,” Watt said.

“This is the first grant from SME in the state, so from that standpoint it is rather a good publicity item.”

Watt said Nicholls has a good program that is unique in a lot of ways, yet it is still able to meet the needs of any type of production companies.

Nicholls has to use the grant, according to what was stated in the proposal from Watt, in the way promised.

“Now, we will hold Nicholls accountable to do what they say because the grant is not paid up front all at once,” Maires said.

Nicholls will do some work, and then SME will pay them incrementally for the work that is done, he said.

Maires said it will only take about a year for them to pay out the entire grant to Nicholls, and sometime in 2002 SME will revisit to see how the new facilities are coming along.

“The fact that we have given Nicholls this grant, I think, should make the students realize and appreciate that the school is concerned about the future of its students and the future of the local economy,” Maires said.

“It is a pretty significant accomplishment that out of all the schools in the country, that Nicholls was chosen to receive one of the five grants.”