Contact: Leah Barbour
Photo by: Russ Houston
STARKVILLE, Miss.--As advanced manufacturing companies relocate, open or expand in Mississippi, industrial technology faculty members at Mississippi State are helping develop new approaches to train the next generation of skilled workers.
According to figures compiled by the university's instructional systems and workforce development department, nearly 80 percent of MSU industrial technology graduates are working in the Magnolia State. Also, more than 90 percent of program graduates are either employed or attending graduate school.
Associate professor John Wyatt and instructor Mickey Giordano recently shared their successful teaching techniques at an Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering national conference in St. Louis. The MSU faculty members were elected to the ATMAE board of directors, with Wyatt moving into a board consultant position and Giordano serving as the new student-division vice president.
In their conference presentations, Wyatt and Giordano described how MSU faculty evaluate automation studio software and its ability to expand teaching laboratory capabilities and facilities that help students complete virtual, hands-on assignments.
"Simulation software is getting to a point where it can be incorporated not only as a supplemental piece of teaching equipment but as a whole teaching facility," Wyatt said.
Because industrial technology courses are applied manufacturing lessons, Giordano said instructors traditionally require students to wire, machine or troubleshoot during their labs. As more students pursue their studies online, MSU industrial technology faculty have expanded teaching software to offer applied, hands-on work online.
The ATMAE conference drew nearly 500 university faculty and students from around the country. Because the organization is dedicated to education and employment in industrial technology and skilled manufacturing, Giordano and Wyatt regularly stress to students how they may benefit from participation in the organization's programs.
"It opens the students' eyes to see other people's work, to meet others from different universities and professionals from different parts of the country," Giordano said.
For more information on MSU's workforce development and instructional technology department, its industrial technology concentration and other emphasis areas, visit www.iswd.msstate.edu.
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