HCS Partners with Auburn University to Provide Real-World Experience for Students

Huntsville City Schools has become the first K-12 school district in the nation to partner with Auburn University’s National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME) alongside the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Command (AMRDEC) to further education and workforce development in the field of additive manufacturing.  The partnership will directly benefit students by providing real-world engineering experiences that will carry from high school through graduate-level training.

A signing ceremony was held today at Jemison High School, the site of one of two EOS M290 metal 3-D printers owned by Huntsville City Schools.  The second printer is located at Grissom High School.  The collaboration with Auburn will allow HCS students and faculty to receive training from NCAME researchers on these machines.

“I am excited that our students will have new opportunities for their future.  Huntsville City Schools is dedicated to providing the best educational opportunities anywhere, and our career academies are just one example of that commitment,” said Superintendent of Huntsville City Schools Christie Finley.  “We look forward to the opportunity for our students to work on real-world projects with industry leaders and participate in collaborative research activities.”

Auburn University has a rich history of additive manufacturing research and development and was recently selected by ASTM International as one of the founding partners for a new Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence.  In conjunction with NASA, the Auburn center was created to advance fundamental and applied additive manufacturing research through public and private partnerships and to contribute to workforce development.

“This partnership is a major educational milestone for NCAME in its effort to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers in this field,” said Nima Shamsaei, director of Auburn’s National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence.  “To become proficient in additive manufacturing, we not only need to learn the processes, but also to think and design differently – additively rather than subtractively.  We want students from a very early stage, as early as high school or even middle school, to think differently and learn to design for additive.”

The partnership with NCAME and AMRDEC will continue to encourage student interest in STEM disciplines at Huntsville City Schools and help to provide a strong base to enhance the caliber and pool of talented graduates.