NFPA members consistently rank recruiting a skilled workforce as one of their companies' most challenging issues. This is likely because not enough schools teach hydraulics and pneumatics. As a result, NFPA seeks to increase the number of students educated in fluid power and to connect them to jobs in our industry. NFPA is looking for industry partners to help develop hands-on fluid power projects for schools. If you can assist with project development, curriculum design, or technical expertise, we need you.
As a part of our workforce development initiatives, we offer grants, scholarships, design/build competitions, and career exploration programs to support students and instructors in developing or enhancing the engineering educational experience involving fluid power from middle school up through higher education tracks.
Through these efforts, we receive feedback from educators in our network who have told us that they need industry-related projects for their high school and college-level students. We spent some time investigating and working to deliver on that request. We realized the fluid power training equipment cost often surpasses the budgets and building requirements available for high schools and early college students.
We’re also aware that students often struggle to see how the knowledge gained from their textbooks or lab work directly applies to careers in our industry. Understandably, “design engineer,” “sales engineer,” and “applications engineer” can be complex and varied based on the fluid power company and their markets served. So, we began asking our members to help provide concrete suggestions on the types of hands-on activities that would benefit students seeking knowledge and careers in our industry and provide examples of real-world applications. From there, we developed several project templates, launched a grant program, and published an RFP to encourage the project development. The attached projects are only 3 of a larger list of ideas, which you can view here.
Advanced: Arcade Racing Simulator
These concepts have been very well received by our educator partners and some college students involved with the Fluid Power Clubs, but we’re finding that they could use more support on how to approach the project. There is apprehension about the yet-to-be-determined costs, as well as the time required to complete it. In short, the educators want the projects, they just want them already canned. That is where we need your help in working with any local school to develop and pilot the full scope of the project by finalizing the BOM, lesson plans, and creating documented, tested curriculum.
Ideally, this would be done in a Fast Track region, but collaboration with any school would be greatly appreciated as long as NFPA can publish the documentation publicly for other schools to use. If that time commitment feels too steep for your company at this time, we could use technical expertise to help draw the schematics for these projects using already selected components. Each schematic would be shared, along with the attached project templates, to help guide students through building and completing the project. Either way, your contribution would make a significant impact on the success of these projects and students’ access to fluid power education.
Preference will be given to applicants whose final project is replicable and supports a lab class of about 10-15 students with the estimated cost of the final project to be less than $500 for high school and $2,000 per university class and those that show alignment with curriculum standards applicable at their school, or accrediting body. The grant award can be more than those limits to defray the costs of developing the lesson plans and testing the project. Project ideas have been identified and validated by industry so applicants would choose one of the existing NFPA project templates. Awards will be disbursed to educational institutions or eligible community organizations.
Here is a list of our Fast Track schools and Power Partner Universities:
If you have local connections to middle schools, high schools, or community organizations in any Fast Track hub region, please introduce us to the faculty there. Suppose your staff has children at these schools or knows people in the community, that could greatly help us advance towards our goals to increase the number of students educated in fluid power and to connect them to jobs in our industry. Schools seek industry connections from local employers to understand their perspectives and talent needs to shape their curriculum – your team or company name may be able to open the door for us.
To learn more or get involved, contact Stephanie at sscaccianoce@nfpa.com.