NMCC precision metal students to receive scholarship funds

    PRESQUE ISLE – The only certified Haas Technical Education Center (HTEC) for precision metals manufacturing/machine tool technology in Maine and one of only two in New England, located on the Northern Maine Community College campus in Presque Isle, has received a $15,000 grant from the Gene Haas Foundation to award scholarship funds in each of the next three years.     Students enrolled or enrolling in either the precision metals manufacturing associate degree program or certificate level machine tool technology offering are eligible to apply for the funds. College officials were recently notified of the grant funding by Peter Zierhut of the Gene Haas Foundation.
    “The support we continue to receive from HAAS Automation, Inc. (Oxnard, Calif.), and their New England distributor Trident Machine Tools, LLC (Windsor, Conn.) is unprecedented. Like NMCC, HAAS is committed to training the future workforce, as well as making this training accessible to all,” said Dean Duplessis, NMCC precision metals manufacturing instructor.
    The Gene Haas Foundation was established by the founder of Haas Automation, Inc., the largest computer numerical control (CNC) machine tool builder in the world. Haas manufactures a full line of CNC vertical and horizontal machining centers, CNC lathes, rotary tables and other state-of-the-art machines.
    The NMCC precision metals lab houses a number of pieces of Haas equipment, and has been reviewed by the company and approved as one of only 60 colleges, universities and technology centers in the country to earn designation as an official Haas educational site for machinists.
    “If you’re going to train the future workforce, it must be done with modern equipment and best practices. Our students are future CAM programmers, quality assurance personnel, machine operators, machinists, mechanical engineers and manufacturing engineers; they must have access to same technology their future employers currently use,” said Duplessis. “Our designation as HTEC guarantees students will have access to the latest technology in machine tools and training second-to-none.”
    Haas is headquartered in a 1 million-square-foot facility in Oxnard, Calif. and employs more than 1,000 people. To date, the company has sold more than 53,000 rotary products and 72,000 CNC machines. The company ships more CNC machines than any other manufacturer in the world.
    The scholarship grant will provide assistance to as many as 30 students over the next three-year period. Both entering and returning students will be eligible for the award.
    As part of the Haas grant, NMCC officials are responsible for ensuring that the process of awarding the scholarships is open and equitable toward all potential students in the machine tool technology and precision metal manufacturing programs.