New AAC program hopes to attract new industries

The Alabama Aviation College announced a new program on Thursday, April 11, that will address local industry needs and could potentially bring new industry to the area.

The mechatronics program is being led by instructor Aubri Hanson, whose educational background includes degrees in physics. She also has 12 years of experience in engineering, specifically in automation. Her work experience includes NASA, and she has experience starting similar mechatronics programs in other areas.

“Mechatronics is a field that was created because the job market has changed so much that it’s no longer enough for somebody to just have a single skillset, being electrical or mechanical or computers,” Hanson said. “We need to have all of it, so that’s what mechatronics does. It combines mechanical engineering, electronics, computers… to meet the needs of industry.

“Students who come through this program will learn things like robotics, programming, electronics,” she said. “They’ll also learn how to set up a motor, how all of the mechanical side of it works. They will learn precision measurement, safety, quality, so soft skills will also be included.”

Hanson said students taking part in the mechatronics program can complete the two-year associate’s degree or receive industry or college credit certificates, which can be completed in two semesters.

“This program is going to be offered in a really unique fashion that we’re very excited about,” she said. “There will not be set course times. Students will have flexible scheduling throughout the week where they will come and take their classes and labs at a time that is convenient for them.

“That really helps meet the needs of our local industry because they’re in the business of production. They can’t stop production to send somebody to get training, so we’re going to help them by being flexible ourselves.”

Hanson said the mechatronics program has “a lot of crossover” with the aviation programs already being offered at AAC.

“We all need to know how to do precision measurement,” she said. “We all need to know how to communicate, keep track of data and communicate test results. They all need to know electronics, the basis of electronics. There is quite a bit of crossover.”

The program will be located in the Higham Building, which is undergoing renovations that are expected to be completed during the summer.

“Ultimately, this is the culmination of about 12 months’ worth of work,” Dean of Instruction Danny Long said. “Between now and the start of the program in August, this will truly be a state-of-the-art facility. We’ve got about $1 million worth of renovations that are going into the building itself, the infrastructure and the equipment that will be housed.”

He said the program is “unique” and will “have the ability to recruit additional companies and industries.”

“We are a community college,” he said. “We have a commitment to not only those current students, those current employees, but the future of our community. That’s what this program will accomplish.”

He said the school is working with several local school systems to introduce mechatronics basics in schools, creating a “steady pipeline” of students.

“Students will be able to articulate that education and those credits that they’ll learn in high school, which they’ll just seamlessly transfer into this program after starting next fall,” Long said.

Hanson said there is absolutely a need for mechatronics training in local workforce today.

“Nationwide, right now, there are half a million job openings for students who would come out of a program like this,” she said, stating there are potentially around 4,000 job openings in the Wiregrass and Florida Panhandle areas.

She said entry-level mechatronics jobs could offer a possible pay range, depending on the company or position, of $35,000 to $50,000. Possible careers, she said, could include working for municipalities to working for larger corporations like Disney.

Long said the hope for the program is that it be an “economic driver” for industry to come to the Wiregrass area.

“We think this campus can be that economic driver, so between the CDL program, our aviation maintenance program that has a long history of producing quality mechanics, our avionics program and then the newest piece of mechatronics, we’ll really see where, again, this will spur that economic development in the Wiregrass,” he said.