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February
24,
2006
DH 06 RH10
Contact: Russ Hudson,
Media Relations Coordinator
(310) 243-2455/2001
rhudson@csudh.edu
CSUDH Authors Grant that Can Save Money, Waste on
Military
Aircraft
Carson, CA— A $130,000
grant has been won from Boeing Company’s
Boeing Army Systems by a consortium of minority-serving California
State University campuses and community colleges to upgrade
machinists’ skills with computer-run machines. The
same grant will provide hands-on industry experience for
students and faculty.
The grant was co-authored by Mohsen
Beheshti, chair and professor, Computer
Science, and Clementine Sessoms, director
of development, College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences,
both at CSUDH. The program will be based on the CSUDH campus,
but additional locations for classes and training will be
determined. Others in the consortium—called the Western
States Minority Serving Institutions Research, Technology,
and Training Consortium (MSIRTTC)—include the CSU Fullerton
and Los Angeles campuses, and the Compton and Coastline community
colleges.
The primary goal of the program to provide technology training
for the employees of Pacific Contours Aerospace Machining
and Assembly. Pacific Contours is a two-generation family-owned
business whose products, such as titanium parts for Boeing’s
C-17 aircraft and its Joint Strike Fighter, are in high demand
in the aerospace industry. While the machining trade has
historically been comprised of skills handed down largely
from expert to apprentice, the new computer technology in
the machining industry has necessitated an upgrade in skills
for even the most accomplished machinists.
“Having machinists is a necessity,” says Beheshti. “There
aren’t that many anymore. Because this [Pacific Contours]
manufacturing is an Army-related activity, it has to be done
in the United States, so you can’t outsource the work.”
Adds Sessoms, “One little mistake can make a whole
batch useless. And you can’t recycle the materials.
That’s why this is so important.”
Mistakes on some of the fighter-jet parts can be very costly,
Beheshti says: “One wrong adjustment can cost up to
$18,000.”
A Technology Based Machining (TBM) Certificate can be earned
by taking seven courses with curriculum developed by faculty
members from the members of the consortium. The first TBM
certificates could be awarded as early as spring 2007 by
CSUDH. The courses, which include information management;
security, safety and quality assurance; and machine programming,
will be offered to students as well as to Pacific Contours
employees. A summer internship for students will provide
opportunities such as computer training of Pacific Contours
employees and revamping the company’s Website.
According to Sessoms, the chance for CSU and community college
students to get their first taste of the industrial environment
would introduce career options that they hadn’t considered
before.
“Students will have an undergraduate degree and exposure
to what machinists know,” she says, “and these
workers are in high demand. The salaries are great in that
area, and the opportunities are wide open.”
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University Communications & Public Affairs
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