Northland Community and Technical College (NCTC), in partnership with St. Cloud State, earned a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance education in geospatial information technology and unmanned aircraft systems.
St. Cloud State Interim President Ashish Vaidya and NTCT President Dennis Bona will hold an agreement-signing ceremony 2 p.m. Sept. 27 at the NCTC aerospace training center in Thief River Falls.
“This is another exciting example of how St. Cloud State is leveraging partnerships within the Minnesota State system to provide opportunities to all students,” Vaidya said. “There is some really great work happening in the Minnesota State system. We are thinking of innovative ways to work together every day.”NCTC’s project is titled “Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Geospatial Information Technology Integration into Technician Education.” It aligns with several priorities and developments in the unmanned aircraft and geospatial technology programs at NCTC.
“Amazing opportunities are created when industry and education become partners to advance a skilled workforce,” said Jonathan Beck, unmanned aircraft systems instructor and program manager at NCTC. “The NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) community fosters these partnerships, leading to engaging technical education. NCTC and St. Cloud State University, with the support of the NSF ATE community, are proud to be leading partners in the development of models incorporating these technologies into programs across Minnesota State.”
The three-year project will focus on developing new capabilities in Geographic Information Science at both institutions while creating educational pathways through dual credit enrollment and 2+2 articulation agreements for Northland students.
NCTC has the nation’s only accredited unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) maintenance program and first two-year Associate of Arts degree program in geospatial intelligence analysis.
“Receiving a grant from the NSF is significant as I’m certain that most people aren’t aware of how difficult it is to qualify for such an award,” said Bona. “This prestigious honor is a tremendous statement regarding the rigor of our curriculum, our capacity to research as well as the excellent preparation and qualifications of our faculty. We will be using the funds to complete specific work requested by government agencies in the aviation sector, which will also serve to further the knowledge of the industry as a whole.”
The NSF ATE grant will be used to continue forward on groundbreaking UAS innovations and create new educational opportunities for students, leading to a highly skilled GIT and UAS workforce.
