Bethel University receives LIFT grant

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Bethel University is the recipient of a grant designed to provide educational opportunities related to science, technology, engineering and math. The university has received a $255,000 Labs for Industry Futures and Transformation grant, which will support future talent pipeline development and adult and incumbent digital skills retraining.

The university says the goals will be to better prepare current Bethel students as technical managers for manufacturing jobs in the South Bend-Elkhart region.

“Local industry indicated their greatest need is for graduates to understand how to solve problems and apply Lean Manufacturing concepts,” says Sheri Campeau, assistant professor of engineering at Bethel. “We will purchase two robots, with a goal of adding more in the future, and create two new classes for the Engineering & Management degree. The engineering lab will also be refreshed, allowing more flexibility and the chance to eventually offer classes to local industry.”

Bethel University computer science professor Cathy Bareiss says the second goal is to increase the cloud computing skill set of the region’s current workforce.

“With computing work being transitioned to the cloud, this grant provides us with a great opportunity to develop cloud information technology workers in the local area. It also serves to help develop cloud computing as a main pillar in Bethel’s computing programs,” said Bareiss.