By Kevin Wheatley for WDRB.com
Sundar Atre, endowed chair of manufacturing and materials at the University of Louisville, hopes to develop a pipeline of advanced manufacturing talent at the Academy @ Shawnee through a new pilot program set to launch soon.
The program, made possible by a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, will connect Shawnee students interested in advanced manufacturing with equipment and the university’s expertise in the field, he said Monday. That includes new 3D printers at Shawnee and learning space at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage.
The university already has funding ready after winning the grant in August, and Atre says he hopes to start getting students into the program as early as this summer.
“The location of that might have to get defined, but we have the resources to get Shawnee school kids engaged with our program and take that forward right away,” he told WDRB News.