Siemens today announced more than $1 billion worth of software grants for manufacturing programs at community colleges and universities in Virginia.
The in-kind grants will support the state’s largest industrial employer, Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, and other companies with local ties such as Rolls-Royce.
Siemens said the grants are part of workforce development collaboration among community colleges, universities and organizations like CCAM, the Virginia Manufacturers Association and the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SHVEC) – an organization that provides workforce training to the rural population.
Thomas Nelson Community College will receive $954.7 million. Siemens software will support training in manufacturing process analysis and lifecycle management.
New River Community College will get $64.3 million. Siemens’ software will be used in the school’s new the NRCC MakerSpace Lab.
Old Dominion University will get $746 million. The grant will help ODU expand the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) workforce training programming that provides direct benefits to the regional maritime industry, especially Newport News Shipbuilding and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Virginia Commonwealth University will receive $230.9 million. The School of Engineering is partnering with School of Business to develop a program in manufacturing and logistics.
Virginia State University will gain $105.6 million. The software will support six programs at VSU, an organizing member institution of CCAM.
ECPI University will receive $130.3 million as part of the grant. The Engineering Technology department will use this software to support hands on practical application and benefit industry through three programs.
The size of the grant to Southern Virginia Higher Education Center is $33 million. In addition to a $94 million in-kind software grant last fall, SVHEC is expanding its use of Siemens product lifecycle management (PLM) software to support digital manufacturing.
