Clark State College has entered a memorandum of understanding with Infinity Labs. The college and defense technology firm will work together to train and education students for the STEM workforce.
The memorandum says the two entities agree “on the importance of regional workforce development, student professional development, and curriculum development to benefit the economic health of the state and nation.”
With this understanding, Clark State College and Infinity Labs will work to prepare students in modeling and simulation and cybersecurity — fields Infinity Labs focuses on.
Clark State said it plans to provide potential job opportunities with Infinity Labs for its trained students, benefiting both the students and current lab employees.
“We wanted to find ways that we could join forces to help fill their job needs and offer careers for our students,” Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, Clark State’s president, said. “But also how could we help them on the training side in preparing employees?”
The two entities will work together to find ways to fine tune current classes and education programs to best train students for the workforce. But current lab employees will soon also have the opportunity to go back to the classroom and brush up on their skills or to learn new skills.
Dr. Blondin said that these skills may not even be related to STEM. They could be anything that the employees may need – communication skills, general education — whatever will benefit the common good, she said.
“We’re really excited about those opportunities, as well as internships and co-ops for students who are in the fields of study that [Infinity Labs] needs,” Blondin said. “They’re also willing to take our students and train them up, too, for their business environment.”
Blondin said that by working on the educational and workplace opportunities for students and current employees, the whole region will benefit. Well trained individuals will be able to apply what they’ve learned right here in the Miami Valley.
She believes higher education should be about preparing students and offering lifelong learning opportunities for all.
“I’ve been a worker in higher education coming up on 30 years now, and I’ve never been more excited about the future of higher education,” Blondin said.
