The BOOST project (Building Opportunities for Outstanding Skills Training in Advanced Manufacturing for Southeastern Two-Year Colleges) addresses the urgent need for a skilled workforce in advanced manufacturing within the Southeastern United States. This project is a collaborative effort between Tidewater Community College (TCC) (Virginia), Northeast State Community College (NeSCC) (Tennessee), and Spartanburg Community College (SCC) (South Carolina). The project goal is to create and sustain a thriving innovation ecosystem by fostering collaborative partnerships between academia and public and private sectors to support the regional growth of advanced manufacturing.
By enhancing the capacity of these three institutions to provide nimble education and training systems, BOOST will prepare students for careers in advanced manufacturing, thereby maintaining U.S. competitiveness in a global economy, fostering innovation, and providing education and training that keep pace with industry advancements. BOOST will address the shortage of skilled workers in advanced manufacturing through a comprehensive approach involving institutional and cohort-level activities. The project will build institutional connections between two-year colleges and the advanced manufacturing industry by organizing partnership convening events, revitalizing industry advisory board engagement using Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) or similar models and providing professional development for faculty and staff. Dedicated staff will be employed to focus on partnership development, and processes and programming will be optimized by creating toolkits, models, and resources for best practices to be shared broadly for implementation at other institutions and with other industries.
These activities will enhance and sustain partnerships, enabling colleges to respond effectively to workforce needs and participate actively in innovation ecosystems. The collaborative efforts will be tailored to serve the student populations across the partner institutions, ensuring broad and inclusive participation in the advanced manufacturing sector. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Northeast State Community College
Northeast State Community College seeks to leverage the NSF EPIIC award to build institutional capacity to cultivate and sustain meaningful industry and community partnerships in support of the advanced manufacturing sector. The award will enable NeSCC to modify institutional processes and structures to improve coordination with external partners and increase alignment between College programs and advanced manufacturing workforce needs. EPIIC-supported strategies, including the adoption of a customer relationship management platform and redesign of curriculum advisory boards, are expected to result in increased responsiveness to industry needs and enable the College to become more fully engaged in the regional innovation ecosystem.
Spartanburg Community College
Spartanburg Community College (SCC) will utilize the NSF-EPIIC award to cultivate, grow, and sustain relationships with business and industry leaders in the regional advanced manufacturing industry. Project activities include hiring a Director of Manufacturing Partnerships to build and sustain industry relationships, implementing professional development for faculty and staff related to strengthening industry partnerships, and integrating data from credit and noncredit programming into data systems and dashboards. As a result of the BOOST project, SCC will develop relationships with manufacturing partners, gather competitive intelligence to analyze industry workforce development needs, and develop data-informed solutions, including the implementation of new and enhanced credit and noncredit programs that align with industry workforce needs.
Tidewater Community College
NSF funding will allow the college to hire an Employer Engagement Specialist to strengthen and grow industry partnerships within our regional Advanced Manufacturing ecosystem and create professional development seminars for faculty on building effective partnerships. Additionally, the college will develop resources to more effectively engage employer partners in regular discussions about industry needs, guide industry partnerships, and explore registered apprenticeship programs. These initiatives align with TCC's strategic goals to enhance community partnerships and workforce development, ultimately increasing student enrollment and the number of credentialed workers in the region.
