WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Five students in manufacturing-related majors are the beneficiaries of a $20,000 grant from the Gene Haas Foundation to the Pennsylvania College of Technology.
The foundation, established in 1999 by the owner of Haas Automation Inc., furnishes scholarship grants to institutions that provide education and training in CNC (computer-numeric controlled) machining.
Penn College selected five students to receive scholarships of $4,000 for the 2016-17 academic year. Requirements were full-time enrollment in one of the college’s four automated manufacturing and machining majors, and demonstrated financial need.
The recipients are Trevor M. Clouser, a manufacturing engineering technology student from Millmont; Joseph A. Eirmann, a machine tool technology student from Bellefonte; Matthew R. Swartz, a manufacturing engineering technology student from West Hartford, Connecticut; Cole R. Yost, a manufacturing engineering technology student from Sugarloaf; and Hunter M. Zill, an automated manufacturing technology student from Hanover.
The 2016-17 scholarship grant is the third Penn College has received from the Gene Haas Foundation.
“The Gene Haas Foundation chooses the schools we award scholarship grants to based on many criteria that reflect the needs of the manufacturing industry, both now and in the future,” said Kathy Looman, foundation administrator for the Gene Haas Foundation. “Pennsylvania College of Technology is an excellent program that embodies those standards and that we are very proud to partner with.”
“The Gene Haas Foundation is a valued partner of Penn College. Support like these scholarships helps our students to pursue successful careers in manufacturing,” said Elizabeth A. Biddle, Penn College director of corporate relations. “We appreciate the continued partnership with the foundation.”
Haas Automation is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. It has grown, since its founding in 1983, to a billion-dollar company. “This extraordinary growth has all come in an era when Americans were being told that the United States doesn’t manufacture anything anymore,” the foundation’s website notes.
Gene Haas’ commitment to the importance of U.S. manufacturing has incited him to grow the foundation and direct its board to focus on manufacturing education in the form of scholarships for CNC machinist training.
Penn College’s automated manufacturing and machining offerings comprise a machinist general certificate, an associate degree in automated manufacturing technology, an associate degree in machine tool technology, and a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering technology.
To learn more about these majors, call 570-327-4520 or visit www.pct.edu/automated.
For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education and workforce development, visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call toll-free 800-367-9222.