Daytona State College has officially launched Florida’s first chapter of the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), a collaborative effort between the college and local manufacturers designed to match students in the AS Engineering Technology program with job opportunities in the community.

A group of nine students who make up the first cohort were paired with sponsoring employers and will work with their respective companies full-time until classes begin on August 23. The students will then attend college two days a week and work three at their sponsoring company with at least 24 hours per week on the job.

Companies currently working with Daytona State through the FAME program are:

ABB

B. Braun

Boston Whaler

Dougherty Manufacturing

Dynamic Engineering Innovations

Everglades Boats

Germfree

Hudson Technologies

Pentair

SCCY Firearms

Sparton

The purpose of FAME is to implement work-based learning education that will create a pipeline of the most highly skilled new workers. It currently has 36 chapters in 14 states, nearly all of them in conjunction with college associate degree programs.

Daytona State is using its AS degree in Engineering Technology, Mechatronics specialization, as the academic home of the FAME program. Industry experts provided input into course selection and sequencing to customize this degree for the workplace. The curriculum focuses on professional behavior and lean manufacturing principles following the Toyota model of the original FAME chapters. Graduates will earn their AS degree in two years with approximately 1,800 hours of paid on-the-job training with their sponsoring company. For more information, visit http://www.daytonastate.edu/FAME/.