Terra State awarded RAPIDS grant for new programmable logic controller lab equipment
Terra State Community College has received a Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills (RAPIDS) grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education. The goal of RAPIDS grant is to develop strong education and training facilities for workforce demand fields.
The grant was submitted by the Northwest Ohio Regional Training Hub (NORTH) consortium of educational partners, including Bowling Green State University, Northwest State Community College, Rhodes State College, University of Toledo, Defiance College, Ohio Northern University, Tiffin University, Four County Career Center, and Terra State Community College.
Funds for the grant total to $975,000 and Terra State was awarded $128,400 of the total. The awarded grant money was used to purchase 12 Allen-Bradley Compact Logix training workstations for programmable logic controller (PLC) and electricity students.
The training workstations are portable, allowing instructors to transport them around campus or to off-site locations for manufacturing training.
“The CompactLogix workstations will enhance the Terra State credit and non-credit PLC courses that are in high demand by our manufacturing partners. Also, due to the portability of the CompactLogix trainers we will be able offer training not only on our campus but at employer locations in our community,” said Andrew Shella, dean of the skilled trades division.