KCTCS initiatives gain national recognition for innovative workforce solutions
Three Kentucky Community and Technical College System initiatives are gaining national recognition for developing innovative approaches to some of the country’s most pressing workforce challenges.
Featured in the national ATE (Advanced Technological Education) Impacts publication, AMTEC Institute for Industry 4.0 Innovation in Owensboro, NSF ATE Start Smart in Maysville, and GeoTech in Louisville demonstrate how KCTCS colleges are bringing educators, employers and communities together to create workforce preparation models that begin in Kentucky and have national impact for science and technology careers.
Based at Owensboro Community and Technical College, AMTEC is extending KCTCS’s impact far beyond Kentucky by helping educators across the country prepare students for automation, robotics, connected equipment and smart manufacturing careers. To date, the program has served 92 educators and 183 instructors representing more than 150 schools, organizations and administrations across 36 states. The program is designed for immediate classroom application, and nearly 95% of participant responses showed increased Industry 4.0 knowledge.
“AMTEC’s Owensboro presence is creating a national hub for educators and manufacturers to network, access resources, and improve advanced manufacturing education across the nation,” said Cadie Underwood, project manager for AMTEC.
What makes the program unique is its “train the trainer” program which offers workforce development opportunities for educators from high school to university settings who are training the next generation of manufacturing maintenance technicians. The training introduces educators to current Industry 4.0 technologies and competencies, including electrical controls, safety relays, variable frequency drives, human-machine interfaces, conveyors, robotics, programmable logic controllers, digital twins, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance, the Industrial Internet of Things, big data and analytics, systems integration and tracking systems.
“Continued national recognition supports the AMTEC mission to create and sustain an innovative, responsive and standards-based workforce development system that meets the advanced manufacturing industries skill requirements,” said Underwood. “As a national network, this recognition is not only an honor but is spreading the great message to help educators expand their network and access the resources they need to share the latest employment skills with their students.”
At Maysville Community and Technical College, the NSF ATE Start Smart initiative was created for rural communities where students didn’t have access to aviation careers. With support from the FAA Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program and Perkins funding to expand equipment, instructional capacity, outreach and workforce partnerships, more than 550 ninth-grade students have participated in aviation career exploration. Since its inception, 84% of students reported increased knowledge of aviation maintenance careers, 60% reported greater confidence in pursuing an aviation career pathway, and 88% indicated the experience provided valuable career insight.
While the initiative has strengthened MCTC's Aviation Maintenance Technology pathway, its broader impact is demonstrating how relationship-centered recruitment and community collaboration can transform educational pathways in rural communities.
“This isn't the success of one college or one grant, it's the result of educators, employers, airports, workforce organizations, and community leaders working together to create opportunities for students,” said Shana Savard-Hogge, associate director of grants.
Start Smart was designed to show students how to apply real-world concepts in an immersive setting where they could connect STEM concepts to aircraft systems, maintenance practices and careers. Beyond the classroom, local Experimental Aircraft Association chapters, regional airports, aviation employers, and community organizations provide mentorship, career exploration opportunities, airport experiences, and community outreach that expand learning far beyond what a traditional educational model offers.
“What began as an effort to strengthen one aviation program has become an example of how research-informed, relationship-centered recruitment can support student success while building sustainable workforce pathways in rural communities,” said Savard-Hogge. “I'm especially proud that a project developed in rural Kentucky is being recognized as a national model. It demonstrates that innovation doesn't have to come from large metropolitan areas. Rural communities have unique strengths, and when we build strong partnerships around those strengths, we can create workforce solutions with national relevance.”
The GeoTech Center, housed at Jefferson Community and Technical College, equips educators with the curriculum, competencies and resources needed to prepare students for careers using geospatial technology which includes mapping and location-based information, UAS/aerial and satellite data, emergency response and missing-person searches, property and land assessment, wildlife and environmental management and wildfire tracking.
The need for those skills extends far beyond the classroom as Kentucky’s infrastructure, public safety and environmental needs increasingly depend on professionals who can collect, interpret and apply geospatial data.
Kentucky maintains more than 9,000 bridges and 63,000 lane-miles of pavement, creating an ongoing need for the surveying, mapping, engineering and geospatial expertise required to plan, build and maintain the Commonwealth’s infrastructure. Employment of surveying and mapping technicians is projected to grow 5% through 2034, with approximately 7,600 job openings expected each year nationwide.
“What we’re doing is teaching the teachers what they need to know in geospatial technology so that they can then teach the students,” said Vince DiNoto, director of the GeoTech Center.
Since it began, the center has developed national standards for geospatial technology that have been accepted by the U.S. Department of Labor. The standards are updated every two to three years using input from workforce professionals. GeoTech also incorporates emerging technologies such as GeoAI and Python-based automation, preparing educators and students to use artificial intelligence as a tool for analyzing and processing geospatial information.
“As long as the tool is used properly, AI is very important for the subject area,” said DiNoto. “It can automate processes that once required numerous individual steps and produce information in a matter of seconds.”
Meeting workforce demand starts in the classroom, making it increasingly important to equip educators with the technical knowledge, hands-on experience and industry-relevant skills they need to prepare the next generation of students for these high-demand careers. That is exactly the role GeoTech Center is filling by providing educators with the training and resources they need to prepare the next generation of Kentucky’s workforce.
Together, AMTEC Industry 4.0, NSF ATE Start Smart and GeoTech demonstrate how KCTCS is responding to workforce transformation and giving students hands-on experience with emerging technologies while helping Kentucky employers build the highly skilled talent pipelines they need for the future.
“Preparing Kentucky’s workforce means ensuring our students are learning the skills employers need today while also preparing them for the technologies that will shape tomorrow,” said KCTCS President Ryan Quarles. “Through initiatives like AMTEC’s Industry 4.0 training, NSF ATE Start Smart and GeoTech, we are bringing education and industry together to create clear pathways into high-demand careers. Together, we’re strengthening Kentucky’s talent pipeline, supporting employers and giving students the opportunity to build rewarding careers in the Commonwealth.”
