By Matthew Sotlar / The Jambar
Youngstown State University professor Robert Korenic was the recipient of a $100,000 grant from the Howmet Aerospace Foundation, part of the Warren-based Howmet Industries.
Korenic, who is also the program coordinator for the Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Technology program, and the associate director of the School of Computer Science, Information and Engineering Technology, said the Howmet Aerospace Foundation focuses on supplying equipment to STEM colleges.
“This summer, we met with Howmet Industries … They have a foundation called Howmet Aerospace Foundation that funds technology-based items that universities can use or other entities could use if they’re training people with an on-demand skill set,” Korenic said.
Korenic said the grant money will be used to update and supply new machinery within the college.
“The purpose of them giving us the money is so we can update our machinery here,” Korenic said. “For the purpose of training people who could work in the aerospace industry, but not totally that, just technically advanced students coming out of YSU.”
Jason Zapka, professor and Electrical Engineering Technology Program coordinator, also contributed to the grant application. Zapka said he sought out areas within STEM programs that the grant money could help benefit.
“Primary areas that we identified were some needs that we had that would fill in with a company like Howmet and the employees that they may need,” Zapka said. “We looked in industrial automation, that’s the focus of our EET program here, and we already had some ideas of equipment that we would have liked in the first place.”
Zapka said the grant will also help fund the college’s programmable logic controller equipment, which is used in many areas of manufacturing.
“We are looking to expand our programmable logic controllers,” Zapka said. “We have a course that we offer in our sophomore year, but we wanted to do more advanced topics in there as you get into industry and different environments.”
Korenic said the need for updated equipment also came to meet the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology’s standards in the YSU Engineering Technology program.
“We’re an ABET-accredited institution, so part of our charge through them is we have to have the most updated things for our students to study and use in labs to keep them current,” Korenic said. “When we had the opportunity with Howmet, this was a perfect opportunity because they’re an industry partner of ours.”
While Zapka and Korenic have applied for numerous grants, Zapka noted that some STEM-based grants can be challenging to obtain.
“You could apply to a lot of grants, but they’re very hard to get, and it’s very selective, so I think right now, we’re kind of just focused on using the funds for this one, and doing the best we can do to set up the laboratory in the form of fashion that helps the students,” Zapka said.
