Students at Concord’s community college are doing some interesting things that might be of interest to local businesses and non-profits, and the school wants to make sure they know about it.
NHTI is opening what it calls its Innovation Lab on Friday, March 6, with a two-hour session at professors and instructors will show what their students and courses can do.
“We want the industry, particularly non-profits who need projects done for them, to know about our faculty and students,” said Gretchen Mullin-Sawicki, president of NHTI. “We can develop micro-projects that the students can work on for these companies – for free.”
This not only could help business and organizations but also helps students build a portfolio as they create their capstone projects needed for a degree in many majors. It also helps the college shape its curriculum.
“We want to match with industry needs,” said Mullin-Sawicki, pointing to such basic as making sure students learn with the software packages that are being used by businesses. “This can help address the skills gap that you hear about all the time.”
Between 15 and 20 companies or groups have signed up to be there, although last-minute arrivals are welcome.
The lab is broken into four areas: engineering, information technology and business administration, math and analytics, and animation and graphic programming.
The session runs from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday, March 6, in the library/learning commons.
Professors will be there to describe what their students can do. Groups can fill out “microproject interest forms” that will shape student projects beginning next fall.
For more information, call the school at 230-4001.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com.)
