AUBURN — Central Maine Community College hosted the 2014 Summer Workshop of the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers on June 11-13.

The NCATC is a network of higher education resources that advocates and promotes the use of technology applications that enhance economic and workforce development programs and services. Advanced Technology Centers are located in all regions of the United States and are usually associated with community colleges and universities.

Approximately 50 NCATC members from more than 12 states attended the workshop. The plenary session speaker was Dr. Karen Wosczyna, executive director of the Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing in Hartford, Conn.

Other speakers were Luke Livingston, founder, president and CEO of Baxter Brewing Co., and Rick Malinowski, HR manager at Proctor & Gamble in Auburn. Attendees toured the LL Bean boot and bag manufacturing plant in Brunswick, the Poland Spring bottling plant in Poland Spring and the Auburn Manufacturing facility in Auburn.

The workshop also included a number of breakout sessions, many of which were conducted by CMCC faculty members from the automotive, criminal justice, electromechanical and precision machining programs. Topics ranged from “After the Associate’s Degree: Ramping Up to Multi-Axis Machining” to “Dealer Trax: A Partnership that Launches Automotive Students into Career Paths.”

CMCC’s partnership with NCATC has provided the college with significant networking opportunities and collaborations. As a result, the college was successful in securing a grant from the Advanced Technological Education division of the National Science Foundation that led to the development of a “Virtual Ideation Platform” or VIP. Working with college partners in three New England states, CMCC developed online curriculum to enhance the skills of precision machining employees in the areas of 4- and 5-axis machining and other advanced skills.