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The state-of-the-art equipment will be used by the Seattle Advanced Manufacturing and Community Experiential Learning Lab, known as SEAMCELL, which will be constructed by Northeastern over the next year.
As part of a high-tech initiative that will support and enhance regional economic development, Northeastern University’s Seattle campus is acquiring advanced manufacturing equipment with the backing of $963,000 in federal funds.
The new lab will create a hub for education, research and community engagement that is focused on advanced manufacturing technologies, said Dave Thurman, dean and CEO of the Seattle campus.
“This hub aims to address a crucial need in the Seattle-area workforce — preparing skilled workers for this dynamic field of advanced manufacturing,” Thurman said Thursday at an event in Seattle to celebrate the lab.
Thurman said the new lab will integrate a variety of technologies, including automation, robotics, advanced materials, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and the Wireless Internet of Things.
Thurman hosted the event to personally thank U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), who championed the Community Project Funding request.
Jayapal told the audience that the lab exemplifies Northeastern’s commitment to expanding investment of STEM research opportunities and workforce development for in-demand fields.
“We have a workforce skills gap in many of these areas, and that is really what we’re trying to address in Congress — and certainly with this funding — to ensure that students are able to find good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and be trained with the skills that allow them to move into that right away,” said Jayapal, whose congressional district includes most of Seattle. “One of the best things I get to do as a member of Congress is bring money home to really critical projects that wouldn’t otherwise perhaps get federal funding.”
The new lab, said Jayapal, “will help support the research and technical workshop applications for students but also for local organizations and businesses.”
Jayapal added that SEAMCELL will help cultivate opportunities for Northeastern students as well as for students from surrounding high schools and community colleges.
“We need folks like you — students, faculty, industry partners, community organizations who are actively striving to make Seattle and its technological landscape progress,” Jayapal said. “And so it’s a great pleasure to be your partner in making those dreams a reality.
“The additive manufacturing equipment is going to benefit both students and researchers and create opportunities for local businesses and organizations to engage in what I hope will be very innovative and also collaborative projects that bring many different parts of our community together.
“It positions Seattle as a hub for advanced manufacturing and technological innovation. I’m proud to be a part of a community that values all of these different components of education — of innovation, of progress. And this lab is a major step, I think, towards the vision of a vibrant and inclusive city where opportunities for learning and growth are available to all people.”
The new facility will feature 3D printers, laser cutters and engravers, programmable robots and robotic manipulators, an autonomous vehicle research platform and other innovative equipment, said Thurman. It will function simultaneously as a teaching lab for Northeastern graduate programs, a demonstration space for community education programs and a maker space, he added.
“This hands-on experiential learning space will help students and community members in these industries of importance develop and apply these technologies in fields like aerospace, maritime and biomedical manufacturing,” Thurman said.
“Through the experiential learning that is facilitated through SEAMCELL and in partnership with community colleges and nonprofit organizations, it’s our intent to cultivate a pipeline of talent that is ready to adapt and implement these technologies for the benefit of the Puget Sound region and the world,” he added.