Page 96 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 79

Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Focus: HOPE. The impetus
for the Greenfield Coalition project was a sense that most academic
studies in manufacturing engineering did not include real manufactur-
ing experiences (Falkenburg and Harkin, 2002). The idea for the coali-
tion was initiated by Focus: HOPE, a human and civil rights organiza-
tion in Detroit, Michigan.
Focus: HOPE supports a network of programs that support its edu-
cational objectives. Founded in 1968 after the urban riots in Detroit,
Focus: HOPE “pledges intelligent and practical action to overcome rac-
ism, poverty and injustice”—to make a difference in the city and sub-
urbs. The organization began by providing food for needy people who
were undernourished (women with children and then senior citizens)
but quickly added programs to give inner-city youth an opportunity to
acquire the knowledge they need to take advantage of highly skilled,
good-paying jobs.
Today, an individual may enroll in First Step or Fast Track, four-
and seven-week programs that use computer-based learning to build
fundamental skills in mathematics and English. Students who graduate
from Fast Track have skills certified at the ninth-grade and tenth-grade
levels in reading and math, the prerequisite skills for entering the Ma-
chinist Training Institute (MTI). MTI is a 31-week program in which
students earn certification in the operation of material-processing equip-
ment (machining), metrology, computer-aided design, computer nu-
merical control, and associated math, computer, and communication
skills.
Greenfield provides an opportunity for graduates of MTI to cap
their practical experience with courses that could lead to advanced uni-
versity degrees. Students who qualify after completing MTI’s basic ma-
chining program can enter a 24-week preengineering program. After a
series of diagnostic tests and interviews, they can then become candi-
dates in the Center for Advanced Technologies—Focus: HOPE’s manu-
facturing facility, a not-for-profit entity and a first-tier supplier of manu-
factured components and systems to Ford, General Motors,
DaimlerChrysler, Detroit Diesel, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Candidates are employed by Focus: HOPE and work in a broad range
of manufacturing, production, and support activities. This employment
not only provides financial support, but, more important, it provides a
real-world laboratory that supports learning.
The partners of the Greenfield Coalition saw Focus: HOPE as an

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