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Mechatronics Teachers’ Workshop bolsters future workforce
Special to the State Gazette
Martin, Tennessee – The University of Tennessee at Martin hosted a workshop for teachers of mechatronics from around West Tennessee. Mechatronics is the study of mechanical, electrical, computer and controls engineering.
Dr. Ashley Owens, assistant professor of engineering, led the workshop, with sessions being held June 24-28 and July 15-19. While the workshop was primarily for high school teachers, some middle school teachers participated as well.
“The whole reason behind this workshop is to get teachers introduced to mechatronics and what their students may expect when they leave high school to go straight into an industry,” Owens said. “They also got an idea of what the students would find if they went to a TCAT (Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology) or what we would expect of them if they came to a four-year university like UT Martin.” Owens said that mechatronics deals with coding and robotics as well as automation in an assembly line.
BlueOval City, the sponsor of the workshop, is the home of the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center, which will produce Ford’s next-generation all-electric truck. The Ford campus is in southwestern Haywood County near Stanton.
“The big push, of course, is with BlueOval City coming in, they’re going to have several automated lines,” she said. “They will want teachers in the area familiar with their processes and what to expect so they can start preparing the students going into industry.”
A total of 14 teachers took part in the two workshop sessions, coming from schools in cities like Memphis, Jackson and South Fulton.
This was the second year for the workshop, which has gotten positive feedback from its participants.
“The teachers loved it,” Owens said of this year’s workshop. “They’ve actually asked if we could have a more in-depth class that went more into programming PLCs (programmable logic controllers), and they would like a second week of it.”
High school students who take mechatronics classes would likely gravitate to a number of courses at UT Martin like industrial robotics, industrial controls and hydraulics and pneumatics.
Some students may find careers straight out of high school.
“At the high school level, what they’re looking for is being the operators of the systems, Owens said. “If they left high school and went to TCAT, then they’re going to be maintenance or trouble-shooting individuals who work to correct the systems when they have faults.
“What we do at UT Martin is have students who would actually design the automated systems.”
Owens said she hoped to continue the mechatronics teachers’ workshops next summer, but that decision would not be made until next spring.