Cerritos College Hosts National Technology Showcase

National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers’ 18th Annual Conference Includes Demonstration Session at Cerritos College

Cerritos College officials, industry representatives, technical institutions and neighboring community colleges met October 4-7 to participate in the 18th Annual Conference of the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC) in Anaheim. A portion of the conference on Friday, October 6 consisted of a showcase reception at Cerritos College, one of the few local community colleges to feature a Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) on its campus.

“Our success in ensuring that students receive the finest in career preparation is through collaboration and support from industry,” explained Cerritos College President Dr. Noelia Vela as she welcomed conference attendees to the Cerritos College campus.

“It’s with an eye to the future that we seek to improve and strengthen our programs so that we can be a resource. Cerritos College supports collaboration and sharing of best practices because it helps companies in our community stay competitive and it allows our students to achieve their academic and vocational goals.”

Other participants in the four-day conference included overall conference host North Orange County Community College District, and numerous community colleges throughout the country. During Friday’s NCATC showcase, representatives from local institution participated in interactive demonstrations of technologies such as rapid prototyping (which involves building and testing technologies in a virtual environment), lasers and hydrogen energy.

Dr. Edward Chow, of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), provided the keynote address at Friday’s session, held in the Cerritos College Student Center. Dr. Chow discussed policy-based management technologies used by JPL’s Deep Space Network.

Cerritos College’s Director of Economic Development Jose Anaya was pleased at the knowledge-sharing opportunities afforded by the conference.

“We are very involved with NCATC and its annual conference because it’s a prime opportunity to network with other colleges and to find out what’s out there,” he said.

“Basically, we all have one goal, and that is to foster innovation and to stay current on emerging technologies and industries. Our successes in accomplishing this are shared both with our partners at other colleges and our industry supporters.”

In addition to offering advanced technology training in the automotive realm, Cerritos College also provides hands-on training to full-time students and current industry employees through its Center for Applied Competitive Technologies and through manufacturing technology courses. For more information, please visit www.cerritos.edu/cact.

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The Campus Connection Online, October 23, 2006