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Faculty Tour Redstone Arsenal and
HudsonAlpha
Northeast Alabama Community College faculty recently toured
Redstone Arsenal and HudsonAlpha in Huntsville and gained new
perspectives on high-demand careers and information to encourage
students to obtain job skills in those careers. Sharee Miller of
the U. S. Army Garrison conducted the tour of Redstone which
included a bus trip through the 38,000 acre Arsenal that has
over 12 million square feet of building space with its own fire
department, police, public works, parks and other amenities that
makes it a city in itself. Currently, there are 32,000 employees
who work on Redstone and there will be over 36,000 when the Base
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative is complete.
The 27 NACC faculty members learned that many jobs will be with
government contractors and will include machining and welding.
Dr. Joe Burke, Vice President/Dean of Instruction and organizer
of this professional development event, stated that “Northeast
is well-positioned to train and educate students for these jobs
with our Industrial Systems Technology program beginning this
fall semester.” Department of Defense (DoD) civilian occupations
include Logistics Management, Administrative, Management, Budget
Analysts, Engineering and Architecture. Burke continued, “We
also offer the first two years of a four-year degree that these
Department of Defense occupations require.”
Greg Millican, Chair of the Division of Mathematics, found it
interesting to see how much Redstone Arsenal has grown over the
past few years. “With several of our graduates employed at the
Arsenal and in the Huntsville area, it appears that job
opportunities in engineering and science will continue to be in
high demand in the foreseeable future,” he said. “Students who
successfully complete the calculus and physics courses at
Northeast are well-prepared to complete their four-year degree
and enter these occupations.”
”This was an excellent professional development opportunity for
our faculty and staff,” stated Dr. David Campbell, NACC
President. “We want to be on the cutting edge when it comes to
new and emerging technologies and workforce jobs. Contact with
the HudsonAlpha Institute and the Redstone Arsenel helps us
achieve this goal. We actually began to think about this type of
professional development with the discussion that has been going
on locally concerning the BRAC relocation and jobs that will be
available as a result of this. Of course, many new type jobs,
especially in health and science fields, also are emerging as a
result of the type of research and work that is being done at
the HudsonAlpha Institute. Our faculty and staff are now better
equipped to lead students into the new workplace world as a
result of this type of professional development.”
Dr. Neil Lamb, Director of Educational Outreach at HudsonAlpha,
explained to Northeast faculty that the company’s purpose is to
“use biotechnology to improve human health, stimulate economic
development and inspire Alabama’s youth to seek careers in
science.” Current projects at HudsonAlpha include developing
tests for the H1N1 virus and exploring the genome of the sorghum
plant to enhance its use as a biofuel. Not only is HudsonAlpha
involved in research but the same facility houses companies that
focus on marketing the various scientific advances. Career
opportunities are available in the biotechnology fields and
HudsonAlpha staff emphasized the need to encourage junior high
and high school students to strongly consider college majors and
occupations in the sciences.
Dr. Cindy Jones, Director of Nursing Education at NACC, added,
“At the Hudson Alpha Institute, scientific research is ongoing
in search of diagnostic tools and treatment plans for various
diseases for patients in our area as well as world wide. Hudson
Alpha is becoming an icon for Huntsville, Alabama as MD Anderson
Cancer Center is for Texas or Johns Hopkins is for Maryland.”
For more information about attending Northeast, contact the
Admissions Office at phone ext. 325 or visit the
Admissions webpage.
Pictured is HudsonAlpha located in
Huntsville, one of the sites visited by NACC faculty.
(Photo provided by Holly McClain/HudsonAlpha) |
