St. Clair College has received a generous donation of nearly $19,000 from AIS Technologies Group Inc. to support research and development projects and fund three scholarships.
A preliminary breakdown of the $18,806 donation from AISTG has delegated $9,306 toward Research and Innovation department initiatives, $5,000 for a capstone event gold sponsorship as well as $4,500 to the St. Clair Scholarship Fund, which will be split into three Academic Scholarships/Entrance Awards of $1,500.
Nick Dimitrov, Vice-President of AISTG believes it is important to have collaboration between leaders of the industry and local education institutions.
"St. Clair College has industry-relevant programs that allow companies to spend less time training new employees and include them in real projects faster with productive results," Dimitrov said. "By hiring St. Clair College students we have shortened our onboarding time by 50 percent. St. Clair students learn about real-world problems and are equipped with more competitive skills for the job market."
Dimitrov further stated that AISTG and its parent company Parkview Capital, led by Don Jackson, have identified St. Clair College as one of the contributing factors to their success.
"As we are committed to delivering world-class solutions and products to our customers, we appreciate St. Clair College as they strive to deliver industry-relevant education programs and capable future employees," Dimitrov said. "The education institution learns what the needs are in the industry and future technological advances. They identify gaps in curriculum and planning while the industry gets access to state-of-the-art facilities with the latest hardware and software technologies. Whether we are talking robots, state-of-the-art vision, 3D printers or event-based simulation software, St. Clair has it all together with the people to make effective use of these technologies."
John Lopez, Program Manager of Research and Innovation at St. Clair said that the College has successfully collaborated with AISTG on two previous occasions and is grateful for this new line of funding for future research initiatives.
"A lot of the projects we conduct are with industry partners and being able to give our students new and innovative equipment and materials that are used in the industry - it is a bonus for them to get that exposure," said Lopez. "As well, this will help us stay on top of cutting-edge innovation, research tools and equipment in our department which will help us grow and expand in that area."
Brett Hedges