As the industrial landscape continues to change, this program aims to serve the workforce needs of the region.

“The really exciting thing about this program is our partnership with ECTC,” said Thomas Rockaway, professor of civil engineering at the Speed School, who spearheaded the collaboration. “Rather than having this program focused solely in Louisville, we are able to leverage the great work already underway at ECTC and build a true 2+2 pathway for a four-year bachelor’s degree in applied engineering. Students can start in Elizabethtown and earn an associate in applied science degree in two years and then complete two more years of academic work at UofL towards the applied engineering degree.”

Through state-of-the-art facilities and labs at UofL, students will receive hands-on, applicable training that will prepare them to adapt to industry challenges. Additionally, students will have access to an automation and robotics focus track to gain specialized skills while completing the degree. To ensure that ECTC students joining the program are prepared with the pre-engineering fundamentals necessary for success at the Speed School, there will be a comprehensive mathematics prep program for the program’s first cohort.

“This partnership creates a new pathway for engineering students to continue their education and advance their careers in high-demand, high-wage fields without leaving our region,” said ECTC President Juston Pate. “This pathway is an incredible addition to the ECTC Robbins University Center as it develops a critical future workforce, supports economic development, increases bachelor’s degree attainment and helps our students reach their full potential, all with a partner as renowned as the UofL J.B. Speed School of Engineering.”

With evening classes and courses offered at the Glendale Training Center, the applied engineering degree supports working students. The Speed School’s co-op requirement in the second half of the program also provides one year of job experience.

“This program is transformative and timely for our region since the increased demands of advanced manufacturing and materials handling in our regional industries require a dramatic increase in the number of engineers skilled in automation and robotics,” said Emmanuel Collins, dean of the Speed School. “We expect this new academic program to be the largest of its kind in the nation.”

For more information about the bachelor’s in applied engineering program, visit the .

UofL operates a satellite advising office on the ECTC campus with a full-time advisor readily available to help guide ECTC students completing UofL degrees. Learn more about .

Kendrea Young, one of the graduates, shared her experience in the program with UofL News.

UofL News: Tell me about your background and what brought you to the UofL Trager Institute’s Trauma-Informed FlourishCare Paraprofessional Program.

Kendrea Young: I’ve always wanted to do things for my community, but I never knew what I wanted to do, whether it was mental health, physical health, anything like that. I just knew I wanted it to be community-based because I’ve always been about the community. When it comes to my background, growing up – and I’d say I’m still growing – I had some trials and errors. I had things going on with substance abuse and depression. All that stemmed from a lot of trauma.

That’s how it started with the peer support specialist training because that’s how you’ve got to start off. You have to have some sort of experience with substance abuse to get into the program. So, learning all these different things and meeting new people sparked my mind. It shows me that, yes, you could have your bachelor’s or master’s, but being able to earn your certification, like the one I received, can still lead to a career. It lets me know that you don’t have to put yourself in debt to still do the things you want to do, whether that’s doing case management, social work or working in the community in some way. Whether it’s as a paraprofessional or a community health worker (CHW), it all works together. It does get your foot in the door, letting you know that this is something you really want to do.

UofL News: In what ways do you believe this training has contributed to your personal and professional growth?

Young: The incredible support from people I had never even met before has meant a lot for my personal growth. They’ve been so supportive, especially when it comes to continuing with this program and thinking about my future plans. The support, love and information they’ve shown give me hope for pursuing maybe a bachelor’s, maybe a master’s degree. I’m not really sure where I want to go yet, but I know it’s something big.

They’ve also really helped me learn about communicating, understanding what communication looks like, what professionalism looks like and how to present myself in certain environments. We’re advocates for the people we watch over, whether it’s kids, adults or older adults. We advocate for them and make sure we know the tools and can provide the best quality care for our patients. So, in that way, they’ve helped me a lot. I’m never not learning anything when I’m with the group.

UofL News: How would you describe your experience with the program?

Young: I worked with two sites. I started with VOA [Volunteers of America: Determined Health], but I had to stop to finish my dental certification. Trager was nice enough to let me finish and come back, and that’s how I got with Smoketown [Family Wellness Center]. They’re very supportive of my dreams and goals.

First, I started working with health equity with Humana and VOA. Now, with Smoketown, I work with parents and their kids. I always say a healthy child needs a healthy parent, just embedding that in people’s heads. They know that we have a care team, including myself and my other team members, and the doctors – we’re there to help them. When I look back from where I work now and where I used to work, it all starts out in childhood. It begins when they are a kid, and then growing up, knowing that trauma can lead to chronic illnesses. I like that we’re working to stop that, preventing the potential challenges when they’re 30 years old and beyond. So, that’s what I do now.

UofL News: Why do you think community health workers are important?

Young: I’d say that Community Health Workers (CHWs) are so important because we’re real. We’re either in the same boat as the people we’re taking care of or we were in the same boat. So, with this job, you have to have experience of this sort. Everybody’s story is different and everybody’s trauma is different as well. But having someone as a CHW or as a peer support specialist, you know right off the bat that they have been through some things. That’s why the patients we work with are able to open up more.

When they have someone on the team like a CHW, it’s easier for them to share important information with the social worker, therapist and doctors so we can all come together and make a great care plan for this individual to move ahead in life. That’s why the CHW role is so important. It’s because it’s real. We’re meeting people where they are.

UofL News: What unique qualities or advantages of the Trager Institute program do you appreciate?

Young: This is my first time being in something like this, and it’s a real career. I’m not sure about any other programs, but I would say what’s special is that they will go to war with you. Whether that’s finding you a placement and a job, whether that’s making sure you’re successful in the training or making sure you understand what you’re doing and what is being taught. Because when you go out there in the world and you’re trying to do these services and you don’t understand, then there is no point.

So just being on us and holding us accountable and being a great team, I feel like that’s the difference. And they teach us how to be team leaders because, with this job, you have to be an advocate and have to be a leader for the person that you’re working with. Seeing other leaders and other women and other men, it gives you motivation. Whether you want to further your next step in social work or therapy or anything like that, I would most definitely recommend this program. I recommend it to a lot of people all the time. I recommend this to a lot of the parents that I work with because they’re going through so much, and I let them know that the stuff they’re doing doesn’t define them. I’m 22, and I’m young, working with all these different parents, and they’re like, ‘Kendrea, this is great. This is great information. Thank you for everything that you do.’ And I wouldn’t be able to be a good help if it wasn’t for the Trager Institute.

Q&A by Samantha Adams

The STEM+ Hub is equipped to facilitate a variety of K-12 student enrichment opportunities, as well as activities such as hackathons, junk bot racing, rocket building, VEX and First Robotics competitions, mentoring, learner workshops and teacher workshops. The suite consists of a large makerspace with 12 3D printers, instructional space, a conference room and two offices.

“This space, which already has hosted summer camps and after-school enrichment activities for hundreds of local students, is dedicated to welcoming those who aspire to be the next generation of engineers, computer scientists and technicians. It also provides UofL students and prospective students with access to advising, makerspace technology and other resources to help them pursue their dreams,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel.

This engagement is critical to increasing the pipeline of students interested in working in STEM and health care disciplines in engineering and other academic areas and will help recruit undergraduate students to the STEM+H degree programs at UofL.

“The STEM+ Hub is something we are very excited about at Speed School. Though it is an outgrowth of our outreach activities, we want the UofL community to know that this is not a “Speed School space” but one that is available to the entire UofL community,” said Emmanuel Collins, dean of engineering. “It is our experience that the type of activities that STEM+ Hub hosts can have a lasting impact on the young people who participate. We look forward to seeing and hearing about the life transformations this space helps facilitate.”

Through outreach initiatives such as those taking place in the STEM+ Hub, Speed School exposes and engages students in various areas of engineering careers and provides them with a boost in their preparation for these STEM careers.

To reserve the STEM+ Hub, visit the .

View the photo galleries from the Sept. 8 ribbon-cutting on and .��

The solution? Metropolitan College – a unique public-private partnership that dramatically increased retention among workers during the wee hours each night. Average tenure of a third-shift worker grew from eight weeks prior to the program’s launch to three years as of fall 2022.

The program also provided more than 22,000 students over the past 25 years the opportunity to earn a college degree 100% debt-free.

Metro College allows students at the University of Louisville or Jefferson Community and Technical College to work at Worldport, earning a weekly paycheck and payment of their tuition, academic bonuses and fee payment assistance. The program receives state support to fund up to 50% of tuition and fees. The company also provides academic bonuses that include semester and graduation bonuses. The program launched in the fall semester of 1998 as a partnership among UofL, JCTC, UPS, Louisville Metro Government and the commonwealth of Kentucky.

“Metropolitan College seemingly has no downside,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel. “Prior to my academic career, I spent 20 years in industry, so I see the value of Metro College across the board. The state of Kentucky, UPS, JCTC and UofL have created a national model of what a combined education-workforce-economic development initiative can and should be.”

“In addition to paying for college, Metro College provides a student with a livelihood while they are in college,” said Ty Handy, JCTC president. “That is crucial for many students who must support themselves either fully or partially while they are in school. And the added value of the career and academic guidance they receive cannot be underestimated.”

“For UPS, the success of Metro College has been integral to our ability to deliver what matters to our customers around the world,” said UPS President Jim Joseph. “In addition to the steady source of talent to help us run our Worldport operation, the program provides student-workers the opportunity to pursue their dreams debt-free, while also receiving competitive pay, benefits and work-life experience and guidance. Our community benefits by growing and enhancing the talent pool within the commonwealth. The program really is a win-win-win for all involved.” 

Thalia Almenares came to Louisville in 2016 from Cuba and began work at UPS in 2017. Through Metro College she started taking classes at JCTC before transferring to UofL where she graduated in May as a dental hygienist.

“UPS was the best bet for my dreams,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it when they told (me) they were going to pay my tuition 100% in full. But also, with the help of the UPS team, I was able to overcome the language barrier and have a job to support my family while earning a great education. The program also provides you with a great work-life balance. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to be a student and work at the same time, but UPS opens that door.”

Another program benefit is the chance to learn leadership skills and to rise in the ranks while still enrolled in college. Just ask graduates Jeff Wafford (2003) and Donovan Neal (2019).

“Coming out of high school, I knew I couldn’t pay for college. I was actually planning to go into the military until a friend of mine told me about UPS two months before the semester started,” Donovan Neal said. “I began in August 2012 in the UPS hub as a package handler and eventually got a role as a supervisor in finance and accounting.”

He graduated from UofL with a degree in finance and today works in human resources for UPS.

Likewise, Jeff Wafford progressed through the ranks of the multinational shipping company. He enrolled in Metro College more than two decades ago and started as a package handler. Now director of public affairs, Wafford continues to tout Metro College. “Today, I not only have the chance to talk about it to our leaders here locally and throughout Kentucky but also to the states I cover, in the Virginias and the Carolinas. They all want to know, ‘What can we do in our states to have a program like this?’ ”

The rigors of overnight work – Metro College students work 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. about 15 hours per week – coupled with college enrollment can be daunting, but Metro College staff advise entering students to enroll as a parttime student to get adjusted to the new routine. And they provide advice on life skills that students may need throughout their time in college.

Yet Wafford notes that working overnight may not be as much of a problem as might be imagined.

“Twenty-three years ago, my then-college roommate and I were up at 3 o’clock in the morning, as college students sometimes are, and we saw this ad for Metro College,” he said. “We said, ‘We should do this. We’re up all night anyway. We have these loans we’re getting ready to take out, and we need some money.’ So the next day, we applied.

“I’ve talked about Metro College now for 23 years and hopefully, I’ll get to talk about it for the next 23 years,” Wafford said “Let’s keep this program going for the future of the commonwealth.”

For more information about Metro College visit metro-college.com.

The new Kentucky Digital Health Tech and Artificial Intelligence Innovation Coalition is backed by one of 60 phase-one planning grants awarded through the . As a finalist receiving phase-one funding, the coalition now will compete for up to $100 million in phase-two implementation funding.

The coalition is led by the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council (LHCC) and includes UofL, the Academy of Music Production ����ֱ�� and Development, Greater Louisville Inc., Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, Louisville Metro Government, the Louisville Urban League and Metro United Way.

“This work will be transformative for our city and our region,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for . “By bringing together a powerhouse research university and our community partners, we can build on our strengths and past success in health care, innovation and entrepreneurship to make a real impact.”

In phase one, the coalition partners will plan new workforce development, entrepreneurship, research, innovation and commercialization programming and supports centered on digital health care and artificial intelligence.

“Our goal is to establish the Louisville region as a national hub for digital health care and train a high-tech health care workforce,” said Tammy York Day, president and CEO of , which represents 14 of the region’s largest health care companies, including Humana Inc. and Kindred Healthcare.

This new effort builds on previous collaborations between UofL and LHCC to boost regional health care startups and innovation. Together, they run Aging 2.0, which supports programming, training and mentoring for aging and health care innovators and entrepreneurs.

“Louisville already has significant strength in all of these areas — in health care, technology and startups,” said Will Metcalf, an assistant vice president for research and innovation at UofL and a lead on the grant. “With this new funding from the EDA, we hope to build on that success and to promote economic development and equity.”

UofL supports entrepreneurs through its UofL New Ventures office, which works to launch and grow startups built around UofL intellectual property, through LaunchIt, a 10-week entrepreneurship and innovation boot camp and through a rotating roster of entrepreneurs-in-residence — seasoned founders who help guide the university’s research-backed technologies to market.

At LHCC, Aging 2.0 supports programming through the LHCC Corporate Innovation Center, housed on UofL’s downtown entrepreneurship and innovation campus. This includes LHCC’s Chairman’s Circle, a group of former health care executives available for entrepreneurial mentoring, and annual CareTech aging innovation pitch competition.

Alumnus Collie Crawford (BSEE ’18, MEng IE ’19) has the distinction of being the first graduate of GE’s newest workforce development program, Industry 4.0 Development program, or I4DP. The two-year program was created in 2019 to address a growing business need – a stable of technical engineering talent with the depth and breadth of Industry 4.0 skills that can support GEA’s smart factories. The four hands-on rotations for I4DP include highly-specialized, in-class training in industrial controls, robotics, testing and data visualization.

While Crawford had previous co-op and industry experience in controls, he was intrigued by the opportunity to learn more about the other three areas.

“I loved learning from the engineers during my rotations and finding new applications and ways to do things,” he said.

Trenton Ingrim, senior director of Advanced Manufacturing of the program, also a Speed School graduate (EE ’95, MEng EE ’98), said Crawford has been “fantastic.”

“His structured and logical approach to the work is a credit to him – plus he can definitely see the connections between systems,” Ingram said. “Completing the program, we want them to understand how a smart, interconnected factory works, and identify what they like most and feel the strongest about as they look for their first assignment off program.”

For Crawford, that first assignment has been taking a controls engineering position in dishwasher manufacturing and hitting the ground running.

He said Speed School established a solid foundation that helped him to pursue his career goals.��

“I enjoyed the capabilities the co-op program gives you to go out in the field while also learning in school, and applying your problem solving skills while also learning some parts of the trade that are more technical,” he said.

Crawford also cited the Capstone course as a continuing influence.

“It was a really good course that held us to the fire of doing everything properly, and it was a great experience there that I still use frequently,” he said.

In addition to Crawford, the program’s first graduate, two other current I4DP participants, Lana Chausenko (CSE ’17) and Jordan Klotz (EE ’18, MEng EE ’19) are Speed School alumni.

Chausenko said I4DP was an amazing opportunity she couldn’t pass up, and it included robotics, which she said she fell in love with after taking classes with Dan Popa at Speed School. But for her, the program also offered a way to understand operations from a macro view.

“I’ve always thought before you start your main position, that understanding the system and how it all works together is very important, to get all the perspectives,” she said. “That’s what I’m experiencing right now.”

For Jordan Klotz, the master’s program at Speed School was the most valuable experience to prepare him for his future career path.

“The opportunity to work in a lab at UofL was wonderful,” he said. “It was one of the most diverse places I’ve ever worked, with some of the smartest people I’ve ever met from all over the world – China, India, Romania, everywhere. The professors at UofL are top minds in their field and great teachers. That is one of the strengths of Speed School and one of the things that helped me the most – getting involved and asking the right questions.” 

Trent Ingrim said Speed School talent has been instrumental for GE Appliances.

“In the Industry 4.0 program, three of the four assignment leaders for the participants graduated from UofL,” he said.

“It’s easy to get excited about the bells and whistles, the machine learning, the AI,” said Ingram. “But we need people who can understand the fundamental building blocks and different components – what they are – what they do – and how to put them together,” said Ingrim. “It’s a good partnership with Speed School and I look forward to what the future holds.”

More than 150 nursing homes already have enrolled to participate in the Trager Institute’s network training hub, including all of Trilogy Health Services’ senior living communities. The institute’s goal is to enroll as many nursing homes as possible in the network, focusing particularly on facilities in Kentucky.

As an official training provider, the will provide training for enrolled nursing home staff to engage with experts and peers and share cases for real-time discussion and advice. The weekly one-hour virtual training sessions will take place over a 16-week period using the – an “all teach, all learn” methodology developed around case-based learning and active engagement.

“We are more than ready to embark on this journey of fighting COVID-19 in nursing homes,” said Anna Faul, project director and executive director of the Trager Institute. “Nursing homes are in critical condition when it comes to fighting COVID-19, not to mention the social isolation their residents have been experiencing throughout the pandemic. Providing a training program that not only follows the same collaborative, integrative approach we advocate at the Trager Institute, but also gives nursing home staff the shared knowledge and best practices they need to provide safe care while reducing social isolation for residents, is exactly the type of health care improvement we need for the older adult community.”

In addition to Faul, facilitators on the training team include Laura Morton, program director for nursing homes and assistant professor in the UofL Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine, Ruth Carrico, professor in the UofL Division of Infectious Diseases, and Christian Furman, professor of geriatric and palliative medicine, as well as UofL faculty specializing in quality improvement, compassionate care, mental health and community engagement.

Participating in the network will provide nursing homes with practical information, skills and resources needed to protect both residents and staff from the virus.

“At Trilogy, the health and safety of our residents, employees and families is our top priority,” said Leigh Ann Barney, CEO of Trilogy Health Services.��“We believe participating in the ECHO infection control training through the UofL Trager Institute is another layer in our efforts to combat COVID-19 across all our campuses. We are excited to be part of this valuable program.”

Eligible nursing homes that actively participate in the network will receive $6,000 in compensation in recognition of the staff time involved, along with a Quality Improvement Certificate positioning them to receive a portion of the $2 billion available to nursing homes from the federal Provider Relief Fund authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

To learn more about the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network or to participate, visit the on the Trager Institute website.