SME Education Foundation (SME-EF) SMESpeaks The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Inspire, Prepare and Support I
n 1980, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) established the SME Manufacturing Engineering Education Foundation, now known as the SME Education Foundation (SME-EF). The $1 million fund established by the Society financed the Foundation during its first five years. At the time, the hope was that the Foundation would “act as a catalyst in providing financial and technical support to a broad range of educational institutions.”
gists and technicians is impacting most industries. Manufac- turing is one of only three industries that create the wealth of a nation. Without its success, the United States’ prosperity and standard of living are threatened.
Throughout the years, the Foundation has grown and
evolved to take on this unique challenge—changing the image of manufacturing in the minds and eyes of our youth, as well as their parents. It has done this through its many programs and services, including:
Thirty-three years later, the Foundation has far exceeded
this original expectation and gone on to invest $8 million in youth programs, helping more than 35,000 to explore career opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as Computer Integrated Manu- facturing (CIM) education. SME-EF has also grant funded more than $8 million in scholarships to students pursuing manufacturing-related careers, and invested $17.3 million in grants to 35 colleges and universities to develop industry- driven curricula. Why is all of this necessary you may ask? The reality is
that 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring every day, and over half of the manufacturing workforce will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years. There’s also an estimated 600,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs across the country because the shortage of advanced manufacturing engineers, technolo-
PRIME (Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education) The PRIME model is a call to action designed to create strong partnerships between organizations, businesses and exemplary schools to provide a comprehensive community- based approach to manufacturing education. This program started in 2011 with the recognition of six high schools. It has been expanded this year to include an additional nine schools for the 2012–2013 academic school year: • Calera High School (Calera, AL) • Hawthorne High School (Los Angeles) • Esperanza High School (Anaheim, CA) • Petaluma High School (Petaluma, CA) • Wheeling High School (Chicago) • McKenzie Center for Innovation and Technology (Indianapolis)
• Walker Career Center (Indianapolis) • Cedar Falls High School (Cedar Falls, IA) • Westfield Vocational Technical High School (Westfield, MA)
• Jackson Area Career Center (Jackson, MI) • Summit Technology Academy (Kansas City, MO) • Centerville High School (Dayton, OH)