Grant will help train workers for 7E7

Edmonds and Everett community colleges have received a $1.5 million federal grant to help train area workers in skills that closely match the needs of Boeing's new 7E7 jet program.

Much of the training will be delivered online and will be geared toward people already working in industry. Boeing consulted closely with the colleges and the county's economic development council in the choice of courses.

One focus is the technology of composites, the advanced materials from which the 7E7 airframe will be constructed.

Another is the sophisticated set of software tools that Boeing will use for 7E7 design and manufacture.

The final element is teaching engineers and technical workers how to communicate globally across cultural barriers.

As the 7E7 project progresses, with some of the key parts made in Japan, the finer points of Japanese culture will be a set part of the curriculum.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Emily Stover DeRocco announced the grant yesterday at the new Materials Science building on the Lynnwood campus of Edmonds Community College, built with money from a separate 2003 federal grant.

The two community colleges have won a series of substantial grants to bolster their capabilities in composites training.

While it's clear that the 7E7 has helped to draw financial support, local educational, political and business leaders at the ceremony stressed that the new courses are the fruit of efforts that began before the 7E7 project and will be applied widely in the local manufacturing sector.

"What we are doing here isn't just for Boeing, it's for the community," said Dean Cooper, a Boeing manager assigned to promote higher education. "Aerospace is leading the charge."

Jerrilee Mosier, vice president of work-force development and training at Edmonds, said the composites expertise developed at the colleges will be applicable to boat builders, makers of medical prosthetics and construction firms. The software tools Boeing will use for the 7E7 are also used across the advanced manufacturing sector.

DeRocco said the federal investment will pay dividends nationwide. The courses developed here will be replicated and offered at community colleges across the country.

Citing the 2002 federal report of the Commission on the Future of the Aerospace Industry, DeRocco said the aging of the aerospace work force coupled with a move away from traditional manufacturing methods is creating a looming skills shortage.

"We have a vast gap we have to fill very quickly," said DeRocco.

The grant is half of this year's aerospace allocation from a fund called the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative. How did Snohomish County grab half the national money?

"We wrote a really good proposal," said Mosier, laughing.

The assistant secretary of labor said she was impressed by the close partnerships between the colleges, industry and Snohomish political groups.

"This is a county that has its act together," said DeRocco.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com