The Vaughn College Engineering and Technology Department hosted another successful Manufacturing Day Conference on Friday, October 27. The conference highlighted the advancement in the engineering and technology industries while raising awareness about the advantages of pursuing a career in manufacturing.

Five speakers addressed participants regarding autonomous mobile robotic safety, automation in manufacturing, additive manufacturing in aerospace, additive manufacturing in lab developments and the importance of startup companies utilizing SolidWorks, a 3D parametric design software used to develop automobiles, aircraft parts, cell phones and much more.

The professional speakers featured Kang Jang, mechatronic engineer for ArcBest Technologies, Donlee Wilson, director of sales for Festo, Rich Brown, chief engineer for Lockheed Martin, Abhishek Bali, startup ecosystem director for Dassault Systèmes and Vaughn professor Manuel Jesus.

Several Vaughn students from the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and robotics clubs plus student chapters of the Society of Women Engineers and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers hosted workshops on design and autonomous programming for visiting students from Bayside High School, Thomas Edison High School, Freeport High School, Wyandanch High School, Uniondale High School and Hostos Community College. Vaughn UAV club members taught participants how to build, operate and maintain different types of drones. Robotic club members taught visiting students about their design process and operation of a robot capable of performing agile and accurate movements during a competition. Visiting students were able to fly drones in the hangar and operate the robot VCAT used in the 2023 VEX Worlds competition in April.