FORT PIERCE — Indian River State College took delivery of a high-tech computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine that will enable the college to provide students with the most current training required for highly in-demand manufacturing jobs on the Treasure Coast and beyond. The machine was purchased with funding from America’s Cutting Edge (ACE), a national initiative to revitalize U.S. manufacturing industries and position the country as highly capable and competitive on the world stage.

IRSC is one of three locations in Florida designated as an ACE regional machine tool training center. The ACE program combines a free online curriculum and a five-day hands-on in-person training at IRSC aimed to catalyze awareness and interest in all facets of machining, including software development, vibrations, metrology, design, operation, and entrepreneurship. The new CNC machine is the centerpiece of this high-intensity hands-on, training environment.

“The U.S. manufacturing sector is growing at an unprecedented rate and CNC systems are the backbone of advanced manufacturing,” said Natalia Chekhovskaya, Executive Director of Advanced Manufacturing at IRSC. “The ACE CNC machinist program is a critical step for growing the manufacturing ecosystem for Treasure Coast and Okeechobee communities. Our students will have an exclusive opportunity to receive high-tech training and develop in-demand skills at no cost.”

IRSC’s new Haas VF-2SSYT Super-Speed CNC Vertical Machining Center is widely used in the manufacturing industry to mill and shape parts used in virtually every industry, including the automotive, aerospace, construction, and boating industries.

The College will offer its first ACE machining boot camps from April 3-7. Students can register at forms.office.com/r/CN6jSHrJ21. Students ready to explore careers in machining through the ACE program can register for online requirement—an introduction to Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining and 3D modeling using Fusion 360—now at americascuttingedge.org.

ACE is supported by the U.S. Department of Defense’s office of Innovation Capability and Modernization through its Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program. ACE brings together the scientific expertise of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), advanced training tools and techniques developed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), and the workforce development leadership of IACMI—The Composites Institute.