By BRENDAN MCGARRY
QUEENSBURY -- Hoping to lure more workers to the region's medical device and high-tech industries, Adirondack Community College is offering a free, 15-week credit-bearing training program next semester.
The new program, which is set to start in January and will accept 20 adult applicants, is designed to provide basic skills for entry-level employment and advancement in the industry.
"Basically, it means you're provided with a career path," said Robert Hummel, executive director of the Saratoga-Warren-Washington Workforce Investment Board, which sponsored the $41,000 grant-funded program.
The goal is to provide an opportunity for those changing careers or others to enter the field, create a labor pool for employers and pilot a program that could meet the needs of evolving industry, including nanotechnology, Hummel said.
Participants will learn skills specific to the field.
"These folks are not going to be reading Huckleberry Finn," Hummel said. "Everything they learn in the course is going to be applicable to the medical device and technology industry."
ACC faculty members worked with area employers, including medical device manufacturers, to develop the core curriculum, which includes courses in math, computer science, business, reading and writing and study skills. Participants can earn up to seven college credits.
Faculty members recently toured Boston Scientific Corp.'s Glens Falls manufacturing plant, which employs around 900 people.
After walking the floor, Luke Musto, division chair of mathematics, engineering and computer science at ACC, said he modified the computing course to include lessons with programs similar to those used at the facility. He also changed lab exercises to include medical terminology.
"It's all going to be hands-on," Musto said. "We're not just going to talk about it."
Medical device manufacturers -- Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard Inc. and Angio Dynamics in Queensbury, Tyco International Ltd. in Argyle -- power the regional economy.
"Besides the local paper industry, the medical device industry is clearly the largest manufacturing cluster in the region," said Todd Shimkus, president and chief executive officer of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce.
"The most significant challenge that cluster faces is finding skilled workers today and into the future," he added. "It's absolutely essential that we do whatever we can to protect the manufacturing sector around here and help it grow. That's why programs like that at ACC are so vital."
While there's no guarantee of post-training employment, officials said participants will stand better poised for jobs, especially in the sector's tight labor market.
"If I had two candidates, equally qualified, this would be a deciding factor," said Mike Tierney, a senior training and development specialist at Boston Scientific.
The college has offered Workforce Investment Board programs before but never tailored to the high-tech manufacturing industry.