The following press release was distributed by the Waterbury Regional Chamber:
WATERBURY, CT, October 18, 2019 — The Waterbury Regional Chamber’s 2019 STEM/Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Expo, set for Friday, Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Naugatuck Valley Community College, will include new interactive activities for students who attend thanks to the event’s Silver Sponsor, the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc. (CCAT).
During the Expo, CCAT will create an Interactive Zone that is sure to grab students’ attention with activities spotlighting manufacturers and on-the-rise, cutting-edge technology.
Featured within the Interactive Zone is a Live Portrait activity from within the pages of the latest annual Hartford Business Journal publication, Cool Stuff Made in Connecticut. Live Portrait, available as an app through the App Store or Google Play, allows the user to wave a device’s camera over a Live Portrait image that is identified with the corresponding logo, bringing it to life from a still frame to a short video clip describing “cool” companies in Connecticut.
Also featured will be the activity Smart Manufacturing, The Comic Book, created by the Manufacturing Institute and MFG Day in partnership with Rockwell Automation and PTC Inc. Another downloadable app, SmartMFG, will bring pages from the comic book to life before the student’s eyes. Laid out for the students to flip through, the comic book depicts product design, retooling of a factory floor, and repair to a robot that has unexpectedly shut down. With SmartMFG, the students point their device’s camera at a target image in the comic book and the app animates the pages using augmented reality to allow the students to design, manufacture, and test a flying drone.
In addition to the augmented reality apps, CCAT’s Interactive Zone showcases videos from the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing Video Competition,” a Manufacturing Institute national best practice model designed to promote industry partnerships and introduce young people to today’s manufacturing workplace and future careers. Featuring videos from students around the state that participated in the competition during the 2018-19 school year, the students attending will be able to watch these schools engage with Connecticut manufacturers and describe, in their own words, why they think manufacturing is so cool.
More than 500 students from middle and high schools in Greater Waterbury are expected to attend the Expo, now in its ninth year. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Technology Hall Atrium at NVCC, 750 Chase Parkway in Waterbury. With support from NVCC and the Smaller Manufacturers Association (SMA), students will also interact with local and state manufacturing and technology executives, as well as tour NVCC’s Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Center to learn about job and career opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) industries.
The Expo is also supported by Brass/Zinc Sponsors ASML, Braxton Manufacturing Co. Inc., King Industries Inc. and The Platt Brothers & Co.; Copper Sponsor Schaeffler Aerospace USA Corp., and Nickel Sponsors Arthur G. Russell Co., Click Bond, Hubbard-Hall Inc., Industrial Management & Training Institute, Next Generation Manufacturing, Prospect Machine Products and Ward Leonard CT LLC.
Space for exhibitors is still available. For information or to register, call 203-757-0701 or visit www.waterburychamber.com.
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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David Krechevsky, 203-757-0701
dkrechevsky@waterburychamber.com