“Nose presses” is not an official metric of workforce recruiting success for the Penn State Digital Foundry on 5th Avenue in New Kensington, PA, but it is hugely symbolic in the quest to expand the manufacturing talent pipeline in underserved communities, according to Sherri McCleary, the Executive Director of the foundry.

A nose presser is a...

The drive to create. Put simply, that’s what has propelled Marley Passey into a career in manufacturing, despite the fact that she’s legally blind. “I’ve always really enjoyed making things, building little wooden toys,” Marley says. “And this is the natural progression of that, making these really big and complex metal or composite parts. I...