Dr. Tony Schmitz, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Tennessee, showing students how almost everything we make in this world touches a machine tool.
Education, Manufacturing Jobs, Workforce

Imagine life choices as a maze of doors. Your path relies on which doors you open, and one door leads to another. If you fail to open one door, you miss out on an entire set of possibilities. When you think of it that way, our job becomes simple: make sure the doors of opportunity open for everyone.

Take Victor Haynes II, nicknamed “Deuce.” He’s 13...

Brightly colored industrial manufacturing facility
Additive Manufacturing, Biomanufacturing, Biopharmaceutical, Cybersecurity, Flexible Hybrid Electronics, Lightweight Materials, Materials, Modular Chemical Processing, Recycling, Sustainability, Sustainable Manufacturing

Industry is among the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the U.S., producing an estimated 24 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. While great progress has been made – greenhouse gas emissions from industry, including electricity generation, have declined by 22 percent since 1990 – in many cases, alternative production...

Image of IACMI employee Marley Passey
Manufacturing, Manufacturing Jobs

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...

ARM Workforce Development
Additive Manufacturing, Education, Fabrics, Flexible Hybrid Electronics, Materials, Photonics, Power Electronics, Robotics, Sustainable Manufacturing, Workforce

Manufacturing evolved in the United States through geographic clusters that produced competitive advantages in expertise, scale of operations, research prowess, and skilled labor. The origin of the automotive sector is an example of a regional cluster, with vehicles assembled in the Detroit area from parts and components manufactured in the upper...

Chart depicting the innovation valley of death on the technology readiness level scale.
Artificial Intelligence, Biomanufacturing, Fabrics, Innovation, Manufacturing, Photonics, Public Private Partnerships, Robotics

The U.S. outspends other nations in r esearch and development and continues to lead the world in innovations and inventions. However, new products are often “stranded in the lab” when we don't have the manufacturing capability, or get developed in other countries such as China, Germany, and South Korea that invest more aggressively in...