The Education Foundation of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) in collaboration with industry, business and education, has provided $635,000 in grant funding to three major colleges to remedy the skill level of manufacturing engineers.

Funding awarded to Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., ($274,000); Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich., ($140,000), and Eastern Washington University, Chesney, Wash., ($221,000), acknowledges each school’s effective collaborative efforts in working with their industry partners and designing manufacturing programs to effectively resolve the issue of competency gaps previously identified by industry partners.