Lockheed Martin awards $1 million to Denver school for Additive Manufacturing lab
July 17, 2017
Lockheed Martin, Denver, USA, has announced that it will award a $1 million grant to the Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU)’s new Aerospace and Engineering Sciences Building. The grant aims to support the work undertaken there and prepare the workforce of the future for the manufacture of affordable, capable and innovative spacecraft, the company stated.
The funds, distributed over four years, will be used to establish an on-campus Lockheed Martin Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, where students will have access to a state-of-the-art AM system on which to design and create aerospace components. The grant also establishes an endowed director of the Advanced Manufacturing Sciences Institute.
“This grant is an investment in the futures of the students at MSU Denver and the aerospace community,” stated Brian O’Connor, Vice President of Production Operations at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. “Emerging manufacturing technologies will create possibilities we can only dream of today, like printing an entire satellite from the ground up or printing complex parts that we can’t machine using traditional methods. We’re helping students design with those new concepts in mind so the next space missions are innovative, affordable and faster to market. This lab will help students unleash their creativity in engineering tomorrow’s great advancements.”
Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D., MSU Denver President, commented, “With support from key partners like Lockheed Martin, MSU Denver can offer students education opportunities that directly address workforce needs in Colorado’s key industry clusters. Students now have the rare opportunity to work with technology and equipment used by some of the top advanced manufacturing companies in the world.”
Lockheed Martin and MSU Denver have a long-standing partnership focused on developing manufacturing talent and technologies. The company helped guide the curriculum that grew to be the Advanced Manufacturing Sciences Bachelor’s Degree and will continue to provide an open pipeline of talent for co-ops, interns and graduates. Many of MSU’s former students have gone on to work with Lockheed Martin full-time.
