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January 28, 2025

AUTHORS
Patrick Schumacher
Brian Backstrom

Introduction

The integration of new technologies and techniques into manufacturing—including robotics, artificial intelligence, and data analytics—is helping to refine production processes and create new, cutting-edge products. Jobs in advanced manufacturing are among the highest paying, and private investment in the sector reaches into the billions of dollars.

Even so, companies across this sector have struggled to fill positions because of a lack of employees with the requisite skills. Stepping up to meet this need, the State University of New York’s (SUNY) community colleges are leading the way in developing advanced manufacturing workforce training programs that attract and help grow these companies, and the Empire State is witnessing a boom of economic activity as a result. Micron Technology is planning to spend $100 billion to build a facility in Onondaga County that will manufacture semiconductors while partnering with SUNY Onondaga for workforce development programs. Wolfspeed recently opened a $1 billion facility in Marcy for the manufacture of silicon carbide chips and is collaborating with Mohawk Valley Community College for worker training and to grow an apprenticeship program. Other advanced technology companies investing millions across New York include Siemens Gamesa, Regeneron, and others. This surge in activity is encouraging for students pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing, as opportunities in the field continue to expand.

SUNY community colleges are uniquely poised to train students for this sector and serve as engines of workforce development both locally and statewide, owing to their accessibility and affordability. Partnerships with advanced manufacturing companies are helping to develop curriculum, build training facilities, and provide scholarships that create direct pipelines to employment. These partnerships already have been transformative for thousands of students, and are generating enormous benefits for SUNY’s community colleges, for area employers, and for numerous regions across the state. Interest and excitement around advanced manufacturing is playing out not just at SUNY community colleges, but in community college systems from one end of the country to the other. For example:

• In Maine, a $75.5 million grant supports short-term training across various fields, including manufacturing.
• A $9.4 million award to 25 community colleges in Illinois will support education and training on the manufacture of electric vehicles.
• In Arizona, community colleges are offering training on semiconductors to a growing and diverse group of students, where persons from underrepresented groups now make up two-thirds of the enrollees in semiconductor programs in the Maricopa Community College System.
• The California Apprenticeship Initiative’s New and Innovative Grant Program provides million-dollar grants to community colleges to help create and expand apprenticeship opportunities in priority and emerging industries.

Each of these advanced manufacturing workforce initiatives are unique, offering the chance for educational systems across the country to learn from each other. SUNY community colleges—with their strong private-sector partnerships and clear pathways to employment—can serve as a model for how to successfully train students in advanced manufacturing.

In May 2023, the Rockefeller Institute of Government assembled a meeting of state, local, and industry leaders to discuss the future of advanced manufacturing in New York State. Now, this report showcases initiatives by SUNY community colleges to prepare students for careers in this growing field, based on interviews conducted between April and June 2024 with leadership at the colleges and representatives from their partner advanced manufacturing companies.

Read the full report.