Alliance partner Northern Illinois University (NIU) accepted a national award last month at the University Economic Development Association’s annual summit in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on behalf of a program aimed at accelerating the engineering and high-tech workforce for Rockford’s burgeoning aerospace industry.
JiET-A, or the Joint Institute for Engineering and Technology – Aerospace, is an innovative partnership among aerospace businesses, higher education institutions, and students in the Rockford area. JiET-A is one of the most significant collaborative initiatives arising from the NIU-led Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge (JIAC) grant work in support of the aerospace cluster.
Beyond helping students map out an academic and career path into the aerospace industry, JiET-A partners also offer high-quality internships and mentoring that allow graduates to move seamlessly into the aerospace workforce. More than 100 students have been accepted into the program since its inception and nearly 30 have been placed in integrated internships with Rockford’s UTC Aerospace Systems, Woodward and B/E Aerospace.
In addition to NIU, JiET-A partners include the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, EIGERlab, Rock Valley College, Rockford University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Rockford public schools, Belvidere public schools, Kishwaukee College, the Northern Illinois Workforce Alliance, the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education, and a number of the region’s major aerospace companies. UTC Aerospace Systems has given special leadership support to the initiative since its inception.