TRANSCRIPT

Adam Hildebrandt: Assisting the state's Science and Tech industry is a major part of OSU's land-grant mission. Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology in Okmulgee is one intersection where industry and education meet.

Paula Harrold, Asst. Dean of the School of Engineering & Construction Technologies: OSUIT has been doing polytech for 78 years. We take hands-on, STEM-based learning and expand opportunities across the state so that we can make sure that we're meeting workforce needs. So in our instrumentation and automation engineering, we have labs that include robotics, motors and controls, things that can help the industry make sure that they're advancing in technology.

Michael Williams, Instructor: My program is based off of small electronics and bigger electronics in the industrial portion of our career. And we base most of our program off of hands-on work. We do a lot of transmitters, receivers, and we get into the program side of things as they get into their bachelor's level.

Kale Smith, Student: I have classes that, you know, at the biggest, are 20 people, so I'm able to really get feedback of what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong from my professors, and that's helped me a lot.

Carlos Ize, Instructor: We teach them, "This is what you are going to be working with when you go out in the industry, and that's how you work with it." And that's it. I mean, that's the important part of it. And it's, just like I said, not just the mechanical part or the electronic part or the software part; it's everything. The other thing is teach them how to learn the new technology that's coming in as well, because things change very, very fast in industry.

Adam Hildebrandt: OSUIT students are constantly in demand, in part because industries have a seat at the table as programs are developed.

Paula Harrold: So we have advisory committees and industry partners that come in, and they actually guide us on our curriculum and they help us keep up to date.

Michael Williams: So the companies that are more interested in our program are oil and gas, manufacturing, utilities. There's so many companies that are realizing they need automation, and they're taking more and more of our students. And our supply right now doesn't meet the demand of what's out there, so we're trying to get more and more students to come into this program so we can meet the needs of these companies coming in.

Adam Hildebrandt: In addition to traditional two- and four-year degrees, micro-credentials and certificates are available as well. Many of the instructors at OSU come directly out of industry and into a teaching role.

Carlos Ize: So one of the things I try to show them is obviously the general idea of what they're going to learn, and I try to also instill them what I learned when I was working in industry.

Kale Smith: We're getting a lot of this inside knowledge, and we're getting connections to go to these companies that they worked at, and, you know, we're even getting insight on the companies just from networking from what they did.

Paula Harrold: Students come to OSUIT or OSU Polytech because they want that hands-on learning experience, and we can have them here and educated and trained and ready to go into a lifelong career where they can be successful and be a part of the much-needed workforce that we have.

Kale Smith: About 90% of students come out of here and they have a job once they walk across that graduation stage. Most kids aren't looking for a job when they come out of here. They have a job when they come out of here.