Sarah Boisvert will combine her company and nonprofit into one space at Santa Fe Community College, where her organizations will train workers for "new collar" jobs in 3D printing and robotics.
Boisvert said she sees a bright future for the additive manufacturing industry post pandemic but that current education models are outdated. Through her Fab Lab Hub LLC, along with her New Collar Network nonprofit, the new facility will offer education and training with digital certification programs that last a handful of weeks as opposed to months. As part of the partnership with Santa Fe Community College, both organizations will concentrate their efforts into the college's Santa Fe Higher Education Center.
"We need to upgrade a lot of these education models and these workforce trainings for the 21st century," Boisvert said. “During the pandemic it was the additive manufacturing community that stepped up to a place and filled a gap in the supply chain and that just really opened people's eyes to the capabilities of 3D printing."
The name of the lab is the New Collar Innovation Center. It provides digital certification in skills including CAD design, 3D printer operation, robot repair, machining and technical writing. It also has online programs where participants are provided with a 3D printer to work with.
Certifications in prototyping, market segmentation and training implementation are offered in collaboration with the Santa Fe Business Incubator, which provides support for early-stage startups.
In addition to the digital certifications, Fab Lab Hub will provide training for additive manufacturing technicians, which work with 3D printers, through a registered apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor, according to an email from Fab Lab Hub. The training pays students for their time and offers free coursework.
“We learned during the pandemic that higher education is changing, and we must be open to new, innovative education models to meet the current needs of our students,” said SFCC President Rebecca Rowley in a prepared statement. “The New Collar Innovation Center does just that – opening doors to a wider audience, especially through New Collar classes."
The New Collar Innovation Center sits inside the Higher Education Center at 1950 Siringo Road in central Santa Fe. A grand opening for the facility will be held between Aug. 6 and Aug. 15 and will include panel discussions and workshops with Silicon Valley entrepreneur John Rizzo and Meow Wolf cofounder Vince Kadlubek, according to a Fab Lab Hub's email.
