Officials say cutting-edge technology paves the way for innovation and new jobs

Earlier this month, Kimberly McCorkle, provost and vice president of academics at ETSU, and David Golden, chief executive officer of ETSU’s Research Corp., briefed Washington County commissioners on a number of academic and research programs that are aimed at preparing today’s workforce for the jobs of tomorrow.

She said that is why ETSU developed a new interdisciplinary minor in brewing and distillation studies. McCorkle said the university is partnering with Tennessee Hills Distillery to provide students with hands-on experience in the field.

ETSU will also launch a new degree program in the fall for mechatronics engineering. McCorkle said there is a growing demand nationwide for employees who have knowledge and training “in a multi-disciplinary field that is focused on advanced automated manufacturing.”

She said ETSU expects to have 400 students enrolled in the mechatronics program in five years.

McCorkle said ETSU will be partnering with Northeast State Community College to help students there transfer credits from the college’s two-year robotics program to the university’s mechatronics program.

He pointed to California’s famed Silicon Valley as a prime example.

“Stanford University created Silicon Valley,” he told commissioners. “It wasn’t the other way around.”

Golden also noted, “We have the opportunity to do the same by leveraging the intellect and assets at ETSU. ”

He said ETSU’s minor degree program in fermentation and distillery helps to check “one of the boxes” needed for synthetic biology. Golden noted the university’s College of Medicine and its computer sciences and engineering programs are also assets to building on the program.

Golden said simply offering a university-level program in synthetic biology is not enough. He said students must be interested in getting involved in the program at the high school level.

He said ETSU has its Valleybrook campus, a 100,000-square-foot facility donated to it in 2010 by Eastman Chemical that’s ideal for synthetic biology education and a place for scientists and entrepreneurs to do the research they need to begin the manufacturing process.

“This is where they can come to do the research to scale up,” Golden said. “Once they scale up, they will need flat land and workers for spinoff companies.”

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