Rockwell Automation's Advanced Tech Lead and UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Discuss Value of Corporate-University Partnerships

MILWAUKEE, December 13, 2021 /3BL Media/ - Dave Vasko, senior director of Advanced Technologies for Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), was a guest on the December edition of WUWM FM 89.7’s Chancellor’s Report featuring University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Chancellor Mark Mone.

Vasko and Mone, along with Jennifer Abele, UWM’s senior executive director of Strategic Partnerships, and Don Vu, chief data officer, Northwestern Mutual, discussed the value and importance of corporate-university partnerships. Rockwell is a long-time UWM partner and a founding member of the UWM Connected Systems Institute. The CSI has a mini factory of the future with advanced robotics and independent cart technology, which is used for learning and collaborative research and to demonstrate the latest in smart automation technologies fueling Industry 4.0.

Together with Rockwell and dozens of private companies, the CSI is developing new ways to integrate digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and data from the Industrial Internet of Things into next-generation manufacturing. A key focus for the CSI and Rockwell is developing and offering an educational curriculum to better prepare the workforce of the future.

Industry today has, “all these great technologies, but if people can’t apply then, if they can’t leverage them, it doesn’t make any sense,” Vasko said. “We’re working with UWM to develop the skilled talent manufacturers need.”

To that end, Rockwell and CSI will launch a new Digital Manufacturing Certification in the spring. Listen to the episode to learn more about how Rockwell, the CSI, and other leading companies are partnering to advance manufacturing and education.  

The UWM Chancellor’s Report, broadcast on the first Thursday and Sunday of the month, explores issues in higher education.

Learn more about Rockwell’s efforts to develop the workforce of tomorrow.

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