Education

3 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018 Red River College's electric bus unveiling in 2014. Artist's renderings of RRC's planned Innovation Centre (left). Red River College photos From electrical to mechanical to instrumentation engineering and more, Red River College's Engineering programs can help transform your aptitude for solutions- based design into a career that lets you shape the world around you. Learn more at rrc.ca/engineering ENGINEERING YOUR FUTURE A HEALTHY CAREER START In less than five months, you'll be trained to assist hospital patients, home care clients, and personal care home residents. You'll also have the foundational knowledge to pursue related health-care careers, including administration, ultrasound technology, and nursing. Learn more at rrc.ca/hca all-electric transit bus in collaboration with Manitoba Hydro and multiple other stakeholders. On the aerospace and manufacturing side, the college will soon have a Smart Factory coming on stream to provide another applied research space to build on the work done at the Technology Access Centre for Aerospace and Manufacturing. "We're fortunate to have two technology access centres — one in aerospace and manufacturing and the other in building envelope technology," Hoemsen said. "Basically, there are 17 of these outside of Quebec and we have two of them. They're intended to support regional clusters, so we're supporting the aerospace and manufacturing sector in one and the building construction sector with the other." The Smart Factory will focus on emerging technology such as robotics, automation, additive manufacturing, high-speed robotic inspection and industrial networking. Looking beyond the 15 years of impressive achievements, the future looks bright for Research Partnerships & Innovation. Construction is already underway on the Innovation Centre, a new facility located in the Exchange District next to the existing Roblin Centre building. With an expected completion date of 2020, the $95-million Innovation Centre will be a hub where education and industry will intersect. The 100,000-square-foot facility will feature adaptable classrooms and "collision spaces" as well as a roundhouse auditorium to foster collaboration. The ACE Project Space is another area that offers an interactive environment for students, faculty, industry leaders and entrepreneurs to use cutting-edge technology to find solutions to real-world business challenges. In addition, Red River College is adding several more new facilities that will bolster the potential of both students and industry. These include an extreme weather vehicle-testing facility called the MotiveLab. "We've done a lot of work with the heavy vehicles sector, which is very important in Manitoba," Hoemsen said. "The MotiveLab is a new specialized test facility that will be unique in Western Canada. It allows us to test vehicles on a year-round basis in a controlled environment. We can go from -40 C to 40 C within a chamber year-round." Construction has also begun on the Culinary Research Kitchen, which will offer state-of-the-art research kitchens plus an analytical and culturing lab, a specialized food photography room and collaborative spaces for working together. "It marries food science and the culinary arts," Hoemsen said. "So basically you take ingredients that are good for you health-wise and make them appealing to consumers. We've been working with the producer groups to develop new recipes, which helps companies bring new products to market." Across the board, this hands-on approach to education results in benefits for students that extend beyond academic knowledge. "Research activity enables us to get some research infrastructure like facilities and equipment that can also be for teaching purposes. As a result, that benefits students who are taught using the latest and most current technology in education," Hoemsen said. "When they engage with a project, it helps with their skill development and work-integrated learning. It not only gives them technical skills but also soft skills that employers are looking for, like better communication and working as a team." For Hoemsen, it's a source of pride that Red River College is highly ranked for its research capabilities. "It speaks to the collective effort of our students, instructors and research staff as well as the partners that we're fortunate to work with," Hoemsen said. "We've had over 500 research partners over the last 15 years and we couldn't do it without them." To learn more about Red River College, visit rrc.ca. ❚

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