Building a Concrete Ecosystem for the Manufacturing Education of New Technicians in 3D printing Project

The U.S. faces a dual challenge: a housing crisis and deteriorating concrete infrastructure driven by workforce shortages, aging buildings, and rising material costs. Concrete 3D printing (C3DP) offers a real solution to both problems. The Building a Concrete Ecosystem for the Manufacturing Education of New Technicians in 3D printing (CEMENT-3D) project will train technicians in C3DP, showcase the technology's potential to produce affordable, next-generation infrastructure, and connect skilled workers with employers. This project will increase the number of technicians entering the construction industry, foster the construction of more affordable and resilient homes and buildings, provide the concrete infrastructure industry with options for new and more cost effective products, and increase the American use of 3D printing technology in bringing lower cost and better artificial intelligence (AI)-engineered products to market that are more sustainable, lighter in weight, with improved functional performance. The concept and approach of CEMENT-3D is both unique and timely. Through this project, Somerset Community College (SCC) provides cutting-edge C3DP technology, and its impact on construction and concrete manufacturing practices, to participants in their own industry language, through the process of making relevant C3DP products. This project educates and produces certified technicians capable of utilizing advanced computer-aided design (CAD) software, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics automation to design and manufacture resilient concrete infrastructure, products, and housing. It does so by building on SCC’s existing national additive manufacturing education platform, with new cloud-based course curriculum, a train-the-educator distribution model, a business and industry value demonstration, and an awareness campaign aligned with regional needs. SCC’s condensed certificate approach allows students within a host of other technical programs, such as construction technology, carpentry, industrial design, heavy equipment operation, electrical contracting, industrial maintenance, and advanced manufacturing, to attain advanced robotics, CAD, and AI usage skills seamlessly while earning their primary degrees. These transferable skills can be utilized to create new concrete solutions that include advanced AI analysis and model generation, as well as AI- powered image- 2- model generation, in conjunction with low-cost, state-of-the-art CAD software. The project includes assessments of how much participants have learned and how well that knowledge is delivered to their students using various survey formats. This method is an innovative approach to technician education; there is no reported research study of its type within this emerging industry. The findings are benchmarked against other studies on how technicians learn and the likely C3DP adoption rates of participants. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.