Ohio Department of Higher Education award will help CSU develop professionals of the future in high-growth employment sectors

CSU was awarded $741,362 under the Ohio Department of Higher Education's (ODHE's) Super RAPIDS program to invest in high-priority equipment purchases that support training in advanced manufacturing of chemical products, multiple allied health professions, and technical/trades workers & engineering technicians working with automated stage and film lighting systems. The Super RAPIDS program is a one-time enhancement of the RAPIDS, or Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills, program that ODHE has utilized to target workforce development in specific industry sectors. For Super RAPIDS, funding had to support training in Broadband/5G, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, Transportation, Advanced Manufacturing, and/or Trades.

Cleveland State will utilize its funding allocation to support the purchase of three pieces of equipment that will be situated in three different colleges:

• A pilot-scale distillation column for training in advanced manufacturing methods of chemical products; located in the Washkewicz College of Engineering
• A state-of-the-art simulation and video capture system that will train students and incumbent workers in a wide range of allied health professions such as nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy; located in the College of Health
• Lighting automation systems used in theatrical and film productions with applications to engineering technology and automation; located in the College of Arts & Sciences

All public higher education institutions and career/technical centers in Ohio were equally eligible to apply for Super RAPIDS, but needed to collaborate and agree to an overall allocation of the funds allocated to their geographic region. Other regional participants with CSU included community colleges (Cuyahoga County Community College and Lorain County Community College), career centers (Cuyahoga Valley Career Center, Polaris Career Center and EHOVE Career Center), school districts (Ashland County West Holmes JVSD, Lorain County JVSD, Medina County JVSD, Sandusky City Schools), and Bowling Green State University's Firelands Campus.

Super RAPIDS awards totaled $40,000,000 statewide. Of note, the previous six rounds of "regular" RAPIDS have awarded a combined total of $47,300,000.