Professor Buffy Quinn's love of map making changed her life by setting her on an unexpected career path. Now she's preparing to bring that same opportunity to Onondaga Community College students. Quinn and Professor Justin Fiene recently learned they have been awarded a National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education grant totaling $300,000. The title of their project is "Integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Data Analysis Credentials into a Geospatial Science and Technology Degree Program." They'll be creating a new career path for students. "We worked on developing this project idea and the proposal itself for almost a year. Finding out our hard work paid off was just thrilling," said Quinn. "We take pride in the fact that OCC is Central New York's partner in education and workforce development. UAV research, development, and applications is a high-growth job market in Central New York," added Fiene.
Before becoming a college professor Quinn operated her own engineering company and was its cartographer, or map maker. She used her college education and professional success to lift her out of poverty. With this new program she and Fiene will use drones to create geographic mapping and analysis of the earth and human societies. "We will be building career pipelines for students who may have never considered this as a way to make a living. We want to help deserving students change their economic lives for the better," she said.
The project will begin with Quinn and Fiene collaborating with businesses and industry representatives to develop specialized curriculum. Grant funds will be used to purchase unmanned aerial vehicle technology (such as drones) for acquiring and processing data for developing data sets to use in the classroom. "This is a realistic pathway for students to acquire workforce-ready skills that will contribute to the growth and development of a new economic sector in Central New York," said Fiene.
The program will also connect the College with students at the Public Service Leadership Academy (PSLA) at Fowler who are enrolled in the drone technology and geospatial technology programs. PSLA and OCC students will meet with industry leaders, learn about career options, and build their confidence as both students and future employees in the high-tech world of unmanned aerial systems.
The benefits of this program will be felt in classrooms across the country. Everything OCC learns while constructing and implementing its program will be shared nationally so other colleges can learn from it. "We are going to be the first school to define industry-specific skills for UAV data technicians. The National Science Foundation has asked us to share our work so others can build upon it and help further develop technicians across the United States," said Quinn. "We're really excited and looking forward to improving student's lives."
