Golden LEAF Foundation Grant Enables Randolph Community College to Purchase Waterjet Machining Center

Randolph Community College will use the majority of the funds it receives from a recent Golden LEAF Foundation grant to purchase an OMAX waterjet machining center for its Computer-Integrated Machining program, according to Garret Parker, department head for CIM.
           
The $135,000 machine, which uses high-pressure water and abrasive media to cut metal and plastic, will be shipped to RCC from OMAX Corporation in Washington state. It will be the first machining center of this type at RCC, said Parker. “There are two to three industries in Randolph County that are using these machines,” said Parker. “Technology in that particular area is growing.”
           
Besides purchasing this critical piece of equipment, the grant money will be used as part of a regional partnership to expand training in Computer-Integrated Machining. The $145,000 awarded to RCC is just one part of an $825,000 Golden LEAF Foundation grant for a consortium of Piedmont community colleges led by Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem. The other colleges are Guilford Technical Community College, Rockingham Community College, and the Davie Campus of Davidson County Community College.

For more on this story, go to http://www.randolph.edu/newevents/2013/2013-01-29.php.