CONNEAUT LAKE — Taking their cues from early electro-technology pioneer Nikola Tesla, D.J. Chason and his partners spent Wednesday showing people just some of what can be done with separated water molecules.

Using high frequencies, a touch of high voltage and some low-powered alternating current (AC) electricity, the team of students from Crawford County Career & Technical Center demonstrated how they can efficiently separate water into elemental hydrogen and oxygen. And to show how well their hydrogen-run internal combustion engine works, they hooked it up to an iPod: Connect the proper elements, and out comes a Red Hot Chili Peppers tune; disrupt the energy flow, and off goes the music.

That same technology, the team said, could one day be used to create cars and other machines that run solely on hydrogen, with zero dependency on fossil fuels and zero output of pollutants.

Next to them, a team of students from Erie’s Central Tech High School displayed the robots they built that can be programmed to do anything from dancing (they did, to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls”) to using language-sensing technologies to assist people with disabilities.

Those are just a couple of the hi-tech manufacturing innovations that were on display at the “TECHfest: Precision Jobs for American Manufacturing” program presented by the Northwest Pennsylvania chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association. Open to the public and attended by about 380 students from Crawford and Erie counties and numerous area industry leaders, the all-day program offered hands-on experiments, robotics demonstrations, career and educational seminars and more at Meadville’s Bessemer Street complex, which houses both Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in Meadville and Precision Manufacturing Institute.

The focus of the second annual TECHfest was on advanced careers and opportunities in manufacturing for both youth and adults, according to Tami Adams, executive director of the local chapter of the NTMA. From machining to robotics to mechatronics and beyond, “we’re trying to expose (the region’s current and future workers) to careers in manufacturing” that are available locally, Adams said Wednesday.

A trade association for the regional tooling industry, the local chapter has 85 tooling and machining businesses as members, plus another 45 businesses — like accounting and business service firms — as associate members. Throughout those fields, “we have so many common threads,” said Adams. “And we’re all hungry for employees, so we’re trying to expose (prospective workers) to what’s going on in our region, the fact that there are jobs here, and what those types of jobs are.”

Recent reports from the state Department of Labor and Industry indicate Crawford County’s unemployment rate continues to fall. Manufacturing, a major employment sector, is showing a rebound compared to a year ago and local firms continue seeking to add new employees.

Crawford County has a higher dependence on manufacturing than many other areas of the country. About 17 percent of jobs in the county are related to manufacturing, compared to about 12 percent statewide and 11 percent nationally. Most of the local manufacturing jobs are tied to the tooling and machining industry, with local firms supplying tools, equipment and other parts to major manufacturers.

Local manufacturing employers “are still saying they need more people,” said Adams, so “we know there’s still a gap” between the number of available jobs and the number of available people to fill them.

With showcase events like TECHfest, she said, “we hope we’re making an impact” in closing that gap.



A total of more than $4,000 in scholarships was awarded to three area students at Wednesday’s TECHfest program presented by the Northwest Pennsylvania chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association.

This year’s NWPA NTMA Education Foundation scholarship recipients are:

- Matt Clayton (2010 Cambridge Springs High School graduate, mechanical engineering major at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College) — $1,000, Hagan Business Machines of Meadville Inc.; $500, Wolves Club

- Adam L’Huiller (Precision Manufacturing Institute student) — $1,000, Starn Tool & Manufacturing; $750, Byham’s Insurance Services

- Don Sterner (PMI student) — $1,000, Starlite Group Inc.

For more information on the local NTMA chapter and its educational and professional programs, visit nwpa-ntma.com or call the local office at 720-0094.



Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.