3D Printing Technician - Level 1

In 2015, Somerset Community College (SCC), recognizing the impending potential of 3D printing technology to create next-generation products and set the stage for significant leaps in innovation and advanced manufacturing applications, created the nation's first statewide, college-accredited Additive Manufacturing (AM) program. Recognized and adopted by the Kentucky Department of Education, the program involves three AM courses, DPT 100, 150, and 280, with the additional requirements of two technical elective courses and a business course focused on entrepreneurship. These courses are offered in person and online to ensure anyone can attend, regardless of location. (Additional AM courses are available to fit into the technical elective slots.)

The program, developed alongside industry professionals, focuses on AM technology not as a replacement, but as a value-added component, to conventional manufacturing industries such as welding, CNC, industrial maintenance, as well as a host of other career pathways such as Engineering, Medical Technology, and K-12 Education. Resulting graduates are job-ready, not only for their primary form of employment, but also possessing additive manufacturing mindsets and skills, allowing them to bring innovation to their future employers and businesses. The additive manufacturing skills these graduates possess include advanced manufacturing methods, materials, and their use cases, troubleshooting, safety procedures, AI utilization, topology optimization, finite element analysis, generative design, reverse engineering, cost analysis, and manufacturing optimization.