Alcoa Foundation awarded Whatcom Community College a grant of $30,000 to support the expansion of the college’s pre-engineering program.

With the $25,000 the foundation awarded last year, Whatcom purchased start-up equipment and established dedicated program space. Whatcom will use this year’s award to provide a full classroom set of laptops, a benchtop CNC milling machine and a classroom set of digital multimeters.

These resources will increase the quality and scope of projects students can do, and will increase their exposure to fabrication and manufacturing processes.

The equipment purchase will also support an outreach project with Cordata Elementary School. Under faculty leadership, Whatcom engineering graphics students will collaborate with Cordata third graders to design projects for 3D printings, laser cutting and CNC machining.

Alcoa Foundation invests in places Alcoa Corporation has a presence, including the Intalco Works facility in Ferndale. For more information, visit alcoafoundation.com.