Naugatuck Valley Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (AMTC) celebrated its new and current students with the start of the semester. The College welcomed its seventh cohort of students on August 28 with a light breakfast and welcoming remarks by Joseph DeFeo, Program Director for the AMTC, NVCC President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., and Cyndi Zoldy, Executive Director for the Smaller Manufacturers Association (SMA) of Connecticut, Inc. There are 44 students in this cohort and they are all enrolled in the AMTC program.

On Friday, August 31, several high-performing manufacturing students who will graduate in January and May with certificates in Advanced Manufacturing were recognized at the Seventh Annual Presidential Awards Ceremony. The event was held at NVCC’s Technology Hall on its Waterbury campus and sponsored by the SMA. The students are enrolled in a two-semester program in Advanced Manufacturing Technology. The program equips them with skills to foster career growth in the manufacturing field. Faculty and staff from the College were present to commemorate their achievements.

“The reason this program has such a high job placement rate,” President De Filippis said to students, “is because you all do so well.”  President De Filippis then went onto explain that students should view the internship-portion of their training as an extended job interview.  President De Filippis started the awards program seven years ago as an incentive for Advanced Manufacturing Students to perform well in their studies by providing additional training at no-cost.  Fifteen students with grades of a B or better were recognized and received a prepaid OSHA 10 safety training class. The top ten students from the class, who were also recognized at Friday’s ceremony, received a prepaid introduction to additive manufacturing, Solidworks, and 3-D Printing class in addition to the OSHA 10 certificate training class. Both classes will be held at the College in January.

Students who received certificates in Advanced Manufacturing Machine Technology are qualified to work in machine technology and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) manufacturing environments. The certificate provides desired work skills by combining hands-on instruction, interactive lab experiences, theory, and possible on-site manufacturing internships.

“There is no doubt that Connecticut is on a manufacturing up-turn.  All indications point to a resurgence of manufacturing jobs here in Connecticut,” said Joseph DeFeo, Program Director for NVCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center. “It is now vital that we create the skilled work force needed to meet the manufacturing needs of companies such as Electric Boat, Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft over the next 5-10 years.  We take this as our mission and believe we are well positioned to educate, train, and then provide the skilled workers to meet the growing demand.”

The certificate curriculum is available at: nv.edu/amtc.  Manufacturers or potential students interested in the program can contact Deirdre D’Amore at 203-575-8014 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more about NVCC’s manufacturing program in Waterbury.

The Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program is funded by the Connecticut Advanced Manufacturing Initiative (CAMI). Additionally, NVCC has more than 200 industry partners that support the program including Branson, Kimberly-Clark, Memry Corporation, Stanley Engineering, and UTC. The program has a 100% job placement rate.