Dr. Karen Wosczyna-Birch has been a champion of engineering and technology education for over 30 years. Since 1995, she has been the State Director of the CT College of Technology (COT) where her leadership has been instrumental in creating nationally recognized seamless pathway programs in engineering and technology between all 12 Connecticut public community colleges (now merged to CT State Community College) with 10 universities and technical and comprehensive high schools. She is also the Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (NCNGM), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Center of Excellence and a professor emeritus in Applied Technology at Connecticut State Community College Tunxis. She has received over $30M in funding from the NSF, including two grants for international partnerships. Karen has implemented strategies resulting in an increase in the enrollment of underrepresented populations in STEM programs at the community colleges. Karen has received numerous awards for her accomplishments as a professor and for her passion for increasing the diversity of the STEM population including the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the international honor society Epsilon Pi Tau (EPT), the 2018 CT Women of Innovation Award in the Postsecondary Academic Innovation & Leadership Category, the 2012 New England Board of Higher Education Excellence Award for the State of CT and most recently, the 2020 HI TEC Innovative Program of the Year Award and the 2021 ITEEA Special Recognition Award. In 2014, she was invited to the White House College Opportunity Summit recognizing leaders like Karen for their commitment to STEM education. She also serves on numerous local and national boards including the Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society, Hartford High's Pathway for Engineering and Green Technology, and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.

Dr. Ann Beheler is the Industry Engagement Director who strategically leads the Business Industry Leadership Team (BILT) high employer engagement model she developed for the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing. She has taught hundreds of colleges and universities to implement the model to deepen their employer relationships and align curriculum. Additionally, due to her work with Miami Dade College and the National Applied Artificial Intelligence Consortium, she is uniquely positioned to lead upcoming industry-led work for integrating AI into Manufacturing programs. Over the past several years, she has dedicated herself to helping educators to better align undergraduate education in technical fields to the future knowledge, skill, and ability needs of business and industry through the BILT process she originated. This work has resulted in a much wider pipeline of well-qualified job candidates and increasing business engagement with higher education programs overall. She is known for successfully connecting employers and educators, as evidenced by her receiving the “2020 Future 50” award from Dallas Innovates, an online news source that provides information about DFW startups, enterprise, education, invention, creatives, technology, and social innovators. Dr. Beheler has split her career between corporate leadership in various college leadership roles, passionately working to help others to achieve learning that launches their careers in numerous discipline areas. Dr. Beheler works primarily with emerging programs for several major grant programs and individual colleges to ensure that business and industry subject matter experts co-lead all work so that the students who graduate from these programs gain profitable long-term careers. She was Director of Certification Testing and Training at Novell, Director of Product Development at Raytheon, and Project Manager for the first distributed system pilot project in IT for Rockwell International. Additionally, she has been an instructor, a dean, and a Vice President for Academic Affairs.

R. Scott Zitek is an Associate professor for Automation Engineering Technology, which includes Industrial Robotics, Programmable Logic Controllers, Human Machine Interfaces, Workcell Interfacing, and Digital Fabrication, at Lorain County Community College (LCCC), in Ohio. He was the coordinator of the LCCC Fab Lab when the lab was established from 2005 to 2015. The 5,000-square-foot Fab Lab is the second Fab Lab in the world designated as a “Super Lab” by The Fab Foundation, a non-profit based out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms.

Andrew Dunn holds Associate degrees in Mechatronics and Drafting from Central Community College and delivers practical instruction in industrial maintenance with an emphasis on real-world troubleshooting. At Central Community College, Andrew helped develop PLC, HMI, and servo training systems that reflect real industrial environments. His industry experience includes working at ADM as an ethanol operator and advancing into a controls and automation technician role at BD Medical. He also supports iMEC 2.0, expanding mechatronics dual-credit opportunities in high schools to strengthen the future workforce pipeline. Andrew’s goal is to help organizations quickly upskill employees, improve reliability, and build confident, capable technicians through hands-on training.

Matt Mervis is a senior nonprofit team leader based in Litchfield, Connecticut, who enables immersive project-based learning and AI. Matt has deep experience in education, having served in various roles as a teacher, professional development specialist, district technology director, and product developer. Matt is currently building AI/PBL product integration on the Skills21 platform and presents frequently on AI and the future of education. He is also a co-host of the AI in Education Podcast ChatEDU, sponsored by the NCNGM.

Marco's role as Community Engagement Coordinator with the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing involves fostering career pathways from community colleges to the manufacturing industry. As a Social Media Consultant, he began working on the team in early 2024. His professional journey is a commitment to effective outreach for advanced manufacturing initiatives and pathways for community college students to enter the nation's workforce. He is utilizing a strategic approach to social media to amplify NCNGM’s mission and connect with stakeholders. He has prior experience in higher education outreach at Central Connecticut State University’s Student Center. Marco is continuing his education at Connecticut State Community College and immerses himself in the community college process’ and pathways to success. He also has experience utilizing his skills for networking and outreach at conferences and summits. With a fresh perspective on manufacturing education and industry pathways, Marco is eager to continue the center’s efforts to disseminate and celebrate the potential for a qualified workforce.

Wendy is the Assistant Director for the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing, funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Program. She began working on NSF ATE grants for the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System in 2012. Her work on these grants has grown her passion for making students, parents, educators and counselors aware of the educational and career pathways that are possible in STEM fields with an emphasis on advanced manufacturing. Her focus is on students from populations that are typically underrepresented in STEM fields, including females. Her favorite activities are those highlighting the accomplishments of our students and those that provide them with experiences that enhance there coursework. She has organized and participated in numerous local, national, and international initiatives over the years where she has both shared and learned about addressing STEM workforce needs and has also published and presented papers for these conferences. Wendy has her Master’s Degree in Student Development in Higher Education from Central Connecticut State University and is a member of the Steering Committee for the American.

Dr. Suj Chandrasekhar is the founder and principal of Strategic Insights Inc. Strategic Insights specializes in Economic Trends, Market Research, Advanced Analytics, and AI-powered platforms to serve clients in the private and public sectors. Suj has a Ph.D. in Organization Strategy from the University of Iowa. Suj is widely published in a range of business areas in a variety of publications including the Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, MIT Sloan Review, Forbes among others. Her work in smart manufacturing has been presented at various conferences and hailed as one of the most impactful research series in the field. Strategic Insights has collaborated widely with the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing in this effort. Their research on the State of Smart Manufacturing is now part of the Intelligent Data sets of the World Economic Forum. Strategic Insights and the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing partner on scaling Manufacturing 4.0 in a number of states including Texas, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, and others.

Jeremy Banta is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 30 years’ experience in civilian and military logistics. He is currently an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Supply Chain Management Program at Columbus State Community College in Columbus Ohio. His military career includes 15 years full time service in the Ohio National Guard as a senior logistician with deployments to Iraq and Kuwait. He serves the logistics industry by serving on multiple local school and organizational advisory boards, as well as being the co-founder of the Ohio Supply Chain Academic Network (O-SCAN), a member of Columbus Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Chair of the Columbus Region Logistics Council (CRLC), a Director-At-Large for the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) Advisory Council and a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Academic Strategies Committee.

Experienced professor and department chair at College of the Canyons, California, with a demonstrated history of working in higher education. Skilled in Instructional Design, Public Speaking, Curriculum Development, Metal Fabrication, and Manufacturing. Works to create effective partnerships with local and national businesses and educational institutions. Extensive experience in development of welding programs that include welder training, welding procedure specification development, and welder certification credentialing.

John is a Certified Professional Behaviors Analyst (CPBA), Certified Professional Motivators Analyst (CPMA), TriMetrix® certified, and a Certified Professional Emotional Quotient Analyst (CPEQA). These certifications, awarded by TTI Success Insights on behalf of Target Training International, Ltd., recognize training, education, and practical application of the history of behavioral models, including the DISC model, and behavioral knowledge based on validated, research-based instruments. They also recognize knowledge of the history of motivators as developed by Eduard Spranger and TTI and the six hierarchies of human motivation and how they relate to communicating in the workplace and beyond. As a CPEQA, John is certified to teach the five dimensions of emotional intelligence, including emotional enablers and disablers as well as to interpret emotional quotient in people and analyze and integrate the combination of Behaviors and Motivators with Emotional Intelligence.