At last week’s Xponential 2022 – a great international drone show held in Orlando, FL – AUVSI announced 2022 organizational winners: including AUVSI Member of the Year, Dr. Will Austin, President of Warren County Community College.
DRONELIFE is proud of our partnership with Dr. Austin and Warren County Community College. WCCC is developing accessible, valuable drone training programs for their students: and supporting the local drone industry by bridging the skills gap between employers need and available workforce.
Dr. Austin is more than just the President of WCCC, he also runs the drone program. Seeing the need for better training in the field, he went back to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to receive a second Master’s Degree, in order to start the program for his students. With Dr. Austin’s constant smile and a “we can do this” attitude, the incredible success of the Drones/Unmanned Systems program is no surprise.
At the recent Xponential, Dr. Austin and his colleagues hosted a co-located event on drone repair and maintenance – one that drew attendees ranging from NASA engineers to solo Part 107 operators. It was a practical, hands on seminar that offered a small glimpse of the classes available at WCCC, in their hands-on, world-class training facility.
“Dr. Austin committed enormous time and resources to advancing the role of uncrewed systems in community colleges and universities,” said AUVSI President and CEO Brian Wynne. “We are grateful for his work positioning the AUVSI Trusted Operator Program as a critical workforce development tool, while he pushed for significant funding to scale the program, and served as a speaker, repair and maintenance workshop organizer, and partner at XPONENTIAL.”
Read more from AUVSI Xponential 2022:
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
Subscribe to DroneLife here.